Question:
Depends on the grapes and the winemaking. If he wants to store it for many years, begin with top quality grapes. And don’t forget the SO2. Eddy – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, A friend has just started making his own wine, and is curious about the life span or shelf life of homemade wines. He’s young, and wonders if it’s worth his while storing it for 25 or 30 years, or if he should just drink it all within the next 5 to 10 years… Perhaps someone here will be able to answer his question. Thanks. Barbara
Response:
I quite disagree. At our last Cellarmasters meeting, I was lucky enough to get to sample a 1974 Syrah made by one of our local members. What a treat! Velvet smooth, yet still a dash a pepper. It was quite incredible. It is no small trick to make wine that can age 25 or 30 years, but I believe that the home winemake is quite capable of it, should he or she have the skill, the right wine, the patience, and a good cellar. Meg writes: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -But I would doubt that any homemade wine would last 25-30 years. Indeed, few commercial wines will last that long.
Response:
Why should homemade wines have a shorter shelf life than commercial wines?
Actually, homemade wines if stored properly should last longer than commercial wines. The commercial folks have the advantage of high grade filtering to ensure all contaminates are removed from there product this fact alone affords some protection against spoilage and helps the longevity of the product. While us home winemakers must take the old adage that cleanliness is next to Godliness to ensure a good wine. But were the home winemaker truly has an advantage is the storage of the finished wine. A home winemaker can ensure the finished wine is stored in a cool 15C dry, dark place and commercial boys can not. At the winery everything possible is done to provide perfect storing conditions but things begin to break down in transportation to the stores and restaurants. For example here in southern Alabama were summer temperatures often reach 95F+ and the inside of truck exceed 140F+ and the wine I have unloaded for resale was transported in plain old trucks no A/C no heater no nothing. The wine may spend from several hours to a few days in such a state until it is finally delivered and unloaded. Once it gets to it point of sale it fairs just as poorly sure the display and sales areas of the stores are temperature controlled but the back rooms seldom are. Restaurants do a little better at in house storage and perhaps wines which travel the more northern latitudes do a little better but, my point is that we home winemakers can pamper our wines from Carboy to the goblet commercial wines once they leave the protective bosom of they wineries are thrown (and having unloaded many a truck) I use the word literally into the cold and or hot cruel world.
Response:
In the middle 1960’s we discovered some wine in the basement of my uncle’s house that he had put up in the 1930’s. It was delicious to my taste, although it’s lost most of it’s particular fruity flavor that homemade wine usually has. And I’ll swear it was more than 20% alcohol — it tasted more like a thin brandy. I’ve often wondered if there isn’t some mutant yeast around that can survive and produce a little alcohol over decades. - Bill F.
Response:
Why should homemade wines have a shorter shelf life than commercial wines? Ann
It’s a common misconception. The longevity of a wine depends on many factors, of which I’d say the most important are quality of fruit, hygiene during winemaking, style of winemaking, and storage conditions. Anyone who gets good fruit, maintains good hygiene, makes the wine appropriately, and stores it in a good location can make a wine that last 10 or more years. I’ve had non-commercial wines that were far superior to most commercial wines that I’ve tasted. I’ve also had commercial wines that were so bad that if bad winemaking were a crime, the winemaker would be on death row. Quality of wine and amateur/professional status don’t seem to be directly related. Surprisingly enough, I read an article a while back that stated that something like 95% of the world’s wine production is meant to be drunk within 3 years of harvest. Personally, I’ve made wines that were poor, average, and exceptional. In no case did a wine have a shelf life longer than 5 years. Of course, my better wines seemed to have a *much* shorter shelf life than my poorer wines! ;-) Seriously, I’ve done a few reds that, had I still any bottles left, I would expect to be good at 10-12 years old. — Bryan Fazekas
Response:
Why should homemade wines have a shorter shelf life than commercial wines? Ann
Response:
T&M, You may be talking about the "Encyclopedia of Home Winemaking" by Pierre Drapeau and Andre Vanasse — published by Pendulum Press.
