Can white wine be aged? Should white wine be aged? No matter how you ask the question, the answer given by most people is usually wrong. The ability to age white wine depends on many varying factors which Winery-Sage.com is here to help you identify.
We’ve created a visual guide to help you judge whether your French Varietal white wine can be aged. The graph uses bottles of varying length to indicate how long a type of wine can be aged. As with our “Aging Red Wine” post, the optimal period for aging the wine is listed on or near the label. The ages showing whether the wine is too young (or immature) or too old (or tired) are also indicated near the bottle.
The difference between an age-worthy white wine and a red wine is that one of the main ingredients for aging — tannins –are much lower in white wines. Tannins can come from barrels, but the skins and seeds of the grapes provide the biggest source.
Because white wine is removed from contact with the skins and seeds much sooner than red wines, there is little chance for the tannins to be imparted to the wines. That means white wines will need to rely far more heavily on acid and/or alcohol levels to allow them to reach a ripe and pleasant old age. That being said, aging white wines is still dependent on the same three factors as aging red wines.
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