Aging of Wine
The process of winemaking after harvesting, pressing and fermentation is followed by process of aging which lasts from several months to several years. The duration of aging process greatly depends on grape variety, vintage, wine region, winemaking methods, tradition and style. Common saying that "all wine improves with age" cannot be used for all wines. In reality, only few wines have the ability to improve taste, aroma and color through aging, while the majority of wines deteriorate after a certain period.
Besides grape variety, vintage and winemaking process highly important factor for aging of wine is ratio of sugars, acids and phenols to water. The less is water in grapes before the harvest the better are potentials of wine to age.
Very important factor in aging process is also the storage of wine during the
secondary fermentation. Some winemakers keep the wine in stainless steel vessels
with purpose not to influence the wine's taste and color, while the others prefer
the oak barrels which influence both taste and color but also increase the levels of
phenols. Thus wines that are exposed to oak during the secondary fermentation have
better potentials to age.
In general, red wines have greater abilities to age than white wines. According to Jancis Robinson about 10% of all top red wines has the ability to improve with age and only 5% of all top white wines. One of the most famous wines which improves with age is the Bordeaux wine the finest of which have to age for 10 years or even more to achieve the top quality.