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Maturity, Micro-Oxygenation, and Other Factors 159
MATURITY, MICRO-OXYGENATION,
AND OTHER FACTORS
Many wine drinkers believe that aging or cellaring wine is always preferable to drinking
a bottle that was just purchased from a local wine shop. This is certainly not the case.
Champagne and other sparkling wines are ready for consumption when released and do not
improve with age. Port improves with age only if it is vintage Port. Most New World wines
are formulated to be ready to consume immediately upon their release (though this is not
to say that wines from higher-quality producers will not benefit from additional aging). So
why be concerned with aging of wine? The determination of any advantages to aging wine
has to do with personal preferences in most white wines and the impact on wine texture and
flavor in some red wines.
While quality Riesling and Chardonnay can be cellared for more than ten years, most
whites shouldn’t be aged for more than five to seven years (many even less). Aging of white
wine has an impact on color and flavor. Young wines are pale and even green-tinged in color
and are generally fruity in nature. Aged whites become darker in color (in many cases changing
from yellow to gold to dark amber) and lose their fresh fruit character, taking on different
flavors. This transition can be thought of similarly to the process of fresh fruit becoming
aged and dried. For instance, if you cut open a fresh apple, it has a fresh, crisp apple taste
and smell. If you leave it exposed to the air, it will darken in color and lose some of its
original freshness and crispness. If you were to dry the apple, while its flavor, color, and
taste would be different from the fresh apple, it would still be pleasurable, although in a
quite different form. The same is true for aged wine.
Red wines change in color and flavor as well but also may change in terms of the
amount of astringency. Color in red wine may change from bright red to brick red to brown
as it ages. Color intensity also tends to decrease in red wine as it ages. Flavors may change
from red or dark fruits to distinct flavors such as tobacco or leather. In many cases, the
original wine varietal character is replaced with a more subtle and complex bouquet. One
of the best-understood parts of the aging process is the smoothing of the tannins that are
originally present. Most premium red wines will improve in flavor, bouquet, and smoothness
as they age. Cabernet Sauvignon from premium vineyards will reach optimal drinkability
after about ten years of proper handling and aging. Red wines that can be aged for substantial
periods of time owe this ability to the tannins added during the winemaking process. Red
wines with lower levels of tannin (such as Zinfandel and Pinot Noir) can age much like
Cabernet but generally begin declining at an earlier stage. Thus, red wine’s maturity can
have a substantial impact on the forcefulness of its texture and ultimately impact pairing
decisions. For instance, while a Cabernet will generally be more tannic than many other
reds, a consideration of its aging is important when matching with foods to ensure a proper
balance of textures. It would be a crime to overshadow a finely aged bottle of Cabernet with
a food dish that is much too rich and powerful.
There seems to be two main advantages to aging wine. The first is the smoothing
characteristics of aged, quality red wines. Second is the sense of exclusivity involved in
drinking old wines. Very old wines are appealing to consumers more because of their historical
appeal than because of gastronomic factors. 17 Clearly, the preferences of the consumer
have a major impact on the value of wine aging.
Light, high temperatures, and air are the key enemies when aging wine. Few of us
have the ability to create a light-, humidity-, and temperature-controlled cellar. If you decide
to create a cellar (whether as a restaurant operator or in your home), it is important to
consider whether the wines will be cellared for the short term, intermediate term, or long
term. As pointed out above, not all wines benefit from aging, and only wines of higher
quality and complexity will live longer and benefit from being cellared. There are several
factors that impact a wine’s ability to develop in the bottle and maintain a long life in the