Six common misconceptions about wine

1. Does red wine have a shelf life?

When we buy red wine, we often see this mark on the bottle: the shelf life is 10 years. Just like that, "Lafite of 1982" has long expired? ! But in fact, it's not.

The "10-year shelf life" was stipulated in the 1980s according to China's special national conditions. In countries where wine is often consumed, there is no shelf life, only the "drinking period", which is the best time to drink a bottle of wine. According to expert research, only 1% of the world's wine can be aged for 10 years or more, 4% of the wine can be aged within 5-10 years, and more than 90% of the wine can be aged for 1-2 years. That's why Lafite was so expensive in '82. So when you buy wine in the future, don't worry about the shelf life.

2. The older the age, the better the quality?

Based on the previous introduction about the shelf life, I believe you have made a certain judgment on this issue. Generally speaking, only a few wines can be kept for a long time. Most wines are drinkable, so don't get confused by the vintage.

3. The higher the alcohol content, the better the quality?

Many wine lovers will apply their understanding of wine quality to wine, which is actually unreasonable. The accuracy of the wine reflects the high degree of ripeness of the grapes. The higher the maturity and quality of the wine, the better. However, some merchants add extra sugar to the wine during fermentation because the fruit is not yet ripe. While the degree is relatively high, the quality has declined. Therefore, there is no equal sign between alcohol content and quality.

4. The deeper the groove, the better the quality?

When buying wine, many friends will choose a brand with a deep groove on the bottom of the bottle and think that the quality of the wine will be better. In fact, this is baseless. The role of the grooves is to precipitate the tartaric acid that forms in the wine during aging, and nothing more. For most wines, they usually need to be drunk within 3-5 years, not decades. Therefore, deep grooves are meaningless. Of course, this has nothing to do with the quality of the wine.

5. The darker the color, the better the quality?

The color of a wine is mainly affected by the grape variety, soaked skins and aging time, and is not directly related to the quality of the wine. Many wine producers have mastered their preference for dark wines and will choose grape varieties or change brewing methods to meet market preferences.

6. The longer the aging time of the barrel, the better the quality?

When buying wine, salespeople sometimes introduce that the wine is aged in oak barrels, so the price is high. At this point, it should be noted that the longer the oak barrels are aged, the better the quality of the wine. It should be distinguished according to the grape variety, especially for some fresh and delicate grape varieties, oak barrel aging cannot be used for a long time, which will cause the oak flavor to mask the aroma of the grape itself, but will make the wine lose its character.