I've read where some of you refer to some wines as "fading." What exactly is fading? Is it the tannins; the acidity; the fruit; the aroma; or better yet what is the telltale sign that a wine is fading?
Posts: 199 | Location: Southern Cal | Registered: May 16, 2007
Acidity is usually one of the last things to go and sometimes that's pretty much all you get. Color can give you a hint. If you have a red wine that's really brown - not usually a promising sign. You do sometimes get aromas - a wine that's been tightly sealed for years can have some bottle aroma but if the aroma disappears in a minute or two that's not promising either. Older wines have different aromas anyway - don't look for vanilla and cherry like you might find on a young wine. You usually don't have much in the way of tannins - after years and years they tend to fall out. Whites on the other hand, tend to get darker after time.
In either case, some of it is also palate preference. Some people find a wine past its prime that others find wonderfully mature. At some point however, both parties will agree that the wine is dead. And that point is reached at different ages with different wine. I had a 2002 grenache from Australia recently that was fading fast and in fact, I thought it was already too far gone. Had a 1997 Turley Hayne Vineyard zin two weeks ago that was just falling apart and was horrid, but I've had a much less expensive one from Fife Vineyards that was turning into a beautiful mature wine.
Cheers.
Posts: 258 | Location: NY | Registered: Dec 09, 2007