Brien, I’ve spent most of the day so far setting up a new 66 gal fish tank and haven’t had time to look for the book, but this sounds right. Maybe you could answer Ed’s questions. I don’t remember anything about fresh or frozen grapes. If I read it, it didn’t register since as far as I know, neither are available in central Alberta. Thanks Mary Anne – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Mary Anne: This is very interesting info! BTW do you remember how age was measured in this analysis? Does 4 months old mean bottled for 4 months?, or does it mean 4 months after pitching the yeast? Also; were wines from fresh & frozen grapes represented on the graph? If so, do you recall how they stacked-up against each other & the "fresh juice" wines? Thanks Much; -Ed
Response:
T&M, You may be talking about the "Encyclopedia of Home Winemaking" by Pierre Drapeau and Andre Vanasse — published by Pendulum Press. The chart on page 117 has curves for concentrates, semi-concentrates, sterilized musts and fresh musts. The "tasting limit" line shows that concentrates are OK to drink at 4 months, full maturity is reached at 12 months and they are "done" by 2 1/2 years. Semiconcentrates are OK from 5 months to 4 years. Fresh musts are OK beginning at 7 months and are OK well beyond 5 years (the graph only goes to 5). The vertical axis is labeled "Tasting" and only has minimum at the bottom and maximum at the top. I have heard people argue that there is no reason why wine made from homemade kits shouldn’t last several years. The text of this book states that the homemade wines do not contain as much tannin as fine wines. Brien K. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Somewhere, (at the moment I can’t say exactly) we have a new book on wine making. It has a graph type chart in it with time in years across the bottom and some measure of quality up the side. It has a line part way up that they site as "minimum acceptable drinking quality." (I’m afraid I can’t remember what precisely they were measuring.) There are several different starting kits graphed, from all concentrate, through blends of juice and concentrate, to pure juice. The "lowest" line is the all concentrate "28 day" kit type. According to their graph, this reaches the acceptable quality line about 4 months of age, continues to rise a while longer before leveling off, and starts dropping in quality between 2 1/2 and 3 years. They stop the lines just after they start to drop, so you have to extrapolate to guess when it goes below the acceptable line, but for these kits it would be around 4 years. The pure juice kits reach a much higher quality level, and don’t start to drop until 5 – 7 years.(They also seem to drop at a slower rate.) There are several "in between" lines which have different proportions of juice/concentrate blends. Basically, the more juice as opposed to concentrate, the higher the quality of the product and the longer it is stable before starting to drop in quality. (Which shouldn’t be a suprise!) I’m afraid that’s all I remember at the moment, its been a couple of weeks since I looked at the book, and it seems to have disappeared temporarily. If anyone wants more details, I will look harder, or go down to the store and look at their copy. Having said that, we’ve been making wine for 10 years now, mainly from juice concentrate blends, and have some of most things still in the basement. So far the only wine which has passed its shelf life is a plum wine from fresh prune plums. It is a matter of personal taste to a certain extent. Mary Anne Hello, A friend has just started making his own wine, and is curious about the life span or shelf life of homemade wines. He’s young, and wonders if it’s worth his while storing it for 25 or 30 years, or if he should just drink it all within the next 5 to 10 years… Perhaps someone here will be able to answer his question. Thanks. Barbara
Response:
A friend has just started making his own wine, and is curious about the life span or shelf life of homemade wines. He’s young, and wonders if it’s worth his while storing it for 25 or 30 years, or if he should just drink it all within the next 5 to 10 years…
Depends on how well the wine was made, as well as the source material. I can’t speak for concentrates, but frozen or fresh grapes are about equal, considering equal quality fruit, and my earliest wines (‘82 and ‘83 reds) are still good. The ‘83 Pinot Noir is perhaps in decline a little, but at some point it becomes a matter of personal taste. I’ve had Chardonnay last for 10+ years – actually longer than most commercial Chardonnay. If I had any of my ‘87 _left_, it’d still be good, I’m sure. Storage is an important consideration as well. One of my partners took his ‘87 Chardonnay back to Arizona, where it got rather warm. His wine was history _long_ ago. The reds hold up better in abusive conditions, but the aging process is a function of temperature. First order kinetics is not a bad approximation, actually. That says that the reaction rate (aging) approximately doubles for a 10 degree C increase in temperature. Gross oversimplification, I know, but just a rule of thumb. Tom S
