Collection wine

Collection wine is a high-class wine with additional aging. According to standards, after bottling, the bottles must be kept in cellars for at least three years. These can be vintage and vintage examples that you won't find in a regular store - they are sold at auctions. Collection wine can be stored in wine cabinets and enotecas for up to 30 years. Often these are rare wines from limited editions. Their value increases over the years, they are considered a luxury item.

Collection wine is a prestigious and, most often, expensive wine that takes a worthy place in a wine cellar or cabinet, can be stored for a long time and its value increases over time. A wine collection most often includes Grand Cru wines, German auction wines, rare wines, the number of bottles of which is limited, the most successful vintages (for example, 2005 Bordeaux), vintage sherry and samples with high ratings from wine critics. A good expensive wine has great storage potential and is a great investment.

When did it first appear

Collectible wines with long aging began to be made with the advent of durable glass bottles in the 18th century. But they became popular about a hundred years later. The wine industry was developing, new brands appeared on the market, often competing with each other. Drinks obtained from a rare grape variety or from a particularly successful harvest were released in limited editions. Connoisseurs were in no hurry to open them right away, and after a few years they discovered that the wine had changed its taste favorably.

How wine is made

Vintage wines from a special grape variety and a certain vintage can receive the status of collectible. Such wine is bottled under cork stoppers and sent to the enoteca - a specially equipped room of the winery. Important storage conditions are low air temperature, humidity of 75%, no sunlight. Wine should be kept in the enoteca for at least 36 months.

On the shelves, collectible bottles are stored horizontally or at a slight angle - so that the wine inside touches the cork, and the cork in turn does not dry out. If this happens, air will get in through the smallest holes and spoil the taste of the wine. This method of aging is called oxygen-free. Experts inspect the bottles once a year for damage.

What to pair wine with

With age, the taste of collectible wine changes - sometimes beyond recognition. The older the wine, the less of the usual fruity and floral notes it has. Some particularly rare examples can give off grass, wood, mushrooms and even gasoline.

Such drinks are rarely served during lunch or dinner. They are usually tasted separately from food, only a light snack is allowed - simple and bland dishes that will not interrupt the taste and aroma of the wine. Ideal options: bread, ciabatta, baguette.

Interesting facts

The cost of a bottle of collectible wine starts at about $100. The most expensive example was the Californian Cabernet Sauvignon Screaming Eagle 1992. In 2000, it was auctioned for $500,000.

When buying a collectible wine, the new owner is given a "wine passport" with full information about the variety, vintage, harvest location, production method and winery.

Collectible wines cannot be stored forever. They also have an expiration date. So, the taste of white wine deteriorates after 20 years of aging, red - after 35 years. The most durable is sherry. It can be stored for up to 100 years.

How long can different types of wine be stored

Among sommeliers, wine that is more than twenty years old is considered very old. The vast majority of wines, having passed the twenty-thirty-year mark, begin to age intensively, lose their taste, aroma, color, but ultimately will not spoil soon, if the storage was correct and the seal of the cork is not broken. It is easy to identify spoiled wine - a sharp smell of acetone immediately after uncorking the bottle and the corresponding taste. You will barely be able to take a sip and understand that it is time to put the wine in the sink. After decanting spoiled wine, the smell of vinegar comes, the taste does not change.

Young table wines are stored the shortest of all - ten years is too severe a test for many. Therefore, experts recommend drinking them the year after production and not saving them for later.

Now let's talk about aged wines, those that mature for much more than three months.

The shortest-lived of them are dry pink wines. Ten to fifteen years and you can no longer drink Rose. Of course, individual examples can be aged for fifty years, but this is the exception rather than the rule. One of the exceptions is Dom Perignon Rose. The average storage period is 30-35 years, counting from the date of sale, and not from the harvest.

Next in terms of shelf life are dry white wines. Fifteen to twenty years, often up to twenty-five years. That's the entire period of tasting value of white wine. But note that even after 25 years, many white wines do not spoil. They just become tasteless.

There is an exception - this is wine made from Riesling grapes. Even dry wines from this variety are quite viable forty years after the harvest. The secret lies in the properties of Riesling. High acidity gives the wines longevity.

There are several types of Riesling, divided by the degree of ripeness of the grapes. The sweetest Rieslings can be drunk up to a hundred years!

Red dry wines. 30-40 years of storage, then the tasting value tends to zero. The exception is wines from Nebbiolo grapes, in particular Barolo. Wines from this unique grape easily survive up to eighty years. Of course, from the point of view of experts, wines of such aging do not represent a special tasting value, but the main thing is that they are alive, you can drink them and study the works of old winemakers. After all, the methods of wine production have changed a lot in recent years. But that's a different story.

Expensive Bordeaux wines, such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild and other producers, also hold up well.

Sweet wines

Sweet white and red wines, including Riesling. This is a special type of winemaking that produces wines from fully ripened grapes, dried, raisins, frozen, or affected by noble mold Botrytis. The huge sugar content prevents the wine from spoiling. The shelf life is up to a hundred years!

There are also wines from Sardinia, Sicily. The weather allows the grapes to ripen so that the wines are 14-15 degrees. These wines are also stored for a long time, easily crossing the 50-year mark.

Liquor wines, ports, sherry can be stored for more than a hundred years, especially strong ports aged for two centuries are still drunk.

This is the situation with the longevity of various wines. This article on the viability of old wines may seem superficial to you, however, we have made a fairly accurate classification. All other things being equal, Riesling, Barolo and sweet wines (not to be confused with semi-sweet) are most likely to be alive, having a harvest year of the 40-50s, or even older.