# wine aging

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-aging/783464>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 31, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-aging/783464 "2017-03-31T23:49:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-aging/783464/1 "2017-03-31T23:49:07Z")

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I’m a non-drinker I’m not familiar with most of the finer points of Alcohol fermentation. As I understand it most wine is not made to be aged and that few actually improve over long periods of aging. What characteristics lead to good aging and is there a point were aging ceases to improve quality? If you found an ancient roman wine cellar would it be drinkable or would it be essentially vinegar?

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-aging/783464/2 "2017-04-01T00:25:36Z")

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I was unfortunate enough to be gifted a wine cellar full of old expensive wines from all over the world. The estate was going to trash it and offered it to me. The majority of them were over 20 years old as the man had not traveled much the last couple of decades. Nearly all the bottles I opened were oxidized, off color and off taste. Wine cellar was not climate controlled but he lived on the coast in CA and was well built so it did stay cool.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2017, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-aging/783464/3 "2017-04-02T05:53:38Z")

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In general, only red wines age well, and even then almost all the mass-produced stuff is not meant to be aged. [Wikipedia has a very good article on the subject.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_wine)

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-aging/783464/4 "2017-04-02T15:02:12Z")

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> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> The majority of them were over 20 years old as the man had not traveled much the last couple of decades. Nearly all the bottles I opened were oxidized, off color and off taste.

I’ve been told that the best plan here is not to drink the wine but rather to sell it. This is based on the assumption that whereas few wines age well, lots of people think they do and will pay too much for old stuff.

You then use the money to buy newer & cheaper bottles of wine that’s actually good to drink.