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+--- Thread: How Long to Keep White Wines (/thread-16321.html)
- carrie4g - 03-17-2006
I have a collection of white wines which I have never opened dating back to 2000. I heard that you are supposed to drink white within 3 years and reds can be held on much longer. How can I tell what I should drink and what I should hold onto. Thanks!
- Kcwhippet - 03-17-2006
Welcome to the WineBoard, carrie. What you heard is a basic generality, because some white wines can age for quite a few years, and conversely some reds should be drunk within a year or two of release. It all depends on what whites you have in your collection. Let us know what they are and we'll be able to give you a much more definitive answer.
- Innkeeper - 03-17-2006
Hi Carrie, and welcome to the Wine Board. To some degree it depends on exactly what you have. Some (very few) whites are fine after six years or more. I'm considering buying some '00 Australian Semillon, one that falls into that category.
Keep in mind tha 95% of all wine, red included, is made to be consumed upon release. Many of these will hold for a few years, so we would need to know what you have.
- winoweenie - 03-17-2006
Love it whenced someone posts one minuet afore the mighty IK and says the same ole-same-ole. WW(giggle-snort) [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
- Kcwhippet - 03-17-2006
Hey, IK's older than me (not by much), so his fingers are slower on the keyboard.
- WineCOW - 03-20-2006
carrie4g – When discussing aging you must keep in mind that not all wines, even those of the same varietal (or grape), year and winery, age the same. All wines are intrinsically different so aging really becomes more of an experiment or gamble, rather than an exact science. Unfortunately many people are confused about aging and believe that all wine (especially red) becomes better as it gets older. This causes them to age wine for way too long, trying to reach that mythical point of perfection until the wine is dead.
My recommendation would be to not worry about saving the wine in hopes of it getting better, but rather drink it whenever you’re in the mood to enjoy some white wine. Unless of course you are saving it for a special occasion then hopefully you bought several bottles and you can occasionally open one up to make sure that the wine is not passing it’s prime. But then again who’s to say the one person’s preference (or idea about a wine’s prime) is the same as another.
Sorry for being elusive, but you really should rely on your own taste buds as opposed to what the “experts†say…including me. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
If you’re interested in more info on aging visit:
http://www.winecow.com/features/wc_myths_aging.asp
- Innkeeper - 03-21-2006
Wine Cow, please confine your advertising on the this board to the appropriate advertising thread.
- carrie4g - 03-21-2006
Thank you all! This has been very helpful. Now if only someone would put together a wine site where you enter your vintage year, etc. and it tells you when it will max out. My problem isn't drinking so much as it that the wine keeps coming in (people must think that's the easiest present to buy!).
- Innkeeper - 03-21-2006
If somebody did that Carrie, it would only be their opinions. That is if anyone could do it as there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of different wines in the world, and all vary from vintage to vintage.
As stated, the best way is to learn through experience. If you have a question about a specific wine, give us a shot and we will try to advise.