Mythbusters: Does Wine Really Get Better With Age?

Ep 160

You’ve probably assumed wine always gets better with age…but not all wine is meant to sit for years.

Aged wine sounds fancy, right? The older the bottle, the better it must be. Right?

Nope. Sure, some wines are meant to age. But a lot of wine you’re buying is already close to its peak and waiting too long doesn’t make it better.

In this episode, I’m breaking down what actually happens as wine ages and why aging = better doesn’t apply across the board. I’ll walk you through the simple way to think about a wine’s lifespan, how to tell if something is worth aging, and what’s really going on when wine hits its peak and then starts to go downhill.

So if you’ve been saving bottles thinking they’ll get better with time, this might change how you decide when to open them.

Resources: 

You Can’t Age White Wine…Or Can You? - https://www.corkandfizz.com/blog/guide-to-wine-podcast-episode-145

Episode Highlights:

• Why the idea that older wine is better became so common
• The bell curve that explains a wine’s lifespan
• Why many everyday wines are meant to be consumed sooner
• What actually makes a wine age-worthy
• What characteristics actually allow a wine to age well
• Why many wines peak within a year or two of bottling
• How the taste and structure of wine change over time
• How storage impacts whether wine improves or declines
• Why you might not even like aged wine

Transcript

0:09

Interested in learning about wine but not sure where to start? You're in the right place. Welcome to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Hayley Bowlman and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a wine enthusiast turned wine educator and and founder of the Seattle based wine tasting business Cork and Fizz. It is my goal to build your confidence in wine by making it approachable and lots of fun. You can expect to learn everything from how to describe your favorite wine to what to pair with dinner tonight and so much more. Whether you're a casual wine sipper or a total cork dork like myself, this podcast is for you. So grab yourself a glass and let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. Whenever I start these recordings for my manager, here's a little behind the scenes. I always start with like recording episode blah blah blah of the Cork and Fizz so that it just starts out and I make sure I keep everything straight. Today's episode is 160. Can you believe like I am just mind blown that there are 160 of these episodes? And if you are someone who's listened to all of them, like my hat's off to you. Thank you so much for being here and listening to me talk about wine. This has been so much fun and I this is not me saying goodbye by any means. It's more me being reminiscent and it's probably the pregnancy talking. Let's be weird. Hormones are weird. But I'm just, I'm so excited that this has been really become what it's become. And if you're new here, sorry you're having to listen to me throughout on all about all of this. But I hope you go back and listen to some episodes because there are some, I mean all of them are amazing, but you will definitely find something that you are interested in when it comes to wine. I've had so many amazing guests on this podcast. I mean We've done 160 episodes. I'm excited to do 160 more, but I just wanted to take a second to be like, hi, thank you for listening and letting me get to the point of making 160 episodes. So let's get into this one. Today we're doing another episode of the mythbusters miniseries. We are down to our last two. This is where I debunk wine myth new and old, give you all the facts plus some of my own opinions. I can't help it, but you like that? That's why you're here. Anyway, today's myth that we're going to bust is that wine always gets better with age. And hopefully this is like good news to you. So, you know, you don't always have to age wine in order for it to be good. Now where this myth comes from, I feel like it's just like one of those things that just kind of like built up over time. Like, if you ever wanted to sound fancy, at least this is what I do. You kind of fake this, like, hoity toity accent. Like you fancy and stuff. You announce, ah, yes, we're drinking the 1995 Bordeaux from, you know, blah, blah, blah. You know, you, you act like you're drinking this really old wine because you've been told that that's what's fancy, right? And I mean, aged wine tends to cost more money, so more money equals fancier. Aged wine must be better, right? So it must be a fact that while a wine is good now, it'll be even better if you put it away for 5, 10, 15 years, right? That is not always the, the case. If you buy a wine now, let's say like 5 to $10 bottle of wine from the store, and you think it'll taste way better in five years, it'll probably be too late by then and you might as well hold on to your five to ten dollars. You want to drink that wine early. And the best way to explain this to you, I wish I had a visual to show you. But what I want you to do is I want you to imagine. Can you think of a bell curve? So if you've never heard of a bell curve, it is what it sounds like. It is a curve that looks like, like the top of a bell. Like it starts low and then it makes itself higher. You know, kind of like you're like drawing a hill or you're drawing waves on a sheet of paper. So we're just looking at one of the waves. So it starts low, it goes up high, and then it comes back down again. Right? This bell curve is the perfect way to illustrate the lifespan of, of a wine. And yes, every wine has a lifespan, and it doesn't end just when you drink it. That, I mean, that is one way to end the lifespan of a wine. But I'm talking more about aging. Just a quick reminder, if you are not on my mailing list yet, what are you waiting for? I would love for you to join. When you do, you'll get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to corkandfiz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. Now, let's get back to the show. So let's. Let's talk about each part of that bell curve. So we're going to start at the bottom of the curve, right? So this is the bottom of it. This is the beginning. When the wine is first bottled, generally, the wine needs some time to settle. And this is also why you don't see wines in the store marked with the same year that you are shopping in. A lot of times, wines need some time to just chill out. This