# Whats the oldest bottle in your rack ?



## arcticsid (May 24, 2009)

This is something new to talk about. We talk in here all the time about patience, and I am curious to hear from some of the "senior" (no offence brother TOM, LOL) makers in here on some of the older bottles of wine you have.

And while were on the topic, are there any special considerations to store a bottle of wine for an "extended" period of time. Rotation, light, temperature, etc. ?

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend, I was going to go out and do a little bit of gold mining but my buddy blew his engine, so I am hanging out at the cabin thinking of wine and something to talk about regarding it.
Troy


----------



## Wade E (May 24, 2009)

I have two bottes that are mine and 5 1/2 years old. As far as storage goes, 55* with about 75% humidity is best but stable temps are the most important and no sunlight or vibrations.


----------



## Madriver Wines (May 24, 2009)

I have a bottle of a rice wine I made when I was 15 years old. I havent tried to drink it for ages, it smells like moonshine! Ok I will tell, that puts it at 35 years old. It may not even be a wine any more??


----------



## Racer (May 24, 2009)

I've got a few bottles that are getting close to 5 years old now.


----------



## Boozehag (May 24, 2009)

Four months for me! Got to start somewhere huh!


----------



## arcticsid (May 24, 2009)

Steve, if you drink it you may be pickled? LOL
Or you may have a treasure.
Troy


----------



## arcticsid (May 24, 2009)

*Don't look at it !!*

Coll, make another batch, if you look it at the temptation may to great! LOL

Remember, us as winemakers try to instill patience.

When I show up there next winter (mine) I expect you and G will have something to show me. Please don't drink it all.


Troy


----------



## arcticsid (May 24, 2009)

Wade, I don't live next to the railroad tracks, but, we did have a 3.7 earthquake here a couple days ago centered three miles from my home, does that count as vibration? LOL
No kidding. Pretty scary considering the largest one ever recorded in North America was right here in Alaska in 1964, even bigger than the one we read about for San Fran.
Guess i will have to send you all my stuff.
troy


----------



## Boozehag (May 24, 2009)

Oh I have lots of wine on the go...Ive bottled about 60 so far and have another 80 or so at different stages of production .not quite at Allie's level but working on it!

When did you say you are visiting New Zealand?


----------



## arcticsid (May 24, 2009)

Coll, I am no fool I was gonna wait till around Christmas when its -50F here. As long as my cats are safe and warm I will join the "snowbirds" and get the hell out of here. I would have equally have enjoyed Europe and visit LUC but it'll be cold there too! So you ladies have won. I will be seeing you around then, I have no idea what you will do with me but I really want to visit your beauiful country. My Mom is coming to Alaska next month for the first time. I have lived here almost 30 yrs. After I realize what a true tour guide means, I guess I will know whether or not you all treat me right. I of cource need to report back to the gang here on the forum.
LOL
Troy


----------



## Boozehag (May 25, 2009)

Unfortunately Ill be in the Uk for Christmas for 6 weeks sorry Troy.

You must visit Rotorua and the South Island when you are here, in fact if you hook up with the Kiwi Experience team they will show you around for sure, theyre really good at what they do and you get to see the real New Zeland not the plastic tikis and mudpools tour the other ones do! Lots of booze related things too like a visit to the speights brewery and vineyards galore!

Hope you enjoy your visit.


----------



## WildSeedGrrrl (May 25, 2009)

I got you beat Allie! My oldest bottle is 2 months. Whoo HOo!
WSG

All but 1 primary are full!


----------



## Malkore (May 25, 2009)

I have a few bottles of mead left that I made just over 10 years ago.

despite having a lot of sediment in the bottles, the mead still tastes good the last time I pop'd one open.


----------



## Wade E (May 25, 2009)

10 years, you da man!


----------



## Tom (May 25, 2009)

I have 2 "splits" of Ice Wine from 1998 and 1 bottle dated 1999.It's real hard not to have wife and daughter find them. Even under threats they still will......


----------



## St Allie (May 25, 2009)

WildSeedGrrrl said:


> I got you beat Allie! My oldest bottle is 2 months. Whoo HOo!
> WSG
> 
> All but 1 primary are full!



hehehheh

that was Collette!



