When it comes to the changes in the liquor bottle, many wines are curious, what kind of changes will it bring to the wine body? Some old wine merchants say that the quality of liquor will change dramatically through aging, is this really the case? Today I will compare several old wines and new wines of the same brand, talk about the difference in quality, and then discuss the quality changes in liquor bottles.
For this comparison, I mainly choose the wine of famous wine companies, mainly because many famous wine companies can now operate normally, in contrast, some local famous wine companies that were once popular, and then closed down due to various problems such as operation, so we can not find products that can be compared with old wine in new wine.
However, in the famous wine companies, I also carried out some screening, after all, this comparison mainly talks about the change of bottle aging, so it is enough to compare some typical wines with each other. Speaking of typical first, the distillery has been brewing good wine for decades, and the execution process has not changed, and it is best to even show the number of ways, after all, it is easier to compare the changes in the quality of the wine in the bottle. Therefore, in a comprehensive judgment, I chose Fenjiu, Moutai Liquor, Luzhou Laojiao and Wuliangye New Liquor and Old Liquor, which represent Daqu Qingxiang, Qiangxiang and Sauce Xiang liquor respectively, covering the three mainstream aroma types of baijiu. Through this comparison, talk about the bottle storage for their style changes.
Fenjiu is an old famous wine in China, among several major head liquor companies, I personally feel that the style of Fenjiu is the best, which not only adheres to the characteristics of Fenqing, but also shows that the number of roads has not changed. 60 ° Bofen (batch: 19890118) is a good wine, at that time it was a high-end Daqu sake. The aroma of this wine has a prominent aroma of flour, as well as a hint of green apple and sullen old dates. When it comes to the smell of sullen old dates, it is actually the aging of the wine and the aroma is sullen. For this aroma, I personally feel that it is not appropriate to weigh it, but fortunately, the taste of this fen wine is not heavy, and it does not interfere with the presentation of the main aroma of the wine. In terms of wine body taste, its entrance is slightly aged, the aroma is flamboyant, there is a sense of rushing, the middle of the wine body is slightly sweet, and then it is clean. Overall, this wine has a strong entrance, a neat closing, and no mud and water.
In addition to 60 ° Bofen, I have also tasted the 86-year-old Pipa Fen, this wine is a grade higher than Bofen, its entrance flour breath is more prominent and full, the wine body is more powerful, the sense of topping is better, and the entrance is slightly sullen and old jujube flavor. However, this taste is not as prominent as the 60 ° Bofen in 89, which may be the reason why the strong powder aroma of its entrance suppresses this taste, of course, it may also be that the different characteristics of the wine lead to different changes in aging, making its sullen old jujube flavor not so prominent.
Speaking of the sullen old date flavor, it is a taste of aging wine, which can complex the aroma and flavor of the wine body to the right extent, but it will indeed suppress the authentic style of the wine body and make it appear dull. After all, this flavor itself has a sour feeling, which will affect the fruit aroma presentation of the wine body, so that the wine body lacks brilliance and pleasure. For this taste, some people also call it old taste, which is mainly oxygen oxidation of the reducing substances in the wine body, and finally forms an organic acid with a sullen flavor. Of course, different wine bodies present this style differently, and different agings present it differently.
Qinghua Chinese (batch: 20190401) is a new Fenjiu, this wine uses Tan Aged Wine to flavor, comparing it with bottled old wine, we can feel the difference between the aging flavor between Tan Cun Old Wine and Bottle Old Wine. Tasting this wine, its style is more like the Pipa Fen wine of 86 years, but it is not as full and powerful as the Pipa Fen wine. In addition, it does not have a hint of sullen old jujube flavor, but with a comfortable chen fragrance, this chen fragrance with a clay flavor and a little sesame fragrance. Speaking of this characteristic, I personally feel that it is the result of the aging of the altar of fragrant wine, although the aging wine body of the altar is the same as the aging body of the bottle, it will have an old taste, but the bottle of wine is old, sour, and the altar wine is old. This difference is personally related to the texture of the pottery altar wine, because this old taste is more or less with the taste of fired earth, for this taste, heavy will also affect the purity of the fragrance of Daqu, but the taste of fenjiu qinghua Chinese dress is just right, which is very rich in the taste of the wine.