principle, or this idea is actually highlighted in a movie titled Bottle Shock. If you haven't seen this movie and you're a wine person, go check it out. You're gonna love it. But it basically brings up the idea that as soon as you bottle wine, the wine literally does go into this kind of shock. And it just needs a little bit of time, a little bit of time to just, like, chill out, just, like, do its thing. Now, as the wine ages, it reaches a prime. So this is what represents that kind of, like, upwards trend towards the top of our bell curve. So this is where the wine is just, you know, it's developing, it's doing different things in the bottle, and then it reaches peak flavor and shines. This is the very top of our bell curve. Now, after that, if you're imagining this bell curve the way that you should be, you know, the only way to go is down once the wine reaches this peak flavor, and it is just the best it's gonna be. After that, the wine starts to decline. It starts to lose its fruit flavor to the point where it basically just becomes vinegar. And by the end of its lifespan, when we get back to the bottom, this wine is no longer good. You wouldn't even wanna drink it if you overshoot that peak. If you wait until it gets down to that, or you store it in bad conditions, which could cause it to just kind of on over to the decline. Means your wine is more, you know, it's more of a funky vinegar party. And this is thanks to that oxygen making its way through the cork. Too much oxygen, and your wine loses its fruity charm. So the question is, when does a wine reach the top of its peak? When can I make sure that I drink it before it starts to do its decline? Unfortunately, that's not an easy answer, but I'll try to give you some ideas. In general, most wines reach that peak in a year or two. Supermarket wines are basically ready to drink wines. Right? And again, remember that year or two. I don't mean a year or two after you buy it. I mean a year or two after it's been bottled. So let's, you know, it's. It's 2025 right now. Nearly 2026. You're listening to this in 2026, actually. But, you know, there might be a wine that I pick up that's a 2025 Sauvignon Blanche. Right. I'm imagining this in the future, Right? So you're in 2026. So we're gonna. We're gonna pretend it's 2026 right now. I pick up a 2025 Sauvignon Blanc. That wine is already almost a year old. So that wine may be at its peak. I don't need to hold on to it for any more time. And especially if you're buying from the supermarket. Nothing against it, but these wines are designed for immediate enjoyment. The people who are supplying the wine at the grocery store know that most of the wines that are bought there are drank usually within about 24 hours. There's actually a stat that as much as 90% of the wine that's bought in the US is drunk within 24 hours. Right. So there's nothing wrong with doing that. They just know that that's the plan for the wine. And so they're not going to have anything that they expect you to hold onto for more than, like, a month. You know, they're designed for your median enjoyment because they know that you're popping that cork asap. So that said, which wines do age well? I did talk about this a little bit in our myth busting about white wines aging. So I'm just going to kind of continue on with that conversation. Wines with high acidity, wines with high tannins and. Or wines with high sugar levels can age well. So, in fact, high tannins in a bold red wine might actually be too harsh on day one. That's kind of one of those things that contributes to the bottom of the bell curve for a lot of red wines. Aging that wine allows the wine's tannins to do this thing called a polymerize. Probably not saying that, right? I'm not an expert, despite the fact that I do this podcast. I'm terrible at pronouncing things, but polymerize means that the tannin molecules link together in the wine over time and they form these longer chains. It makes them feel softer. It can also actually make them so long that they fall out of the wine. So you're getting a slightly lower amount of tannin. But even then, just with them feeling softer, they'll be less astringent in your mouth. Softens the mouth feel and allows the flavors to integrate. So in some cases, those high tannins make it not great to drink right away. And you want to age the wine. You're going to let those soften over time. As those soften, that's when we get our incline and we're getting up to the top of the bell curve. And then there's this point where, yes, the top of the curve. And this is where like, if you've ever seen aging charts or like talking about a wine in its prime, that's what people are going for. And they're trying to get to that point. And that point isn't like, it's not like an avocado. Has anybody ever noticed their avocados? You buy them, they're not ready to eat yet. And you're waiting, you're waiting and you're waiting. And then there Was this like 10 minute window when you happen to be out where the avocado was at its best. And then you came home and you went to put avocado on whatever you, maybe your tacos that night, and it was suddenly like brown. And you're like, wait a second, this morning you were green. What? Huh? Okay. Don't worry. Wine is not like that. It's not like you're gonna like miss the moment because you didn't have it on like the specific day you were supposed to have it. But even that said, it's gonna be hard to find the exact moment that you wanna have it. You're kind of like chasing perfection. So I wouldn't worry about making it to that specific moment. But you can think about, you know, how high are the tannins, how high is the acidity, what is the sugar level, right? And you can ask the person who made the wine or the person that you bought the wine from, what their recommendation is. And of course, beyond the acidity, tannins and high sugar levels, you also typically will only age higher quality wine. Something that has been made to age, right. If you're just, you know, there's nothing wrong with like, I love a good stopping at, you know, Trader Joe's. Finding a good, you know, easy drinking white wine for a summer day when I'm Having a friend over that works perfect. But I'm not buying that to age and the person didn't make it to age. That is just meant to be enjoyed right away. And then even if you do buy a wine that is meant to age well, you need to store it properly to do so. Wait, I know you think this