Most people assume that the longer that you keep a wine, the better it will get. It is a misconception to think that you must age wine a long time. The fact is, throughout the world, most wine is drunk relatively soon after it is produced (6 to 12 months). While some wines will ÒmatureÓ and become better over time, others will not and should be drunk sooner rather than later. Eventually all wines reach there optimum age and should be drunk before its gets too late.

Tannin is a substance that comes from the seeds, stems and skins of grapes. Additional tannin can come from the wood during barrel aging in the winery. It is an acidic preservative and is important to the long term maturing of wine.

Through time, tannin (which has a bitter flavor) will precipitate out of the wine (becoming sediment in the bottle) and the complexity of the wineÕs flavor from fruit, acid and all the myriad other substances that make up the wineÕs character will come into greater balance. Generally, it is red wines that are the ones that can be produced with a fair amount of tannin with an eye towards long term storing and maturation. The bad news is that you shouldnÕt drink it young since it will taste too harsh. The good news is that after a number of years, what you get is a prized, complex and balanced wine.

Red wines get their color from the stems and skins of the grape. This gives the wine tannin and aging capacity. White wines may have no contact with the stems and skins and will have little tannin (though some can be added, again, through barrel aging). Most white wines donÕt age well. Even the ones which do get better through time will not last nearly as long as their red counterparts.

We expect most Vintners Own customers to barrel age reds and chardonnays. Other white varietals will depend upon the goals of you the winemaker. Wine and oak can create tremendous synergy, but some varietals express themselves much better without the flavors and tannins of a barrel.

Major choices then are how long to age and if in oak whether to use American or French. American tends to be more vanilla and less expensive. It is often chosen for standing up to riper wines. French is more subtle, complex and expensive. There are also different levels of toast - the darker the more significant its impact on the wine.

Racking is the process of removing the wine from the barrel, washing the barrel and then putting the wine back into the barrel. This takes care of sediment caused by the lees and introduces oxygen into the wine.

Lees are the solids left after fermentation that will fall to the bottom of the barrel as it ages. Some winemakers (especially chardonnay winemakers) will regularly stir the lees every week or so in the beginning. Oxygen is usually avoided for whites but red wines can often benefit from a limited amount of exposure.