How oid is a wine ?

[bigshug1960]

When I print my simple wine labels I state the bottling date, but would the stabilising date be a more accurate guide to ageing ? I ask, as I do cheap kits to drink quickly at the moment, to let my more expensive kits mature, and at 6 weeks old I should imaging a week or 2 would make a bit of a dfference to them. Just wondered where most folks starting point was !

Regards Alan

[Leon]

I always put a date started and a date bottled on the label. I have all the other dates and actions in my note book for my reference; I want everybody else to think its as old as possible, and with my consumption far outstripping production, those extra weeks count a lot. I do take your point though, it doesn't feel like it has started aging until after the degassing, doesn't it?

[NorthernWiner]

I always put the year it was started on the label.

[Cellar_Rat]

Yeah I keep all the detail in my logs, but put the year on the bottle

[koomber]

I put all the details on the computer and the year on the bottle.

Then I format the computer.

[Cellar_Rat]

[lockwood1956]

The harvest date is used for grape wines, so I use the date i harvested the fruit!

[Leon]

The year! I'm not so long term yet, I put the time on some of mine to give extra valuable minutes of aging.

[Cellar_Rat]

LOL - very good!

[Big Dave]

I put the month and year it was bottled

Don't know if it is the right way to do it, but I've started with this system so I'm sticking with this system!!!!!!!

Merlot.jpg

[RTPFUN]

Just the month and a few details on mine. e.g.:-
Vina Sol (My name for it)
White wine number one (what it is)
Unoaked Gervin D December 2011 (brief notes as to what went in it the yeast and date finished)
And then stick a spare label from the bottles onto the detailed notes so that if it turns out fabulous you can do it again.
As most white kits need 3 months and reds a year to mature the exact date is not that important so get brewing Wine number one (In the beginners section here) while you wait for the good stuff to mature. I've built up my stocks of the good stuff since discovering this site and now buy the likes of the Kenridge Classics for special occasions or the “1st bottle” and we have the Wine number 1 for quaffing.
Wine number 1 works out at 50p per bottle and there are recipes for variations. I’ve made a late addition raspberry and just started one with dried elderflowers. Once you’ve tried it and liked it you can do the maths and then say hey I have the money to go and splash out £50+ on a kit!
Then to just leave it for 3 months and hope that you’ve done the right thing is a little worrying. But you’ll find out that these more expensive kits are fabulous!

[owlwithoutfeathers]

I put the month and year i started the wine from scratch - i.e primary fermentation.

Owl.