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Old 06-27-2017, 12:29 AM
 
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Basically I am writing a story in my writing class on a wine company that makes money off of a lot of aged wine.

However, even after doing some research, I still have questions. The more aged the wine, the more the price goes up, right? But how old is too old for wine? is there a limit? Also a lot of the aged bottles look like they have new labels on so I am guessing when the store the bottles to age, they do not put labels on at all, and wait till after the aging, is that right? Do they put tags on, with the years to keep track?
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Old 06-27-2017, 01:09 AM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
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This might help:
https://www.wired.com/2014/10/whats-...es-better-age/
http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/...ne-aging-wine/
www.britannica.com/topic/wine/Aging-and-bottling
Good luck with your paper!

Last edited by elnina; 06-27-2017 at 01:23 AM..
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Old 06-27-2017, 01:34 AM
 
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Some wines can be aged/age well, while others don't.
As I understand it, reds age best.
I think the price goes up depending on the wine that is aged, not so much the age of the wine.
There are time factors in aging wines, so I suppose there IS a 'limit'.
Pretty sure that the labels are applied before storage.
Of course they will 'store' the wines in an appropriately inventoried way- it is very organized by law and by common sense
Can you maybe go to a winery and have a tour?
They will answer any questions for you and it would be good first-hand experience for your writing.

Also, Google is your friend:

https://priceonomics.com/post/466180...-price-of-wine
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Old 06-27-2017, 03:20 PM
 
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Okay thanks. I googled it before but feel some questions I couldn't find answers too. For one thing, if the bottles are labeled they are aged over the decades, how come the bottle labels don't look old and warn out, like as if they have been on a bottle for 50 years?

And another thing is, if there is a limit, what is the limit exactly?
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Old 06-27-2017, 03:28 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ironpony View Post
Okay thanks. I googled it before but feel some questions I couldn't find answers too. For one thing, if the bottles are labeled they are aged over the decades, how come the bottle labels don't look old and warn out, like as if they have been on a bottle for 50 years?

And another thing is, if there is a limit, what is the limit exactly?
If the labels are in good condition, it could be due to the controlled environment of the storage maybe, just as there are many historic manuscripts that are pristine in their condition. Aging wine isn't always done in some dusty old cave as in the past and newer wineries are high-tech stainless steel entities.

I know some wines are aged in barrels, but I don't know how / for how long that is done before it is bottled. Same with the stainless steel vats. Maybe the aging is done mostly in those large containers and then bottled and that may be another reason why labels are so fresh.

Be sure to report back here when you find answers to your questions. Good luck.

As for 'limits' go online and ask "How long can wines be aged?"

You can read about it at, for example here (but find other sources as well: INTERNET GUIDE TO WINE and Frequently Asked Questions

Interesting info.

Last edited by tangelag; 06-27-2017 at 03:37 PM..
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Old 06-27-2017, 04:15 PM
 
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Okay thanks. Well as far as bottles go, I cannot find any wines that go past 1955, so maybe 1955 is the limit? Or are their older ones?
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Old 07-01-2017, 10:03 PM
 
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LOL. No, 1955 is definitely not the limit. Yes, indeed, there are older DRINKABLE wines. And those that are NOT drinkable. Just Google it. Haven't you ever seen a tv show or movie and someone says , this is the Rothschild 1893, blah, blah, blah?

These wines cost hundreds of thousands of dollars...

May I ask how old you are? You seem very, very young, thus I can understand your naïveté...Not an insult, just an observation.
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Old 07-02-2017, 12:42 PM
 
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I'm 32 but this is all new to me. I've seen that in some Bond movies but not for a while.
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Old 07-07-2017, 03:52 PM
 
3,570 posts, read 2,511,287 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ironpony View Post
Basically I am writing a story in my writing class on a wine company that makes money off of a lot of aged wine.

However, even after doing some research, I still have questions. The more aged the wine, the more the price goes up, right? But how old is too old for wine? is there a limit? Also a lot of the aged bottles look like they have new labels on so I am guessing when the store the bottles to age, they do not put labels on at all, and wait till after the aging, is that right? Do they put tags on, with the years to keep track?
Every wine is different. Even most fine wine is intended for immediate drinking. Wine that ages typically has a lot of tannins, which are a preservative found in the stems and skin of grapes (and also in the wood from oak barrels). With aging, those tannins serve to preserve the wine as it mixes with tiny amounts of oxygen that pass through the cork.