Response:
Somewhere, (at the moment I can’t say exactly) we have a new book on wine making. It has a graph type chart in it with time in years across the bottom and some measure of quality up the side. It has a line part way up that they site as "minimum acceptable drinking quality." (I’m afraid I can’t remember what precisely they were measuring.) There are several different starting kits graphed, from all concentrate, through blends of juice and concentrate, to pure juice. The "lowest" line is the all concentrate "28 day" kit type. According to their graph, this reaches the acceptable quality line about 4 months of age, …snip…
Mary Anne: This is very interesting info! BTW do you remember how age was measured in this analysis? Does 4 months old mean bottled for 4 months?, or does it mean 4 months after pitching the yeast? Also; were wines from fresh & frozen grapes represented on the graph? If so, do you recall how they stacked-up against each other & the "fresh juice" wines? Thanks Much; -Ed — "Wine is sunlight, held together by water…" -Louis Pasteur
Response:
Barbara, Conventional wisdom has it that homemade wines won’t remain drinkable for more than about 2-3 years. But I laugh at that as I drink my 5 year old Chablis. But I would doubt that any homemade wine would last 25-30 years. Indeed, few commercial wines will last that long. Ron
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, A friend has just started making his own wine, and is curious about the life span or shelf life of homemade wines. He’s young, and wonders if it’s worth his while storing it for 25 or 30 years, or if he should just drink it all within the next 5 to 10 years… Perhaps someone here will be able to answer his question. Thanks. Barbara
Response:
Somewhere, (at the moment I can’t say exactly) we have a new book on wine making. It has a graph type chart in it with time in years across the bottom and some measure of quality up the side. It has a line part way up that they site as "minimum acceptable drinking quality." (I’m afraid I can’t remember what precisely they were measuring.) There are several different starting kits graphed, from all concentrate, through blends of juice and concentrate, to pure juice. The "lowest" line is the all concentrate "28 day" kit type. According to their graph, this reaches the acceptable quality line about 4 months of age, continues to rise a while longer before leveling off, and starts dropping in quality between 2 1/2 and 3 years. They stop the lines just after they start to drop, so you have to extrapolate to guess when it goes below the acceptable line, but for these kits it would be around 4 years. The pure juice kits reach a much higher quality level, and don’t start to drop until 5 – 7 years.(They also seem to drop at a slower rate.) There are several "in between" lines which have different proportions of juice/concentrate blends. Basically, the more juice as opposed to concentrate, the higher the quality of the product and the longer it is stable before starting to drop in quality. (Which shouldn’t be a suprise!) I’m afraid that’s all I remember at the moment, its been a couple of weeks since I looked at the book, and it seems to have disappeared temporarily. If anyone wants more details, I will look harder, or go down to the store and look at their copy. Having said that, we’ve been making wine for 10 years now, mainly from juice concentrate blends, and have some of most things still in the basement. So far the only wine which has passed its shelf life is a plum wine from fresh prune plums. It is a matter of personal taste to a certain extent. Mary Anne – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, A friend has just started making his own wine, and is curious about the life span or shelf life of homemade wines. He’s young, and wonders if it’s worth his while storing it for 25 or 30 years, or if he should just drink it all within the next 5 to 10 years… Perhaps someone here will be able to answer his question. Thanks. Barbara
Response:
Hello, A friend has just started making his own wine, and is curious about the life span or shelf life of homemade wines. He’s young, and wonders if it’s worth his while storing it for 25 or 30 years, or if he should just drink it all within the next 5 to 10 years… Perhaps someone here will be able to answer his question. Thanks. Barbara
Response:
I would guess they should store 5-10, if made well. I think one thing that allows the age of a wine, is the amount of tannin in a wine. Red’s have more tannin than white. Personally, my wine doesn’t make it past a couple of years, as i drink it all.. 
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, A friend has just started making his own wine, and is curious about the life span or shelf life of homemade wines. He’s young, and wonders if it’s worth his while storing it for 25 or 30 years, or if he should just drink it all within the next 5 to 10 years… Perhaps someone here will be able to answer his question. Thanks. Barbara
If you like this post and would like to receive updates from this blog, please subscribe our feed.