Many people have these concerns. What is the difference between vintage, bottling date, shelf life and drinking date? Why is there so much information about the timing of a bottle of wine? How long can a bottle of wine be kept? Today, I will answer this question for you.
1. The “shelf life” of wine
In fact, the shelf life of wine is a very “unique” concept. If a bottle of wine does not have a Chinese label, we will not see the so-called shelf life of the wine. However, the “10-year” shelf life on a wine label does not reflect the upper limit of a wine’s ability to be preserved in terms of food safety. In other words, the “shelf life” on the back of the wine is almost meaningless.
Once a foreign wine enters the country, it is required to be labeled with shelf life information on any imported food label. Therefore, the back label will also be marked with the shelf life. However, since October 1, 2006, the country has formally implemented the “General Provisions on Labeling of Prepackaged Beverages and Wine”, which exempts wine and other beverages with an alcohol content of more than 10% from the shelf life requirement. Therefore, in recent years, some imported wines are no longer labeled with a shelf life.
2. The “vintage” of wine
The vintage refers to the year in which the grapes were harvested to make the wine. How much does the vintage affect the wine? It also depends on the wine. For ordinary wines produced in large quantities, there is little value in paying attention to the vintage. However, for prestigious wines, such as Château Bordeaux, the vintage plays a crucial role.
It can be said that the “vintage” on a wine’s label provides an insight into the influence of climatic factors on the wine in that year, and on the other hand, the vintage of the wine can be used to infer the development of the quality of the wine in the bottle. After the “year”, the most important factor is the influence of climate and soil conditions. Climatic conditions include light, temperature, rainfall, etc. Soil conditions include soil texture and organic content.
Soil conditions do not vary much for the same vineyard, but climate conditions do not. In some years, the climate is very good for the grapes to grow. If all the factors work well together, you will get exceptionally good quality wines and greater aging capacity. Such a good year will be much more expensive than an average one.
3. The “drinking period” of a wine
The drinking period is the stage at which a wine reaches a drinkable state. Wine is alive. Like humans, wine goes through a process of youth, development, maturity, peak and decline. In general, wine is best consumed at the peak of its life, which is often referred to as the optimal drinking period. Too young and the tannins will become coarse and the aromas less complex. If stored for too long, wines can lose their fruitiness after their peak.
Ninety percent of the world’s wines can be consumed within 1-2 years, only about 10% have the potential to age for 5-10 years, and only the remaining 1% of the top wines will reach their peak quality within 10 years.
4. Date of bottling
The date of bottling refers to the date the wine was bottled. In the Northern Hemisphere, the grape harvest season usually begins around September. The wine is picked, fermented, aged in oak barrels, and then bottled. The bottling date is usually marked at the time of bottling.
In the case of Chinese back labels, the date of filling is usually marked in the form of “year, month, day”, e.g. “Date of filling: November 11, 2014”. On the front label of imported wines, the bottling date is different. For example, the front label of a 2003 Bordeaux from France might be in the form “l5135 11:28”. This means that it was bottled at 11:28 on the 135th day of 2005. From this, it can be estimated that the bottle was aged for about 18 months, so the ageing time of the wine can also be roughly estimated from the date of bottling.
For most common wines, the wine needs to be consumed as soon as possible within 1 to 2 years of bottling. “Old and fragrant” is not suitable for wine. Inexpensive wines lose their aroma and taste after 1 to 2 years of storage. Therefore, the date of bottling is one of the main references to determine the drinking period.
