Apogee and ability to care:
The climax of a wine and its ability to guard the two concepts are related, but not to be confused.
Both depend on:
- The color of wine
- The way in which it was prepared
- Its formation (acidity, degree, anthocyanins, tannins),
- The year (weather conditions)
- And conditions of storage, only the latter are under the control of the amateur.
The two concepts are related because the more a wine can age, it requires more time to reach its peak.
Many people are disappointed when they drink young wine great care: flavors are poorly developed, and its hard tannins hit the palate.
These people are missing one basic fact: the wines of care and time to do we tell them that we must wait.
Many people tend to drink wine at the end of its theoretical capacity of aging, and disappointments are just as frequent.
The reason is simple: after reaching its peak, the wine begins to decline. A wine of great care is slowly declining, but he declined ...
Try to drink the wine as close as possible to its peak: delicate exercise, since the peak varies significantly from one wine to another in the same vintage, and wine of the same area saw its peak vary significantly from one year to another.
The climax of a wine can only be seen, and it was already too late. The best we can do is to taste the wine from time to time ...
Note however that the great wines of custody are fairly tolerant: their evolution is slow, it is easier to drink near their peak. On the other hand, these wines are followed closely, and we know quite well their behavior.
Also, for wines such as custody of the Great Castles of Bordeaux and the best Australian, we indicate in brackets the age range [minimum, maximum] in which they reach their peak, depending on the year. This will be done in the chapters dealing with these wines. In this chapter, we indicate the approximate average age at which each style of wine reached its apogee.
Storage Conditions:
The conditions necessary for the proper conservation of the wine are in order of importance:
- Room temperature, which must be between 10 and 16 ° C. Que la température soit basse ou élevée dans cette fourchette n'a pas grande importance, encore que la température idéale soit 12°C. The temperature is low or high in this range is not important, although the ideal temperature is 12°C.What is important is to avoid temperature variations: not seasonally slow, but the daily changes. Better cave warm (but not exceeding 17 ° C) but the temperature is stable, that a cellar which went from 12 ° C at night to 16 ° C during the day, in a cellar, the wine gets tired quickly.
- The humidity of the premises at least 70% below 60%, the caps and let dry air.
- The lighting of the local wines (even more whites than the reds) are afraid of light. It acts as a catalyst for certain chemical reactions that break down dyes. Very actinic lights such as neon are the most harmful.The stained glass of the bottle ensures better conservation.
- The lack of vibration in this regard, note that noise is a source of vibration.
- The lack of odor (oil, fruits, etc.).. Odors are able to infiltrate through the cap ... The above conditions relate to the premises.
Regarding the bottle, they should obviously be lying in order to ensure cap moisture it needs to fulfill its role. NB: unlike the bottles of alcohol should remain standing, cat alcohol attacks the cork.
The cap:
For us in our cellar, the appearance of a bad taste is not always the fault of the cap: it absorbs odors, we must take care not to store wine or oil near the close of materials which ferment or decompose.
Also not to be repeated often enough, the cap can not properly play its role in heat and humidity conditions correct a temperature almost constant and at least 70% humidity.
Below 60%, the cap becomes dehydrated and loses its flexibility, increases the risk of having bottles couleuses serious defect which causes the rapid deterioration of the wine.
Notice to those who buy wine at the birth of their children to drink their marriage under ideal conditions of storage, the best little plugs only last about twenty years.
To avoid any unpleasant surprises, it is better to replace them every 15 years, capped by the same quality.
Bottling:
If you need to put wine in bottles, it can not reasonably be that of ordinary wine. However, do not forget the following basic precautions.
Choose a time and dry. March and September months are generally favorable.
Do not skimp on quality corks. You soak a dozen hours in fresh water added to wine in the bottle.
The wine should not fall to the bottom of the bottle, but sank against the wall.
Do not pull too quickly, too quick a draw wine saturates the air and fatigue. Leave as little air as possible in the bottle.
The wine must then rest for 2 to 3 months because it is his "bottle sickness".
Ability to care:
In general:
Primeur wines are not suitable beyond the spring.
There is little incentive to keep a table wine over a year because it did not improve with age; obvious exceptions: the "Super Tuscans" and other wine of high quality with no have no right to an appellation of origin (or who do not wish to be called at which they are entitled).
- Beaujolais, the current white wines and rosé wines, most in their early youth, declines rapidly beyond 18 months.
- Dry White, Small red: 3 years.
- Ordinary white Burgundy: up to 3 or 4 years.
- Good dry white wines of Bordeaux: Up to 4 or 5 years.
- Burgundy red: 5 to 8 years (more for large raw).
- Grand cru white Burgundy and Bordeaux, and Loire Chenin best: up to 10 years.
- Great red wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy: 15 to 25 years or more to the biggest in the best vintages.
Soft white, semillon, late harvest, straw wine, red wines: a frequently several decades. Of course, these are only general rules, and everyone can verify, on occasion, that the exceptions are numerous in the sense of a prolonged custody, so it should not apply when the we do not know the actual capacity of aging a wine, especially when you're in the presence of a poor vintage wine.
Or, when the storage conditions are not entirely satisfactory.
Always keeping in mind the previous comment, here is now a wine classification based on the average age of their peak.
Wines to drink in the year :
Beaujolais nouveau, and more generally all the wines first.
- The pink.
- White light and dry, more wine is light, the sooner it should be drinking.
- And of course the sparkling light, whatever color.