When it comes to the earthy taste of the altar wine, it is an uncomfortable taste to be heavy. In general, the new pottery altars of the winery will be repeatedly cleaned, and the exquisite wineries will soak them with edible alcohol or low-end wine for a period of time and then pour out the wine inside. The purpose of this is to remove as much free soil dust as possible from the pottery altar, so that the wine filled in the new altar will not have a very prominent earthy taste after aging. However, because of the texture of the pottery altar itself, the wine that it has aged out has a little bit of this taste, but to a reasonable extent, it shows a comfortable and elegant taste. Maybe this is a big difference between bottle wine and altar wine.
Of course, there is a new difference between bottle wine and altar wine, the sealing of altar wine is not sealed like bottle wine, but it is interesting that although bottle wine has higher wine loss, it is not as easy to lose degrees as bottle wine. Personally, I think this may be related to its sealing, the sealing of the altar wine will use hemp paper and other fibrous substances, this kind of substance is a bit like a filter, will reduce the spillage of organic substances such as ethanol, so that the proportion of evaporation of water and ethanol in the altar is balanced. In contrast, in bottled wine, because the boiling point of ethanol is lower than that of water, it is more volatile, and it is precisely because of this that old wines that run wine often show a low-grade wine state.
On the whole, there are still obvious differences between the bottle storage of Daqu Andong and the old wine of the altar. In terms of wine quality, the flavor of the old wine in the bottle will change, but there will be no significant improvement in the grade. It will have a little more old taste, thirty years of bottles of Daqu sake, generally old taste will not be heavy, it can enrich the taste of the wine body, but to a certain extent, it also sacrifices the gorgeous sense of the wine body. Therefore, the general flavor of Ōkushi sake stored in the bottle for thirty years will change, but the quality grade has not changed much.
Compared with Okuma sake, the changes in fragrant liquor are more diverse, mainly because there are many styles and genres of fragrant liquor. Generally speaking, Lunong style wine that shows the characteristics of cellar aroma is more stable than Wuliang strong wine that shows the characteristics of multi-grain song. Lunong is represented by the old cellar in Luzhou, when it comes to the old cellar in Luzhou, its old wine and new wine are a road number, although the new wine has increased rice in the brewing raw materials, but its proportion is low, and the main raw materials and proportions have not changed much. When it comes to Luzhou old cellar and rice, it is mainly to add a touch of sweetness to the wine body, so that the taste is more comfortable and pleasant.
85 years 60 ° Luzhou Old Cellar Special Qu is a very classic Lunong product, which well shows the characteristics of old Luzhou strong wine. The aroma of this wine is outstanding, with a hint of cellar aged aroma and a faint aroma of roasted wheat, the wine is pure, the rations are continuous, and the flavor is balanced. The wine has an aging, stuffy old date flavor, but it is not prominent.
At present, there are two ways of the national cellar, one is to take the traditional pure style of wine, which accounts for the majority of the products in the national cellar series; and the other is to show the outstanding roasted wheat aroma and take the strong style of the strong wine, which is not much, represented by Master Zeng Na. Although there are not many such wines in the products of the national cellar, it can also be said that luzhou old cellar has two kinds of brewing execution in high-end wine production, or has different execution operations in different seasons. Therefore, two kinds of Lu nong aromatic wine with different characteristics are brewed. In the current national cellar series of wines, even if you take the pure style of wine, the wine body is more or less a little roasted wheat aroma, this aroma may be made in the design of the wine body, and this is also the biggest difference between the current national cellar and the old Luzhou old cellar.
Taking Master Zeng Na Wine (Batch: 20191011) as an example, there is a prominent aroma of roasted wheat in the aroma of this wine, which is a compound aroma of roasted wheat, old cellar, honey sweet, mellow and bad. Compared with Lao Lute, its roasted wheat aroma and honey sweet aroma are more prominent, but the cellar aged aroma is obviously weakened, without a hint of sullen old jujube flavor. In terms of wine body, Lao Lute should appear rounded and soft, and Master Zeng Na should be slightly rougher in comparison.