Wine needs both temperature and humidity control to age well. Due to humidity needs, most wine that is aged for a long time (15+ years) will have some label deterioration because humidity is not great for paper. Bottles are typically stored with their labels.

Price varies. Wine from the finest producers in the best regions will become rare with age, and thus more valuable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ironpony View Post
Okay thanks. I googled it before but feel some questions I couldn't find answers too. For one thing, if the bottles are labeled they are aged over the decades, how come the bottle labels don't look old and warn out, like as if they have been on a bottle for 50 years?

And another thing is, if there is a limit, what is the limit exactly?
Humidity will usually leave some impression on a label, but wine is also typically stored in a dark place, so light won't damage the label.

There is no hard and fast rule for what the limit is for aging a wine. You always need good storage conditions for wine: stable temperature & humidity (~55 degrees & 70% humidity), low light, no vibration. Few white wines will stand up to much aging--fewer than 7 years is usually safe. Certain whites will stand up to multi-decade aging--like some white Burgundy or some Riesling from Mosul, for example.

Red wines have more tannins because the color of the wine comes from contact with the skins & stems of the grapes. Those tannins help them survive the aging process, where whites risk oxidizing. So under good conditions, most red wines are drinkable after 7+ years of aging.

Alcohol, too, preserves wine. Wines higher in alcohol will also be more likely to stand up to aging. That's one factor that contributes to certain years being proclaimed "good." In a good year, harvests are usually pushed back because the weather is dry and the grapes have some extra time to develop sugars. Those sugars are fermented into alcohol, thus the higher the sugar, the higher the (potential) alcohol.

Sugar itself is a preservative, and wines with residual sugar are also more likely to survive the aging process.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ironpony View Post
Okay thanks. Well as far as bottles go, I cannot find any wines that go past 1955, so maybe 1955 is the limit? Or are their older ones?
There is no limit. People have reported drinking wines from the mid 19th century that were still in good shape. Those have typically been ports, which are generally: 1) red, 2) dessert wines (high in sugar), and 3) high in alcohol (fortified with spirit, in fact).

With age, wine changes. The contact with oxygen causes reactions that impact aromas, flavors, and textures. Wines will eventually oxidize (become undrinkable) and before that the benefit of aging will reverse and a wine will start to lose it's flavors & aromas. The amount of time this takes depends on the individual wine and the quality of its aging conditions.
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Old 07-07-2017, 04:01 PM
 
3,570 posts, read 2,511,287 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tangelag View Post
If the labels are in good condition, it could be due to the controlled environment of the storage maybe, just as there are many historic manuscripts that are pristine in their condition. Aging wine isn't always done in some dusty old cave as in the past and newer wineries are high-tech stainless steel entities.

I know some wines are aged in barrels, but I don't know how / for how long that is done before it is bottled. Same with the stainless steel vats. Maybe the aging is done mostly in those large containers and then bottled and that may be another reason why labels are so fresh.

Be sure to report back here when you find answers to your questions. Good luck.

As for 'limits' go online and ask "How long can wines be aged?"

You can read about it at, for example here (but find other sources as well: INTERNET GUIDE TO WINE and Frequently Asked Questions

Interesting info.
Oh, and most oak aging (or stainless steel or concrete) is at most 16 months. Wine is fermented in vats then transferred to barrels of one type or another for aging & secondary fermentation. When people talk about aging wine, it is in the bottle.

Oak is simply more expensive than stainless steel. It imparts familiar flavors and aromas to a wine (and some tannins which can assist the bottle aging process). A wine that will age decades was almost certainly in an oak barrel before it was bottled.

After 9-16 months in a barrel, wine is bottled. Before it is ready for sale, a winery will age the wine in bottles. Many fine wines are released by the winery 2-4 years after harvest. Some wines spend years in the bottle at a winery before they are released for sale. This makes the process more expensive, and longer bottle aging is typically reserved for more prestigious wines that will command higher prices.
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