White to drink before 3 years:
- Muscadet,we know some Muscadet-able in exceptional vintages to age-15 to 20 years, but they are exceptions. The existence of exceptions does not invalidate the rule, and this can be done at about any wine, we do not repeat ...
- Sauvignon (Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé)
- Most dry Alsace.
- Burgundy appellations generic.
- Champagne brut without years.
- Dry White Graves .
- New World Chardonnay.
Red drink before 3 years:
- Corbières and Minervois
- Touraine of generic names
- Cotes-du-Rhone Villages
- Beaujolais
- The red light south-west
- Almost all non-red Italian Riserva
- Almost all red Spanish Rioja including because they are sold ready to drink.
- Many Cabernet Sauvignon of the New World.
White to drink between 3 and 5 years:
- The best dry Alsace
- Dry Loire Chenin
- Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes (but beware, the words Vieilles Vignes offers little guarantee).
- Quincy and Reuilly.
- White Burgundy and Chablis.
- Good white Graves Chateaux.
- Sauternes small castles or small vintage.
- Vintage Champagne.
- QmP German and Auslesen.
- Good Chardonnay of New World.
Red drink between 3 and 5 years:
- Italian Riserva.
- Spanish Reserva.
- Good Cabernet Sauvignon New World.
- New World Syrah.
White to drink between 5 and 8 years:
- Premiers Crus and Grands Crus of Chablis and the Côte de Beaune.
- Good vintages small Castles in Sauternes.
- Vouvray good vintages.
- Alsace Selection of Nobles grains.
- Best vintage Champagne.
- The best German Auslesen.
Red drink between 5 and 8 years:
- Small vintages of Premiers Crus and Grands Crus of Burgundy.
- Good vintages of generic names of Burgundy.
- Côtes du Rhône: Côte Rôtie, Hermitage, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and so on.
- Most of Crus of Bordeaux.
- Small millesimes of Grands Crus from Médoc and from Graves.
- good vintages of Barolo.
- Super Tuscans.
- Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva.
- Great Cabernet Sauvignon New World.
- Great New World Shiraz
Wines to wait more than 8 years:
- Grands Crus and best vintages Sauterne.
- Late Harvest Grands Crus of Alsace.
- Premiers and Grands Crus of the best red vintages of Burgundy.
- Best vintages of Grands Crus of red Bordeaux.
- Best vintages of the Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
- German wines the most concentrated (Beerenauslesen, Trockenbeerenauslesen).
- Italian Passito, Recioto, Liquoroso, Vin Santo.
- Yellow wine and "Vin de Paille" of Jura.
- Vintage Porto.
- Oloroso sherry.
- Tokay australiens Semillon VT.
- Genuine Tokay in Hungary.
Diseases of wine:
The vine has escaped the hail and frost, the grape has not undergone sagging, did not die of blight or chlorosis, did not suffer water stress, was not eaten by starlings or blackbirds, and has not been spoiled by the botrytis, the fermentation was accomplished without blocking ...
Does this mean that wine is saved? Not so fast!
Many other dangers threaten the wine bites acetic or lactic, running, bitter, fat, casses (white, blue, brown, or copper), madérisation, odors (mercaptans), undesirable tastes (filters, drum, d 'bitter almond, light, or cap) is a long list of threats to the wine.
The main-but not solely responsible: yeasts and bacteria. Some yeasts are close mellow wine in the bottle, others are increasing the acidity, and still others generate a "taste of a mouse" ...
Acetic acid bacteria are able to turn a good wine into vinegar (acetic bite). Or to drop the alcohol content while increasing the volatile acidity and causing a strong smell of vinegar (sign of the presence of ethyl acetate).
In 1994, the press reported the "fall inexpliquable alcohol found in some caves in California" ... However, the reason is known but unspeakable: poor hygiene!
Some lactic acid bacteria delicious residual sugar in the sweet wines, and produce acetic acid, lactic acid and carbon dioxide. It is the lactic bite, which affects insufficiently fermented sweet wines.
Others, attacking tartaric acid, malic and citric are beneficial during malolactic fermentation but annoying when that cause unwanted fermentation in the bottle; the incident may lead to runs (high volatile acidity, off-gas) or until the bitter (excess of glycerol).
Of course, thanks to advances in enology, these diseases are becoming increasingly rare, but remain ready to strike at the slightest inattention by the winemaker.
But yeasts and bacteria are not the only culprits of all accidents that may affect the wine. De nombreuses maladies sont dûes à des altérations physico-chimiques : Many diseases are due to alterations of physico-chemical .
Ferric break (or breaks white, or blue) resulting from an excess of iron,
Cupric breaks, resulting from an excess of copper salts.
Tastes because poor maintenance of equipment (taste filter, drum, or bitter almond).
Casse brown alteration of the color of young white wines subjected to excessive oxidation,
etc. etc..
When the wine is beyond all these dangers, a touch of lyricism is allowed really, good wine is a wonder!
Do not leave this section without reporting a false default: the white crystals that worry many fans, and some waiters are as ignorant of undissolved sugar (while firmly believing that it is sulfur), are reality of potassium bitartrate (commonly known as the gravel).
The bitartrate is present normally dissolved-in-all well made wine, it crystallizes in the cold.
His visible presence, not to worry, should reassure you, because it means that the winemaker has not made any special treatment to get rid of them, treatment that can not nothing but wine. Bitartrate crystalline, tasteless, is embarrassing for the view that, to not be bothered, just leave it in the bottle.