Overall, after 30 years of aging, Lu nong fragrant wine has maintained a good style. In contrast, Wuliangjiu has changed a lot. Among Wuliang liquors, I chose Wuliangye, after all, this is the representative of Wuliangye. Among the old Wuliangye, the radish bottle Wuliangye in the early 80s is the most classic, and the level of Wuliangye in this period is better than that in the late 80s and 90s. The glass of Wuliangye in my hand is 19831111 batch of 60° wine, which has a strong aroma, thick with sauce, a bit like a fragrant wine. Its aroma is relatively heavy, the smell of old dates and honey sweet fragrance is also very prominent, fortunately, the sweet aroma of honey is a good hedge against the smell of quxiang and the smell of old dates, so that the aroma is not too old, but because the smell of ripe apples and other flowers and fruits is not displayed enough, so the aroma is not comfortable and pleasant. This wine has a slight sour and bitter feeling in the mouth, this taste is not the taste of filling, but the taste of slowly aging in the bottle, which is a bit like the feeling of Western medicine capsules, which is not very comfortable. The entrance is strong and has a sense of rushing, and the sweetness of the middle section dissolves this taste well, and the taste is continuous and the tail is long. Overall, this wine is magnificent and has a grand pattern, showing the skeleton of the top aromatic wine, but its flavor has aged, the sense of comfort and pleasure has been greatly weakened, and the wine body has entered a period of decline. Compared with the old cellars of Luzhou in the same period, this wine wins in the aura, loses in the taste and flavor of the wine, and the comprehensive level has its own advantages. But if you turn back the time 30 years to open the bottle, I personally feel that Wuliangye in this period is still better than the Luzhou Old Cellar Special Qu.
Interestingly, my other bottle of 85-year-old Wuliang (batch: 19850101) liquid showed good wine body condition. Although this wine also has the taste of old dates with aged old dates in the bottle, it is far less heavy than the Wuliangye in 1983, and the aroma of this wine is also lighter, so the aroma of the wine is slightly softer, and this also just achieves its compound aroma presentation. After all, these two rich flavors are not heavy, and the interference with other flavor presentations is also less. In terms of wine body taste, the flavor of this wine is still relatively symmetrical, the entrance aroma is strong, the display is strong, and the wine body is continuous and continuous. Overall, this wine is the highest level of Wuliangye aromatic wine that I have drunk so far, and it can show such a level today, part of which is that the wine quality grade is very good when filling, and the aging taste it produces when the wine body ages does not interfere too much with the flavor presentation of the wine body, so that it retains a high wine quality state.
For the difference in style between the two cups of Wuliangye, I personally feel that their style is different when filling. In 1985, the aroma of the cup was not so heavy, the wine body was slightly purer, and the 83 cup of koji was heavier, and the wine body was more gorgeous. After more than 30 years of aging, the gorgeous aroma of the 83 cup has become more aged into a sullen old date flavor, which also makes the flavor difference between the two more prominent.
In the current Wuliangye products, Wuliangye 50 years (batch: 20180626) can show the characteristics of old wine, after all, it uses a large proportion of old wine seasoning. Compared with the old cup, this wine does not have a stuffy old date flavor, but it has another old old taste, which is a compound taste, which combines the old taste, honey sweet fragrance, and cooked apple aroma to form a comfortable composite aroma like sandalwood. For this taste, it is much more comfortable and elegant than the sullen old jujube taste, but this taste will indeed affect the overall presentation of the wine body. The wine has a slight bitterness in the mouth, but the sweetness quickly dissolves the taste, and the middle part of the wine is continuous and the tail is long. Overall, this wine shows the characteristics of Tan Chen Lao Wuliangye very well, but it is not a complete presentation.
In contrast, the comprehensive display of Wuliangye for 30 years (batch: 20201121) I think is better, mainly because the characteristics of its old wine are not as prominent as those of 50 years, so its various fresh tastes are better, the entrance is almost no astringent, and the balance of the taste is better.
