How to Enjoy an Aged Wine: Storage, Decanting, and What to Expect

For the past two years we have offered library wines, some a decade old or more, to our Amour and Devotion club members each August.

An older bottle is a different experience from a young one, and not everyone has had the chance to develop a feel for it. Wine is unusual in this regard. It can get better decade after decade if it is made right and stored right. The same bottle tastes different in year three, year ten, and year twenty, and those differences are what library drinking is about.

Here is what to expect, and how to set yourself up for the best version of it.

What Changes as a Wine Ages

Tiny amounts of oxygen pass through the cork over time. That slow, controlled oxygen exposure drives a steady chemistry change in the bottle. Color shifts. Tannin softens. Primary fruit aromas like blackberry and cherry give way to more complex secondary and tertiary notes: dried fruit, dried flowers, dried herbs, leather, tobacco, forest floor.

The specific path each wine takes depends on the chemistry of the wine itself and on the conditions it has been stored in.

The Three-Legged Stool

The three factors that determine how long a wine will age are acidity, tannin, and fruit intensity. All three decrease with time, and when any of the three is gone, the wine collapses. I compare a wine to a three-legged stool: kick out any leg and the whole thing falls over.

The wines that age the longest have all three in good supply and in balance. That is one of the things Brian Carter Cellars wines have a reputation for. Our blends are built with structure in mind precisely because we want them to drink well at five, ten, and fifteen years.

For white wines, the equation is slightly different. There is not much tannin to work with, so acidity and fruit do most of the work. A high-acid white with concentrated fruit can age for decades. A low-acid white will not.

Storage: What Actually Matters

The single most important factor is temperature stability, not the absolute temperature. Cellaring wine on a coffee table where the temperature swings ten degrees between day and night is harder on the bottle than storing it in a basement that is consistently a bit warmer than ideal.

The ideal range is 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Our library wines are kept at about 60 degrees, every day, with no fluctuation. That consistency is most of why they show as well as they do.

A few other storage notes:

• Store bottles on their side so the cork stays in contact with the wine.
• Keep light out, particularly UV light.
• Limit vibration where you can.
• Humidity between 50 and 70 percent helps preserve the cork.

Bottle Bouquet

There is one quality that increases with age, and that is bottle bouquet. It is the layer of dried fruit, dried herbs, leather, and floral notes that builds over time and never exists in a young wine.

Bottle bouquet is what makes an old bottle a special occasion. The fresh fruit drops back, the structure softens, and that secondary register opens up. In my view it more than makes up for the loss of primary fruit, but I will admit it is not for everyone. There is nothing wrong with preferring a young, fruit-forward wine. Knowing the difference is what lets you decide what you like.

Sediment and Decanting

Older wines often develop sediment. Most of our wines have very little, but it is worth standing a bottle upright for 12 to 24 hours before serving anything ten years old or older. That lets any sediment settle to the bottom of the bottle so it does not end up in the first glass.

If the sediment is significant, decanting is the right call. The decanting procedure for an old wine is different from the one for a young wine, and the difference matters.

Decanting a young wine is about oxygen exposure. Splashy, vigorous decanting accelerates the wine, opens up reduction notes, and pushes the wine in the direction of an older bottle. Pour aggressively into a wide decanter.

Decanting an old wine is about separation, not aeration. You want to leave the sediment in the bottle and minimize oxygen pickup. Pour gently, slowly, with a candle or flashlight under the neck so you can see when the sediment is about to come through. Stop pouring as soon as it does. Serve from the decanter quickly.

Enjoying the Library Release

If you are opening a library bottle from our Amour or Devotion club allocation:

1. Stand the bottle upright at least 24 hours before serving.
2. Open it carefully. Old corks can be fragile.
3. Decant gently if there is sediment.
4. Pour into a wide-bowled glass.
5. Take notes on what changes in the first 30 minutes, the first hour, and the first two hours. The wine will keep evolving.

Then enjoy.

Brian Carter