Is wine better with age? How about a sip of a thousand-year-old wine?

If you know a little about wine, you will find that the older the wine is, the more valuable it seems to be. Why is this? Is it because the older the wine is, the better it tastes?

Why is aged wine so fragrant?

Among alcoholic products, esters are important substances that give wine its fragrance. The content of esters in new wine is relatively low, and the aldehydes and acids in the wine are bland, without the aroma of alcohol. There is a strong burning sensation when it enters the mouth, and it tastes astringent. After a long period of storage, the molecular composition of the wine will undergo subtle changes, producing a strong wine aroma, and the taste will also have a soft touch of ice cream melting in the mouth.

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Put the newly made wine in a sealed jar. As long as the temperature and humidity are suitable, ester substances will be produced in the wine through esterification reaction, and the aroma of the wine will be produced. This process is also called the aging process of the wine. Aging is a slow process that requires a long period of accumulation to create real aging.

Of course, a good glass of wine does not rely solely on time, aging conditions are also important. Only when the conditions are right can more esters be produced. When the temperature and humidity are not right, or the sealing conditions are not in place during the winemaking process, the wine will come into contact with acetic acid bacteria in the air, and after a series of biochemical reactions, acetic acid will eventually be produced.

If that’s the case, does the value of wine increase the longer it’s stored?

We cannot say this so absolutely. Archaeologists once found more than 6 kilograms of ancient wine in a bronze pot unearthed in Henan, which had been "stored in the cellar" for more than 2,000 years.

Many people are curious about whether the thousand-year-old wine is still drinkable. After inspection, it was found that although the alcohol and aroma components of the ancient wine have disappeared, the tartaric acid, plant ash and other related components contained in it are quite similar to the medicinal wine recorded in ancient books.

According to records, ancient people would add lime to wine to prevent it from turning sour, so that the wine would be easier to drink; and ancient Chinese medicine prescriptions often say "ash-free good wine", which refers to wine without lime or plant ash. Although such wine has a slightly lacking taste, it is convenient to use as medicine and is often used as medicinal wine.

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Won’t wine go bad and expire?

According to the national "General Rules for Pre-packaged Food Labeling", alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of 10% or more are exempt from labeling the shelf life. When the concentration of the alcohol solution is higher than 10%, most microorganisms cannot grow and reproduce. The alcohol concentration of low-concentration liquor that we drink daily is also over 20%, and microorganisms cannot survive in such a concentration of alcohol. Therefore, even if there is no shelf life, the liquor will not deteriorate and can theoretically be stored forever.

However, since the sealing conditions for preserving the ancient wine thousands of years ago were not mature, the alcohol component has evaporated, and the wine in the bronze vessel has dissolved a large amount of metal ions, making it no longer suitable for drinking.

At what age is wine best to drink?

Everyone has different preferences for aged years, but time will give them different tastes.

The esterification reaction of wine is very slow, but many people may not know that the esterification reaction will tend to equilibrium when it reaches a certain level. If it continues to be stored, the alcohol will evaporate, the alcohol content will decrease, and the taste will become thin.

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After being stored for more than 5 years, the flavor of ordinary liquor will become lighter and the aroma will weaken; the aged sauce-flavor liquor will retain a certain aroma, but the taste will be affected to a certain extent. If the liquor is added with flavoring agents or other catalysts during the production process, it should not be stored for a long time, otherwise the taste will become more bitter.

Not all yellowish liquors are good aged wines.

Many people prefer those white wines with a slightly yellow color when choosing aged wines, thinking that this is a "mark of time". In fact, this statement is not scientific. Normally, due to the Maillard reaction, enol compounds will be generated during the storage process of wine. After a period of precipitation, all wines will have a slightly yellow color.

However, if bottled liquor made from pure grain solid-state fermentation encounters alkaline conditions and is exposed to sunlight for a long time, not only will the color of the liquor change, but its aroma will also deteriorate.

Therefore, not all yellowish liquors are good aged wines, so you must keep your eyes open when choosing.

Finally, Tadpole Jun reminds you that drinking is harmful to health and is not recommended.

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Review expert: Wang Guoyi, postdoctoral fellow in food safety.

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