Allie


----------



## WildSeedGrrrl (May 25, 2009)

OOPS!

HEhE , sorry Collette.

WSG


----------



## CGI (May 25, 2009)

I got some 5-7yr olds in controlled storage, but for the most part I consume or distribute mine from 6mo to 1yr.

My wife and I enjoy a bottle regularly...


----------



## Tom (May 25, 2009)

I got some 5-7yr olds in *controlled storage*, but for the most part I consume or distribute mine from 6mo to 1yr.

My wife and I enjoy a bottle *regularly*.

CGI,
What do you call controlled storage
and 
How regularly


----------



## MoWine (May 26, 2009)

I had a couple bottles made in 76 and 78 that I opened last year. I had to dump them both. Boy, were they nasty!


----------



## CGI (May 26, 2009)

Tom said:


> I got some 5-7yr olds in *controlled storage*, but for the most part I consume or distribute mine from 6mo to 1yr.
> 
> My wife and I enjoy a bottle *regularly*.
> 
> ...



A dark basement nook, racked. Temp holds a steady 67 with RH ~60. I wish it was slightly cooler but - at least - its rock steady in regards to fluctuations. I don't intend to keep my wines for long periods. Once they hit 6mo... they are pretty well set into our rotation to consume and give away.

Regularly = pretty much nightly. We are enjoying a bottle now!


----------



## Tom (May 26, 2009)

LOL ! 
I like your definition of regularly. Thats what we do here but 2-3 bottles a night.


----------



## arcticsid (May 26, 2009)

Tom, I don't see anything wrong with 2 or 3 bottles anight as long as it is consistent. LOL


----------



## Tom (May 27, 2009)

It's VERY consistent.


----------



## CGI (May 27, 2009)

I never thought we were the only ones... but glad to hear it!



PS: Another bottle going right now... Ahh!


----------



## Tom (May 27, 2009)

In the last 10 days or so I bottled 15 CASES. Now that means I have 90 something cases full NOT counting whats on my wine racks. LOL !


----------



## CGI (May 29, 2009)

Tom said:


> In the last 10 days or so I bottled 15 CASES. Now that means I have 90 something cases full NOT counting whats on my wine racks. LOL !



So... what will you do with all of it? Share?


----------



## Tom (May 29, 2009)

Well we go thru 2-4 bottles a DAY here 7 days a week not counting the wine club I belong to and people who want to "donate" to taste my wine.
I'm guessing close to 2500 - 1900 full bottles in my cellar now
I have 15 carboys fermenting/aging now thats not counted......


----------



## jwthomas (May 31, 2009)

Ha Madriver did you get your name frome the river that run's a cross there. 
i ask because for years i ran across there and in springfild there is a river named madriver
i crossed it every day on my way to oldwashington OH.


----------



## Green Mountains (Dec 12, 2009)

We have about 8 bottles left from various batches that are between 1 year and 18 months in the bottle.

We now wished we'd waited to drink them later rather than earlier as they got de LISH ous after the one year mark.

We made them from kits before we moved from Maine to Vermont. Some weren't labeled and we got mixed up on what varietal they are. We know that it'll be a Pinot Noir, or a Cab/Merlot. Or it'll be a Pinot Gris or a Gewürztraminer. We bottled the whites in green bottles so it's just hard to tell until we pour.

Tasting great though.


----------



## myakkagldwngr (Dec 12, 2009)

Even though I find it hard to believe now, I have about eight bottles of my blackberry that are starting to push five or six months. I thought they would never see it!
I still buy an occasional bottle for dinner and drink one or two of my others.
Another thing helping my wine age a bit is I have some other spirits to sample too. That's a big help in making my poor attempts at wine grow old.


----------



## bryano (Dec 13, 2009)

My oldest bottle is 7 days old and it's the only one left out of 15..... must make more must make more


----------



## Madriver Wines (Dec 13, 2009)

bryano said:


> My oldest bottle is 7 days old and it's the only one left out of 15..... must make more must make more


 LOl......7 days old ha ha ha


----------



## Wade E (Dec 13, 2009)

You drank it all already?????????? You need to make a lot more then 3 gallons then and need t make a lot more of everything. It never even had a chance to get a little age on it!  You should try again and see what it tatses like with 2 years under the cork.


