# Question about bottleing dates



## mjdtexan (Feb 13, 2009)

When is a wine a year old? Does it gain its year from the date you first started making it or is it a year old from the date you actually put it in the bottle?


----------



## Sacalait (Feb 13, 2009)

The aging process starts once the fermentation is complete so I suppose that's what you would go by. Personally, I use the date (month) the wine was started since I know how long it takes to ferment, at least within a few days. It's a personal thing so put whatever you like on it (date on bottle).


----------



## Luc (Feb 13, 2009)

Generally I put the year when the wine is made on the bottle.
And generally for me that is also the year it is bottled.

Nowadays I have most of the time about 20 carboys fermenting or clearing. So as I am in constant need of carboys I never age in the carboy.

Luc


----------



## Sacalait (Feb 13, 2009)

Luc said:


> Generally I put the year when the wine is made on the bottle.
> And generally for me that is also the year it is bottled.
> 
> Nowadays I have most of the time about 20 carboys fermenting or clearing. So as I am in constant need of carboys I never age in the carboy.
> ...



You can't possibly drink that much wine unless you're a complete sot! Are you selling it or giving it away?


----------



## Luc (Feb 14, 2009)

Selling is against the law over here, so I am definately not selling any.

Most carboys are the 5 liter versions, so they will only gain about 7 bottles. I generally think that is to small for winemaking, but I use these for experiments.

Then when a wine turns out good I make 30 liter batches.

Generally I drink 1 glas of wine each evening, so does my girlfriend.
We do have a busy social live and friends coming over often. That is when my stock pile vanishes  

And there is of course my cellar with about 200 bottles varying in age from 1 to 5 years.

Luc


----------



## Sacalait (Feb 14, 2009)

When I see the word "carboy" I instantly visualize 3gals or more since that is what I deal with. I currently have 2-6gal, 5-5gal and 2-3gal carboys and only one is in use presently.


----------



## Luc (Feb 15, 2009)

I was referring to my current status.

When doing apples or plums in quantities like 100 kilo it looks like this:







and this:






I guess this demonstrates why we call it a LIVING-ROOM 

That is about 230 liter (60 gallon or so) of all kinds of varieties standing there
in primaries and secondaries.

Luc


----------

