Old bottles of red wine, will they be drinkable?

[flanajb]

Over the years we have collected a few bottles of red wine. Most of them are your standard sub £10 bottles of red wine, and date from 1994 to 2006.

They have been kept on their side in the cupboard, but I wonder whether they are still drinkable. I opened a bottle earlier and it did not taste like vinegar but it did have quite a sharp after taste and was not smooth like a decent bottle is. I think it might be because a cheap bottle of red is never going to get better with age.

If there are any wine connoisseurs out there who could give me the low down then please do, otherwise, I might wake up in the morning with the hangover from hell

 

[Doug B]

It`s made to be drunk......simples

 

[heatherw]

There's only one way to find out....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There are very few wines nowdays that are designed to keep - even the best "supermarket" wines only improve for a year or two (maybe, and with an odd exception). Any light red and most whites will be heading downhill after a couple of years, better whites and heavier reds a couple of years longer, maybe. If it smells ok and tastes ok, it's unlikely to do you much harm.

 

[flanajb]

I agree that drinking it is the only way to find out, but I have stuff to do tomorrow!

 

[Harbo]

Unlikely to be keepers especially if stored in the house which will be subject to variations in temperature.
I've tried in the past to keep good quality wines in the house to my cost.
They won't kill you and you should really go by the taste (and smell) - if your happy with it drink it?
I've bought some expensive wines for my grandchildren's 18th which were supposed to be keepers and stored in a cellar - they turned out badly!

Rod

 

[James C]

If you want keepers best place is the Vineyard I seem to remember that during good grape years there is always a surplus to requirement so some gets the longevity treatment. It would be interesting to know how the process is different.

Personally I'm more of a single malt man which usually goes the distance.

 

[RogerS]

If you'd like to send them to me then I will be more than happy to tell you if they were OK to drink

 

[flanajb]

If you'd like to send them to me then I will be more than happy to tell you if they were OK to drink

There is another bottle that I found earlier that I cannot work out what it started life as. The wine has gone a whisky colour. You can have that one if you want

 

[wobblycogs]

The wife and I were up at the three choirs vineyard a year or two back and got chatting with some of the wine makers there. They were adamant that the vast majority of modern wine should be drunk in the year it's sold or the next year at the latest as very little wine produced now is designed to age.

Personally I'd drink it but I'd be careful about any with real corks. I doubt that you'd get enough oxidation to make the wine taste like vinegar but you might have had mould growth in the cork which you wouldn't want to drink. If you break the cork open and it still smells fresh it will probably be ok.

 

[flanajb]

Personally I'd drink it but I'd be careful about any with real corks. I doubt that you'd get enough oxidation to make the wine taste like vinegar but you might have had mould growth in the cork which you wouldn't want to drink. If you break the cork open and it still smells fresh it will probably be ok.

That is a really interesting little tip, regarding breaking the cork in half. All of the bottles we have contain real corks.

I notice that most wines in the supermarkets these days have screw tops rather than corks.

 

[wobblycogs]

Part of our visit to the vineyard was a tour of the bottling plant. Apparently they do almost no wine with corks any more as the failure rate is too high compared to screw caps which have a failure rate of all but zero. They were actually trying to decide whether to just remove the section of the bottling machine that did corking as it was almost never used but it slowed down the rest of the process as the bottles passed through it. All in all it was a really good (if somewhat pricey) day out and you get sozzled into the bargain.

 

[Benchwayze]

Never found a bottle of red wine yet that didn't remind me of vinegar. :mrgreen:

 

[Greedo]

Right, apologies if I come across like a tosser here but here's the deal.

Wine is actually a hobby of mine which is a complete surprise to a lot as I don't come from that background. Was brought up in a very rough part of Glasgow and the only wine most of my family experienced was alter wine at church lol.

It is a hobby of mine that I have pursued as an adult as I like things I will NEVER know it all. Like woodworking.

I have put myself through professional qualifications at the WSET. Wine and Spirit Education Trust.

Wine only has true aging potential if it has certain qualities. In red wine high tannin content and high acidity. White wine has no tannin as the tannin comes from the skin of red grapes. Tannin is the thing that gives you that gum drying feeling like black tea does. Acid is felt on the side of your cheeks like a lemon draws your cheeks.

Grapes high in tannin like Cabernet Sauvignon (which most Bordeaux wines are predominately made of) are ripe for aging and actually too austere to drink young. They are hard work and not mellow. As time goes by the tannin mellows down and they become far more palatable. They still retain that freshness though where they still taste of fruit and juicy but yet have complex flavours going on in the background.

To cut a long story short, it is also the way the wine is made as Burgundy is exclusively made from Pinot Noir and that grape has a very thin skin and very little tannin. But it has a high acidity so can be aged like certain whites like Riesling, Chablis and wines from the Loire Valley etc......

The bottom line though is any wine in general bought from a major off sales or supermarket that is under a tenner is really a wine that should be drunk within 2 years if red or white and maybe a bit longer for a red.

Anything longer and the wine is on the downward spiral and although will not kill you or make you ill will not really taste that great. It won't have that fruitiness, acidity and taste bland and a bit vinegary.

It also has a lot to do with how you store it. Wine should not be kept in a kitchen in any shape or form if it's not going to be drunk in the space of a month or so. Nor an airing cupboard, garage or a room where there is a fireplace (real, electric or gas) as the temperature in these rooms fluctuates hourly (as us woodworkers know) and direct sunlight is the devil for wine.

Wine is fine in a dark, pretty constant temperature, quite room like under your stairs. Wine unlike Whisky which the minute it's bottled is "dead" IE it won't mature any more IE an 18 year old malt will always be an 18 year old malt, wine is a living breathing thing that changes in the bottle until it is drank.

My god I'm rambling lol. Bottom line is your under a tenner wine will be fine if you can stomach it but in no way will it be improved. If anything it will be quite harsh not the best thing you've ever drank.

 

[Benchwayze]

Very illuminating. Thanks Greedo.

My 21 year old Glenfarclas is still 21 years old then. I'm down to the last dram, but it's still drinkable after some years in the bottle. And it doesn't become corked! Hang on... I'm now down to my last 'half a dram'. By golly that did me good! I'd better see off the last, so it doesn't evaporate! The angels have had their share.