Wine - Best Before?

Plus 10

Apologies if this a silly question or if its been asked previously but does wine have a best before date ... we have a number of bottles of wine which we have (in the shed!) for say 5/6 years - recently went to open a bottle of the red - seemed to be corked or at least had bits of cork in the wine - opened a second bottle same story ... so do cheaper bottles of wine have a best before date or is it just the way they were stored?

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Plus 10 wrote: »

Apologies if this a silly question or if its been asked previously but does wine have a best before date ... we have a number of bottles of wine which we have (in the shed!) for say 5/6 years - recently went to open a bottle of the red - seemed to be corked or at least had bits of cork in the wine - opened a second bottle same story ... so do cheaper bottles of wine have a best before date or is it just the way they were stored?

If they were stored standing up then the cork would have dried out.

Hagar

Wooden sheds, assumption there, are not good places to lay down wine. Too much temperature variation from summer to winter. Also cheaper wines are really intended for immediate-ish consumption. Take advice from your wine merchant as to wether a wine is worth laying down or not and for how long. Attach a little label to each bottle. You won't remember the details in 2/3 years.

Hammiepeters

Firstly, no reason to apologise for asking questions where wine is concerned. Many would say wine was kept in the domain of snobs,idiots and bores for a long time because the uninitiated were nervous about asking questions.
Some wines, particularly cheaper ones are made for drink now rather than later. No hard rules though. For example Aussie Riesling and Semillion is cheap but cellars well, sometimes 15+ years. Suc white wine changes in the process and can be delightful at 5,8,10 years. NZ sauv blanc like cloudy bay is expensive yet does not cellar well at all.
The only quick answer to the question is that some wines are great cellaring prospects and some really should be drank now. Price is not THE determining factor. Varietal(grape type), vintage(year), region, closures(corks,etc) all play a part.
As for corked wine. Often the cork will disintegate with time and care has to be taken when opening old bottles. A bad cork as such does not necessarily mean a ruined wine. ''Corked'' wine is cork tainted by a fugus called TCA, which to the practiced nose is picked up as a sort of wet heshen or mouldy sack character. It will ''dumb'' a wine to the point where it is almost unrecognisable from a healthy bottle of same wine.
If you want to know if your bottles in the shed are ok, post some details of what they are or better still, try them and enjoy.

Plus 10

Hammiepeters wrote: »

Firstly, no reason to apologise for asking questions where wine is concerned. Many would say wine was kept in the domain of snobs,idiots and bores for a long time because the uninitiated were nervous about asking questions.
Some wines, particularly cheaper ones are made for drink now rather than later. No hard rules though. For example Aussie Riesling and Semillion is cheap but cellars well, sometimes 15+ years. Suc white wine changes in the process and can be delightful at 5,8,10 years. NZ sauv blanc like cloudy bay is expensive yet does not cellar well at all.
The only quick answer to the question is that some wines are great cellaring prospects and some really should be drank now. Price is not THE determining factor. Varietal(grape type), vintage(year), region, closures(corks,etc) all play a part.
As for corked wine. Often the cork will disintegate with time and care has to be taken when opening old bottles. A bad cork as such does not necessarily mean a ruined wine. ''Corked'' wine is cork tainted by a fugus called TCA, which to the practiced nose is picked up as a sort of wet heshen or mouldy sack character. It will ''dumb'' a wine to the point where it is almost unrecognisable from a healthy bottle of same wine.
If you want to know if your bottles in the shed are ok, post some details of what they are or better still, try them and enjoy.

Thanks for the replies - yes wooden shed (stored sideways no idea why I thought that was the way to store them) - were put there during a clearout a couple of years ago - different types - one is a Torres Gran Sangre de Toro 2000 - first sip didn't taste great and with the cork decided not to risk it.

We tend to drink the bottles we buy - those we get as presents we leave and also have a stock building in the house also.

BeerNut

Plus 10 wrote: »

first sip didn't taste great and with the cork decided not to risk it.

It's perfectly safe. All booze, no matter how old, is safe to drink (in moderation). If you like how it tastes, drink it; if you don't, don't.

azzeretti

Ummm, I have made some pretty infested sh1te over the years that most certainly isn't safe to drink!!!

Also, depends on the booze, (off topic here) but it is possible to leave a low alcohol, ale for a couple of months and it would, under the wrong conditions, definatley not be safe to drink.

Also, certain bacteria will survive in wine and could be nasty to drink. Mind you, the rancid vinegar taste would be a dead giveaway!!

BeerNut

azzeretti wrote: »

Ummm, I have made some pretty infested sh1te over the years that most certainly isn't safe to drink!!!

If you made it wrong and it contains methanol or a high concentration of residual sanitiser, then it might not be, but at any reasonable ABV and at that sort of pH, what do you reckon could be living in there?

kerno

On the Cork Issue if its a good cork it wont break and fall into the bottle.

azzeretti

BeerNut wrote: »

If you made it wrong and it contains methanol or a high concentration of residual sanitiser, then it might not be, but at any reasonable ABV and at that sort of pH, what do you reckon could be living in there?

Are you serious? There are a myriad of bacteria that can survive in such conditions especially if the wine in oxidated.

Also, slightly off topic, its next to impossible to NOT have wine contain a small amount of methanol (cir. 0.01-0.02% %V) so your "If you made it wrong" line doesn't stand up too well.