03/04/08 Old Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. You know, assuming that a wine is going to be very good just because it is older could be risky, on today's program we'll talk about the idea of older wine being better than younger wine. Most people have the impression that just because a wine is old it must be good. This is a common misconception that seems to be perpetuated by the fact that although only a very tiny fraction of wine's produced in the world are age worthy, they seem to be the one's that are constantly written about. To most people this intimates that all wine benefits from aging and that the older it is the better it must be. This is not necessarily the case. First of all most of the wines produced today are made to be drunk young; white within the first year to three years and reds in the first three to 5 or 6 years. Red wines are the most age worthy. Red wines have components, such as tannin not found in most white wines, that will help to preserve them. So if you want to lay down, or age a wine, first consider do you have the right place and conditions to store it in? Then, is the wine from a reputable producer known for wines that age well? Ask your wine merchant to help you with this. If you are just beginning to collect, perhaps you might want to invest in Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel as they are known to age well. Buy a case so that you can monitor the progress of the wine over the years. However, self control is the final point that I will make today, because if you aren't willing to wait, you may never know if that wine aged well or not. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at Vine to Wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Vine.