I like wine. Mmm. Yummy, yummy wine, God’s gift to the grape.
My friend doesn’t drink. But he doesn like to entertain, so people bring drinks to his house for his parties, and when they leave, he puts their beers in the fridge for the next party. As a result, he often ends the party with more booze than he started with.
Also, my friend never throws anything away.
So I was there for a party over the weekend, and, knowing my fondness for wine, he offered to give me some. Mmmm, yummy. He gave me a nice pinot noir that I’ve tried and liked. Yay. And then, he pulled out of his closet this fifteen year old bottle of white zinfandel. Delicato, 1991.
I’m terrified of it. It’s sitting there right now, staring at me, laughing. What horrors lie inside? I can’t imagine that it’s aged wonderfully, adding subtle flavors to the normally oversweet and charmless white zinfandel. But what is in the bottle? Pink vinegar? Deadliest poison? Non-Euclidean horrors from the deep? I want to open it, and I am afraid to touch it.
Maybe I should just put it in a strongbox and throw it in the river before it breaks out on its own.
It probably won’t be tasty, but it can’t turn into anything dangerous.
So drop the fear, open the bottle & pour a short glass. If it tastes vinegary, wait 10 minutes for it to air out a bit, then taste again. If it still tastes vinegary, pitch it. Unless you like vinegar-flavored wine, in which case it’s safe to drink.
White zinfandel is for people who don’t like wine. It’s wine-for-beginners. It’s just a sign of bad taste, like asking for steak sauce with a Porterhouse.
15-year-old white zinfandel makes the baby Jesus cry.
Red wines can, in the right environment, get better with age.
Whites (or pinks :dubious:) can be held about 6 months before they begin turning to vinegar. Well, refrigerated, maybe 8 months.
You are very right to be afraid. You can probably kill weeds with it.
I make wine as a hobby. I would try it just to see what happens to a wine that is that old. The oldest wines I have are three years old and they seem to still be getting better with age. I just started three years ago so that is the oldest reference I have to go by.
I’ve been told by peers in the community that five years is about the max for quality. When I make a batch of wine I keep five bottles in a controlled environment for trying each year (one bottle per year) around the holidays.
I’ve got several varieties (11) so I can concievably try 11 different wines once per year every year for five years (you get the point).
We tried some of my Grandfathers’ wine that was about 15 years old once and it was drinkable, but not very good. We were able to sip it down and did it out of respect for his passing.
Like I said, try it, it won’t kill you. Let us know what you find.
Even if you like it. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, this would be it.
The fact that drinking white zin causes individuals to earn irreversible reputations for bad taste has been proven by sociologists the world over…
There is nothing wrong with white zinfandel. It’s a perfectly fine wine, particularly refreshing on a hot summer day. A fifteen year old white zinfandel, however, there is *everything *wrong with that. It’s definitely volatile. Just toss it. I like the strongbox idea.
You don’t have a bottle of white zin anymore–you have a bottle of white zin vinegar. Which could prove really delicious in salad dressings, sauces, etc. But no-one–and I mean no-one–could swallow that stuff straight.
Winespeak. It most likely is volatile (or has a high volatile acidity.) Or oxidized. There is just no way a 15 year old white zinfandel is in any drinkable, or at least enjoyable state.
It won’t harm you to drink it, but it will most likely taste more like nail polish remover than wine.
Ah…good. Then my first instinct was correct. Which was:
You don’t age white zinfandel! Ick.
I don’t know too much about wine but even I know that much.
Well Fisher. You’re a Doper. You’re supposed to fight ignorance. Occasionally that’s not pretty. So I’m afraid you’re just going to have to open it up and tell us all what happens to old zinfandel.
And anyway you might end up with a decent salad dressing.