Can you speed up the wine aging process?
And what happens when wine ages, anyway?
Hello there! I'm Dr. Vinifera, but you can call me Vinny. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the fine points of etiquette to the science of winemaking. And don't worry, I'm no wine snob—you can also ask me those "dumb questions" you're too embarrased to ask your wine geek friends! I hope you find my answers educational, empowering and even amusing. And don't forget to check out my most asked questions and my full archives for all my Q&A classics.
Dear Dr. Vinny,
My wife described a wine to me as a “too-tight Burgundy.” That made me think: Is there a way to accelerate the aging process for a wine that’s too young to drink?
—Miles, New York
Dear Miles,
Before I simply tell you “no,” let me back up a bit.
When a wine ages, a bunch of things are happening at once. Flavor and aroma compounds, tannins, pigment molecules and other crucial chemical components of the wine are changing, transforming into new compounds that are responsible for the distinct flavors and texture of aged wine. Sediment forms. A wine’s color will fade and often turn ruddy or brown.
Around the 10-year mark—though it depends on the wine—the perception of acidity, alcohol and (if applicable) sugar starts to change. Aromas and flavors will shift from primary, fruity notes to secondary and tertiary ones. Fruit flavors mellow out and fade to make room for more savory details of earth, spice, forest floor, leather and truffle. In red wines, pronounced tannins will soften, giving a silky, harmonious mouthfeel.
Some wine lovers will tell you that all you have to do to mimic these processes is decant a wine. It’s true that a wine can become more expressive and aromatic with decanting. But exposing a wine to oxygen is not going to replicate all the other details of aging. Aging is a much more complex process.
I should also warn you about trying to accelerate a wine’s aging by keeping it in less-than-optimal storage conditions. If you expose it to heat, you’re probably going to end up with a cooked, dead wine. If the cork dries out, the wine will oxidize.
You can’t rush the breaking in of a pair of jeans, leather boots or the seasoning of a cast iron skillet. There are some things that need optimal conditions and time—sometimes, many years or even decades—to truly show their best.
So no, there is no way to mimic the process of aging, but a tight wine will probably be less tight with some decanting—or even just some extra swirling in your glass. And much as I love well-aged wines, drinking young wines and seeing how they open up in the glass can give a lot of pleasure too.
—Dr. Vinny