is an ad, but it's not. So don't hit skip. I have a small favor to ask. Here's the truth. I will never charge you to listen to this show, but every episode takes time and money to create. So if this podcast has helped you pick a better bottle, learn something new, or just kept you company, would you consider becoming a paid subscriber? You can show your Support for just $3, $5, $8 or $10 a month to say thanks. Every single supporter gets a shout out on the next episode I record. And if you choose the $10 tier, you actually get to pick a future episode topic. Setting up a subscription is a great way to show your love for the show. Just click the link in the description right now. Thank you for listening, supporting and being part of my wine loving community. Now let's get back to the show. Some of these things to do that it needs to be on its side if it has a cork. Anyway, needs to be a dark and cool place. So in your kitchen, not the place to store this wine. You want to put this down in your unfinished basement. You want to put this in the back of your closet as a last resort under your bed could work, but we want dark and cool. And if you're going to age it for a while, you want the appropriate humidity which can be harder to make happen. And you also want a constant temperature. So even your unfinished basement or your closet might not be the best idea if you're planning on storing like a de, like let's say like four or more bottles of wine and you want to age them for more than a year or two. I would recommend either investing in offsite storage. So this is if you have like a higher amount. I have probably about maybe like 36 bottles that I would consider ones that I'm trying to age and offsite storage allows me to do this in the perfect environment. So these are not in my home, AKA the off site part. When they are in specific wine storage facilities I can access them at any point. I have a key to them. But by doing this I'm guaranteeing that my wine is in a cold, dark, perfectly humid environment so it can age perfectly. The other option if you have fewer, if you're like 36 is a lot. Holy moly. You could just get yourself a wine fridge. These are great options as well. They work different than a regular fridge. So it's not the same as a regular fridge. And you can get them in all different sizes. I think the smallest one I've seen holds like eight bottles and then you can get ones upwards. If I've got a massive one in my basement right now, I don't even know how many bottles it has, but it is a lot. But the wine fridge, again, that will help with dark, cool, constant temperature, and they also help with humidity. And if you do either of these, especially the off site storage, tracking your wines is a great thing to do so you don't forget what you have. Cellar tracker, click Great option for that. I did that with most of my off site storage. I think I kind of lost track at some point. But do as I say, not as I do, right? And then finally, let's say you find a wine that is meant to age well. You've talked to the winemaker or the, you know, the person at the shop and they've told you, you know, five to 10 years would be perfect. So you know, you're going to let this age 5 to 10 years. You're storing it either in a wine fridge or off site storage or in the perfect storage conditions. You might still not like the wine at its prime. And that just might be because you don't like the flavors of aged wine. Aged wine develops certain flavors that are different. And if you prefer wines that don't have these flavors, you shouldn't age the wine. You know, some of these flavors that come out of aged wine. So these are complex aromas that have developed over time. They're typically called tertiary notes. So primary notes come from the grapes themselves, secondary notes come from winemaking practices, and tertiary notes come from aging. And these can include flavors like earth, leather, tobacco, dried fruits rather than kind of fresh fruits, mushrooms, nuts, and then along with lots of that vanilla spice, caramel and smoke. So if those don't sound great to you, you might not want to age your wines. And then structure wise, what does an aged wine taste like? Well, generally the tannins soften. You get less of that astringency, less of that dry cotton ball feeling in your mouth. If you like that, don't age your wines too much. The acidity will also reduce. The acid compounds become less prominent and the body of the wine typically becomes fuller and richer. So even if you do everything right, and that wine was meant to age and you aged it the right amount of time and you aged it in the right way, you just might not like what that becomes. And that's totally okay. That does not make you an amateur wine drinker. That doesn't mean that you can't have fancy wine. That just means you know what kind of wine you like and that's not what you like. And good news, that's great because it's going to be a lot less expensive for you because aged wine can be very expensive. I do recommend if you ever get a chance to try aged wine and each wine will age slightly differently, right? So there might be some that you really enjoy and others you don't. But just keep in mind you might not even like the flavors and you went to all this trouble. So don't, don't worry about it if that's not your thing. All right? I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. If you loved it as much as I did, please take a quick second rate it. Leave a Review if you have more questions about aging wine, please reach out. You can find me on Instagram at Cork and Fizz. You can send me an email haleyorkandfizz.com I promise I read all the of the emails myself. It is just me, myself and I here, so those emails go directly to me. And if you'd like to show additional support for the show, you can become a paid subscriber, click the link in the show notes and become a monthly supporter. For $10 or less a month. You'll get a shout out in the next episode I record. Plus if you choose the $10 per month option, you get to choose a topic for a future episode. Next week's episode is the last in my myth busting miniseries and we're talking decanting. Would you believe me if I said you should be decanting your grocery store reds or even your non alcoholic red wines? Crazy, right? It's not just for the fancy wines. Thanks again for listening. And if you want to learn more about wine, come follow me Ork and Fizz on Instagram. Cheers.