Most California wine is designed to be drunk directly off the shelf. However, a number of wineries produce wines that have the characteristics to be
“cellared” in the hopes the wine will improve with age. Aging a wine that wasn’t designed to be aged will only degrade its flavor. Consuming a wine soon after vintage when it was designed to be aged will result in another unsatisfying experience. Refer to the individual Varietal pages of this site to get hints on how long a wine can be stored after purchase. If you have the opportunity, consult with the winemaker, who always has the best idea of how the wine will improve with age.
If you plan on aging wine to improve its flavor, temperature stability in the storage area is key. An ideal temperature is 57 degrees but if that’s not available, find a temperature stable, dark place, and avoid moving the wine.
Rapid temperature swings cause air to be expelled or drawn into the bottle through or around the cork, which can quickly damage a wine. Wine that was designed to be laid down can age gracefully even at 68 degrees as long as the temperature remains consistent. It’s likely they won’t improve the way they would have at a lower temperature but for a casual wine drinker, the differences shouldn’t be too great as long as it’s enjoyed on the younger side of mature rather than waiting for it reach full maturity as it would have at cellar temperature.
In order to help you discover proper ageability for your varietals, we’ve created two infographs below showing the suggested amount of years to age popular French wines:
The time period indicated on or near the label of each bottle represents the optimum time to age a well-made wine for each type of Varietal. You can click on any bottle to be taken directly to that Varietals encyclopedia page and learn more.French Red Wines Infograph — Download PDF version
French White Wine Infograph — Download PDF version
