Expiration for Reds

[Innkeeper]

Hi Roses, and welcome to the Board. There is no rule what-so-ever about red wine in general. Every wine from every region, and in many cases from every producer is different. Start with the fact that 90+% of all wine, including red, is made to be consumed within a few years of production. Some even less. It was not too many years ago that you could hardly find an Italian White that was not dead on arrival.

The small number of red or white wines that age well has to be learned. I've been drinking wine for a long, long time including many aged out lovelies, but when I get ahold of a wine that I think will age, but don't know how long; I ask.

Let me give you a couple of examples of what I've learned from experience. A wine club from a winery I belong to sends a case of eight wines twice a year. Usually five or six of these are potential agers, usually not very long (two to eight years). Since they usually send new vintages of wines they've sent before, I know from experience how long to age each one out. The second example is/are regions that experience have tought you will usually age out in a given number of years. A well constructed Brunello goes fifteen years. Second or third growth Bordeaux in a good vintage go ten years. Crozes-Hermitage are best after five years, so are the whites Australian Semillion, Sancerre from Loire, and many well constructed Rieslings from various places.

I don't know a book or website that will teach you all you need to know aging, and we all learn something new all the time. One rule of thumb is that if it costs less than $15-$18, drink it up. If it cost more, most of the time it will do better with some age, particularly if it is red.