On the whole, the aging of Wuliangye wine body showing multi-grain qu is more prominent than that of Luzhou Old Cellar, and the aging characteristics of Old Wuliangye in different periods are also different. Personally, I feel that the more new wines show the fresh floral and fruity aromas of wine, the more prominent the smell of old dates will appear. In contrast, the purer style of the liquor does not have as heavy aging taste.
For the strong wine, in fact, in addition to the Luzhou cellar aroma style and multi-grain style, there are also Jianghuai Mian soft old fresh, Quanxing compound chen fresh and Tuo brand thick with special style, but these brands have produced high-end wine so far, but the style is not the old style, here I will no longer make a comparison.
Compared with the strong aroma and fragrance, the flavor of the sauce flavor is maintained the best, which may be because the sauce wine itself is more flavorful, although the aging of the wine body will produce some stuffy old jujube flavor, but this taste interferes with the rich taste of the sauce is limited. This is the case with the 1982 Moutai wine I tasted, which has a distinctly sullen old date flavor in its aroma, which coordinates the sauce burnt paste of the wine itself, adding a rich atmosphere and complexity. In terms of taste, this wine has a strong aroma, a sense of rushing, the taste is slightly scorched and bitter, although the aging taste has strengthened this taste, but it does not interfere with the balance of its flavor, the sweetness of the middle section is very good to dissolve this taste, and the tail section is clean and refreshing, unlike the current sauce wine.
Speaking of the current Moutai wine, the 18-year concierge Moutai shows its style very well. Its body is a composite Chen Quxiang display, so the style is significantly different from the Moutai wine of the early 1980s. However, in terms of taste presentation, it is similar to the Moutai wine of the 80s, the entrance is slightly bitter, and the sweetness of the middle section is very good to dissolve this bitterness, which also shows that the flavor of the bottle of aging sauce wine is not much changed. In contrast, the changes in wuliang and daqu are more obvious, after all, the taste of these two types of wines does not have much sourness and bitterness, and the flavor is relatively light, so when it ages out of this taste, its wine style is affected by it and slowly changes.
Through the comparison of these four brands of old wine and new wine, I personally feel that the old wine is slightly softer than the new wine (of course, this new wine is also the base wine of the old cooked). The body of the wine will have a little aging taste, but the characteristics and intensity of this aging taste vary depending on the style of the wine and the storage environment. Combined with my experience in tasting old and new wines, I personally feel that the wine body that shows the fresh flowers and fruits is more likely to age the smell of old dates, and the taste of the high acid and lack of floral and fruit aroma is not easy to age. In addition, the aging of the altar wine and the aging of the bottle wine are different, and the old wine of the pottery altar is somewhat fragrant with clay, and it rarely has the smell of stuffy old dates. However, whether it is an altar or a bottle of wine, the sour and bitter taste of the wine will be aggravated after aging. If the wine itself is sour and bitter, showing this characteristic, then the taste of the aging of the wine body is very weak on its style; if the wine body is really sweet, soft, compound floral and fruity, or clean, its aging taste is disturbing their style presentation.
In general, comparing the new and old wines of various roads, I personally feel that the strong aromatic wines that show the characteristics of multi-grain qu, for example, Wuliangye and Jiannan spring wines have been stored in the bottle for more than 20 years, and the wine body has entered the aging period, and the comprehensive flavor presentation has begun to decline. After 20 years of bottle storage, the wine body has also entered the aging period, but its aging efficiency is not as high as that of the grain qu strong aromatic wine, the comprehensive flavor has not decreased significantly, and the level is comparable to that of the past; although the sauce wine has an aging taste after 20 years of bottle storage, its overall flavor has not been disturbed, so its wine body state has not entered the weakened aging period.
For this comparison, I personally think it is still very interesting, but to sort out the relationship between this is still a big project, which requires us to compare many new and old liquors. In addition, in the old wine, different bottle storage status, different wine lines, different filling wine styles will produce different aging characteristics. Therefore, for this type of article, I will write later, than for more styles of wine, leave a record, and share it with everyone. Finally, regarding the change in the style of liquor aging, what do you think as a wine lover and industry? Welcome to leave a message in the message area, we discuss together.