False for 90% of Reds and 99% for Whites. Experts tend to agree that that comparatively few wines actually taste “better” when aged more than five years past the vintage date under average storage conditions; on the counter, in a wine rack in the living space or next to an appliance.
Chateau LaTour 1933
Wow! The belief that wines do get better with age is based in old Roman and Greek texts and in the New Testament where Luke says “No man…, having drunk old wine, straightaway desireth new; for he saith, The old is better.”
Wines change with age, but only the very few are even capable of “improving”. And, of course, the notion of improvement is largely in the mind of the taster. Besides the personal preference for the smell of a wine, three factors influence whether you will enjoy a wine more as it ages.
One, it must have a chemistry that is capable of improvement.
Second, the storage conditions must be constant and correct: temperate, humid, dark and solid (minimal vibration).
Third, an investment of time and capital is needed to monitor the aging progress, so as to know when the wine is ready, has reached its peak, and begun to decline.
So, wine is more like vegetables than other alcoholic-based beverages. They change over time and you can enjoy them in various states of maturity.
Even among the few table wines that are able to improve with age and stored in ideal conditions, maybe 20% of them will make it to twenty years before the aromas and flavors begin to deteriorate. Of course there are exceptions, but our topic of discussion is the general perception. Most people who taste an “aged” wine for the first time are disappointed, because what they are usually getting is simply an “old” wine that most probably has been not properly stored.
So, our advice to most wine lovers is to buy your wines to be drunk over the next year.
Or, you can get more storage time for your wines by keeping them in a wooden wine cabinet where the temperature, humidity and light is well controlled and the vibration is kept to a minimum.
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