In people's impressions, wine is generally believed that the longer it is put on, the more fragrant it tastes; especially in liquor, 99% will not talk about how long the shelf life is. But this does not mean that all wines are more fragrant the longer they are; although "aged wine" is a good wine in people's impressions, people's understanding of aged wine is wrong, because the real "aged wine" refers to the wine stored in the sealed barrel, rather than the wine sealed in the bottle at home; so if it is a bottled wine, it is recommended to drink it in time for a certain period of time.
And today we want to talk about red wine, specifically there is also a "shelf life", and people subconsciously believe that the longer the wine, the more fragrant, in fact, it is not the case in red wine. So how long does a red wine have a shelf life? Is the longer the red wine is left behind, the better? Why does it take to decant wine while white wine doesn't?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="3" How long is the shelf life > red wine? </h1>
Usually it is 10 years.
In particular, most of the shelf life of imported red wines is 10 years, which is set by China's Food Law to set the maximum shelf life of imported wines to 10 years. But then China's "Food Labeling Management Regulations": alcoholic wines with an ethanol content of more than 10% (including 10%) can be exempted from labeling the shelf life.
Therefore, the shelf life of red wine is an inaccurate concept; in simple terms, for red wine, do not understand that the shelf life, quality is no problem; after the shelf life, the quality is a problem, can not drink. Foreign red wines that are worse do not have a shelf life, and in China, some consumers see that if the product does not have a shelf life, it is usually understood as a "three noes" product; so this has a "10-year" period on the red wine bottle;
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > the longer the red wine is left, the better? </h1>
Therefore, the "10-year" period is just a "number", and everyone can see that they have a number in mind; but this does not mean that the longer the red wine is put, the better.
The life cycle of red wine can be divided into growth period, maturity period and aging period, after aging into the mature period of red wine, the flavor taste is high-quality, this period is the best drinking period of wine - the drinking period.
But this drinking period also varies depending on the wine. Some wines have a short life and need to be drunk as soon as possible within 1-2 years, while some wines can still taste good after decades of aging, and are still within the drinking period. This ability is determined by the compounds in the wine, and the more fruitiness, acidity and phenols (tannins, anthocyanins), the more complex the reactions between the compounds, and the more worthy the wine is for aging. As the years go by, the tight tannins in the wine become supple and the flavors become more complex. So that's why Lafite in '82, more than 30 years later, is still so sought after.
After the drinking period, red wine has become relatively bland and tasteless. At this time, when you drink this red wine again, it is completely devoid of charm, and naturally no one pays attention to it, becoming a so-called "expired" product.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > why do you have to sober up when drinking red wine? And how long should I wake up? </h1>
There are two purposes for drinking red wine first:
Remove sediment: red wine in the brewing process will remain some yeast and macromolecular protein, although the winery will be process filtered, but more or less will remain some yeast and macromolecular protein, these substances will become precipitates in red wine for a long time, although these substances are not harmful to the human body, but will affect the taste of red wine, wake up before drinking wine can help remove sediment, so that red wine taste better.
Softening tannins: red wine in the brewing process, the phenols and tannin substances in the wine will undergo a chemical reaction, most of the aged red wine contains a certain sediment, decanting wine can separate the sediment in the wine, for mellow red wine, decanting wine can make red wine in contact with oxygen, so that its aroma is emitted, so that the aroma and flavor of red wine become more intense.
Therefore, the aroma of wine usually takes some time to be significantly emitted, and the length of decanting time depends on the "physique" of the wine, and the general wine with a shorter wine age needs to be decanted for about 2 hours to drink; but for the elderly wine, decanting should be particularly careful, and a little carelessness may make it lose the precious aroma of the wine, thus destroying a good wine with a high price.
Older wines may become significantly overoxidized and agrochemical after the next day after opening, while younger wines with younger ages may remain healthy after three days. Usually the decanting time of old wine is shorter than that of young wine (but not a generalization), and the time required for thick and rich liquor is longer than that of soft liquor, so it is recommended to spend a little time decanting liquor for generally rich liquor and sweet liquor of noble rot.