Ageing wine

[wondersofwine]

Welcome to the board. The short answer is you don't (know that is). Experience with the variety of grape and producer helps. For example, Winoweenie samples his Cabernet Sauvignon bottles now and then but starts drinking them up with ten years or more after the harvest (drinking 1996 wines now). Many vintage charts (you can do a Google search for wine vintage charts) suggest hold, drink now or hold, past prime but that is a generality for say all top end red Burgundies from 1990, and specific ones will last longer than the recommendation and others will go downhill sooner. Likewise, some people like the mature wine to show secondary and tertiary characteristics (maybe more leather, less fruit, etc.) while others like the younger, fruitier style. Ask an experienced wine retailer or the winemaker, etc. if you want to know about a particular wine that you want to have in its prime. Some may peak for a 5-10 year period, giving you some leeway.
Bucko answered whilst I was typing away.

[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 10-20-2006).]