----------



## Runningwolf (Dec 13, 2009)

My oldest is a Blackberry I bottled in Oct 2008. That is the first wine I made. I started a library right from the beginning and keep one bottle of everything I make.


----------



## Hillbilly Bill (Dec 13, 2009)

Well... this hurts, but it's the truth... 
I bottled my first bottle of apple juice wine Friday night... in a 4 liter glass jug... put it in the fridge. It is still about half-full... still have a few gallons to bottle, but I'm afraid only a few bottles will survive the onslaught... this is GOOD stuff... a little bit fortified... 

I'll update when I cork some for the new wine rack (milk crates turned on their side).
HB


----------



## bryano (Dec 13, 2009)

Wade E said:


> You drank it all already?????????? You need to make a lot more then 3 gallons then and need t make a lot more of everything. It never even had a chance to get a little age on it!  You should try again and see what it tatses like with 2 years under the cork.



Not the Port Wade, that's not bottled yet. This is my raspberry, everytime someone comes over I let them taste it and we end up drinking 2 bottles. I call my neighbors my test dummies and they say it's the best I've made so I'm gonna do a 6 gallon. 
I think if I went through 15 bottles of chocolae strawberry port in 1 week it would take 2 weeks to recover , that stuff will set you back in the chair if not careful.


----------



## Greenman (Dec 13, 2009)

LOL 3 days


----------



## Zoogie (Dec 13, 2009)

Only 2 months for me on reds sadly white ia almost gone ...it was good too lol


----------



## Hillbilly Bill (Dec 13, 2009)

Greenman said:


> LOL 3 days


 
Greenman... how did you like that Orchard BReezin Stawberry Reisling?
HB


----------



## Runningwolf (Dec 13, 2009)

Greenman... how did you like that Orchard BReezin Stawberry Reisling?
HB 
__________________

Billy, I tried that . It was ok. I think served well chilled in the summer I may feel a little different about it. It could be one of those wines you give away to someone that likes sweet wines when they come over to see your cellar (so it all gets drank before it gets to old). You know one of the things I was told to do when I started making wine was if you don't like red's make a good one now. The reasoning behind it was, by the time it is perfectly aged (2 yrs or so)your tastes will have changed and you'll appreciate it. Well I still haven't made any yet and yes my tastes are changing.


----------



## Greenman (Dec 15, 2009)

Not sure yet, it's still in the carboy. I am going to keg most of it this Friday to use in my kegerator. It takes about 12 hours to carbonate and then, Sparkling Strawberry Reisling ....mmmmm

I will give an update on Saturday, assuming I don't drink too much of it and forget how to type.


----------



## arcticsid (Dec 15, 2009)

Green, liked the photos in the album.


----------



## xanxer82 (Dec 15, 2009)

My oldest bottles are the 30 bottles of VR Bergamais that I bottled last month.
This is my beginning.


----------



## Chateau Joe (Dec 15, 2009)

I have a few bottle on the self that are 5 to 6 years old. My cellar never gets over 70 degrees in the summer and is fairly humid.


----------



## Hillbilly Bill (Dec 16, 2009)

Runningwolf said:


> Greenman... how did you like that Orchard BReezin Stawberry Reisling?
> HB
> __________________
> 
> Billy, I tried that . It was ok. I think served well chilled in the summer I may feel a little different about it. It could be one of those wines you give away to someone that likes sweet wines when they come over to see your cellar (so it all gets drank before it gets to old). You know one of the things I was told to do when I started making wine was if you don't like red's make a good one now. The reasoning behind it was, by the time it is perfectly aged (2 yrs or so)your tastes will have changed and you'll appreciate it. Well I still haven't made any yet and yes my tastes are changing.


Sounds good... what do you recommend?


----------



## arcticsid (Dec 16, 2009)

Tastes don't change, only the contents of the fermenter vessel!! LOL


----------



## Midwest Vintner (Dec 16, 2009)

05' pear wine is the oldest we got. not for long though as we plan on having it for christmas.....


----------



## TheTooth (Dec 16, 2009)

If you just mean homemade wine, then I only have bottles going back to '08 when I started making wine. Otherwise, it would probably be a 20 year old tawny port.


----------

