<p>My family is not a big drinking family, except for when we have a family gathering. My husband gets several bottles of wine as gifts throughout the years and especially at the holidays. I also have left over bottles that I have bought for Thanksgiving that we didn’t end up using. What I need to know is what bottles are still good to drink. I know very little about wine and I was wondering if there was a place online to look up each bottle and year and see if if it still drinkable.</p>
<p>Most of the wines are reds from 2001-2003, many are Shiraz and Merlot with a few Cabs mixed in. For some reason I think the Shiraz and Merlot are too old, but I am not sure. I need to know if we can drink these so I know how many bottles to but for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Your red wines are probably fine to drink. I don’t know a lot about Shiraz. But a Merlot would have to have been very poorly made for a 2001-2003 to be non-drinkable this year.</p>
<p>I’m sorry that I don’t know a site you can consult (I bet someone will ). DH does buy wines he knows to be of good quality and meant to last, but he would not even be touching a 2003 Merlot for another couple of years, anyway.</p>
<p>I know nothing, and mean nothing about wines. The wine experts on cc will probably laugh when I say this, but I did see a program about wines on tv lately. The expert said that one wants to aerate a wine at least 3 hours before drinking it. Some people apparently aerate it up to 7 hours. The person said that the purpose is to get rid of the bitter taste caused by tannins. Don’t know if this is true, since expensive wines are opened at the table in restaurants for immediate consumption. They did say this also why people swirl wine. So…why not open the wine 3-7 hours prior to serving to see if you like how it tastes? If you don’t like the wine, you can always send someone to the liquor store to pick up another bottle.</p>
<p>The wine might be good and it might not. It depends a lot on how it was stored. Buy more wine from a store that will take back unopened bottles. Open the old bottles and enjoy them if they are good, pour them down the drain if they’re not tasting good after they’ve been open an hour or so. Take back the unopened bottles after the holiday.</p>
<p>Your red wines are fine to drink if they have been stored at a constant temperature. The biggest mistake winestore employees make is failing to store red wines on their side so that the cork is constantly in contact with the liquid to prevent the cork from drying out. (Which happened to the most expensive bottle of wine ever purchased at auction for $140.000. The dried out cork just fell into the bottle while on display in an upright position at Malcom Forbes’ home.)
Letting a wine breathe can be a good idea depending upon the particular wine. One to three hours should be adequate. Any wine requiring longer is not common.</p>
<p>dmd-That was my original thought, but my state does not allow wine returns. I have opened a few wines in the past that were past their prime, so the sink was able to enjoy the entire bottle! </p>
<p>I enjoy a good bottle of wine when out to dinner, but for some reason, we do not open wine at home unless we have company. All is takes is one glass of wine and my husband is asleep! I know what I like in a wine, I just don’t know what wines to buy. We tend to get the same semi cheap wines from Costco that we like.</p>
<p>I will buy a couple of extra bottles and try to remember to drink them while they are still drinkable. I will open the old bottles to breathe early and my uncle will be the taste tester.</p>
<p>A red wine with a vintage from 2001 to 2003 is not an old wine; in fact, some may be too young to drink. The “old” rule of thumb was never drink a white wine older than 3 years or a red wine younger than 5 years old.</p>
<p>There is no reason why your wines should not be drinkable. They are all pretty young. Shiraz can age just as long as cabs, but tend to be even higher in alcohol than most California cabs and merlots. All these wines are generally quite concentrated in flavor and could easily overwhelm a Thanksgiving dinner and put most of the party to sleep. You may want to think of having some less intense and alcoholic wines such as a Pinot Noir or even a Beaujolais Villages for the light drinkers. They also pair well with turkey. You can find decent California pinots at Costco for less than $20. </p>
<p>As far as opening the wines early I wouldn’t worry too much, unless you were given some really expensive bottles that may need decanting. You may find yourself with a bunch of nearly full bottles at the end of the dinner. Just open a couple at a time. Most wines are now made in a fruity easy drinking style and are not very tannic.</p>
<p>cellar-Thanks for that information. I do have other reds and well as whites; it is just the Merlot and Shiraz that I didn’t know what to do with. For some reason we do not pour wine with dinner, but serve with appetizers. Several people will bring their glass to the table, but by the time we get to dinner, most are finished with the alcohol for the evening! </p>
<p>We only open one red, one white and one zin opened at a time. Since we have no real connoisseurs at the house, it is always fun to have a different bottle to open; your first glass is not the same as your second. This year we have 29 adults; it seems the new drinkers prefer the whites, while us old folks tend to drink the Merlot and Shiraz.</p>
<p>A few questions-- but I have some time sensitive stuff to handle tonight so wont be able to follow up much tonight- sorry.
Are the wines domestic or imported? Have they been properly cellared? Keeping them quiet, at a cool and constant temp, and, as coldwind mentioned, laying such that the cork is always wet, will affect their condition. The age of your wines is fine. As someone else suggested, if you could list all the info on the label (ie winery, fineyard, year, etc) we can be of greater assistance. You can also jsut type the info in your search engine for some preliminary info. Lots of good info out there on the web to read. You can also go the the websites of the individual wineries and see what they say about the vintages you hve.</p>
<p>I did google each of the wines individually and I was able to get more information on most of them; also the vinyard own site in a few cases. Some are domestic and some are imported. All have been stored in an ok situation; on their sides, bottom shelf of the kitchen pantry, but away from the heat. </p>
<p>I think I might run to one of the local wine stores and see if one of the salesmen would mind helping. I think if I an buying from them, they might be willing to help.</p>
). DH does buy wines he knows to be of good quality and meant to last, but he would not even be touching a 2003 Merlot for another couple of years, anyway.</p>