About wine-aging?!
- *Caldbecks* Finest Old Vintage Cognac F.O.V. - Guaranteed Old Matured Cognac Brandy (Produced and botled in Cognac, France.EMB 16167E
- Centaure XO, Fine Champagne, Remy Martin, Cognac
Both were gifts from my friends about 30 years ago, unopened, and have been sitting in my basement for that long.
My question is: are they still suitable for drinking? I know wine gets better with ages, but I don't think they would age once they are in bottles?? Thanks!
Answers: Hi, I am trying to give away two bottles of wine and their brands are as followed (I am typing whatever I saw on the bottles):
- *Caldbecks* Finest Old Vintage Cognac F.O.V. - Guaranteed Old Matured Cognac Brandy (Produced and botled in Cognac, France.EMB 16167E
- Centaure XO, Fine Champagne, Remy Martin, Cognac
Both were gifts from my friends about 30 years ago, unopened, and have been sitting in my basement for that long.
My question is: are they still suitable for drinking? I know wine gets better with ages, but I don't think they would age once they are in bottles?? Thanks!
First off, they are cognacs, which start off as wine, but the fermenting process is not interupted, but continued so the alcohol content increases. Cognac is set in oak casks where it ages anywhere from a min. of 2 years up to a typical 10-20 years or longer. The alcohol content usually reaches 50-65% in the cask (called overproof) and then drawn and cut with water to bottle at 40% or 80 proof.
Once the spirit is in the bottle, aging no longer takes place, but because of the high alcohol content, it never goes'bad'. This means that your cognac is basically impervious to any climate changes and is as good as the day it was purchased.
They aren't wine, they are cognac (a fine brandy made in the Cognac region of France). They do not age in the bottles but they are totally and completely drinkable for a hundred years under the right conditions.
Are you looking for someone to give them to?? :)
Someone who studies wine should have known that this is a distilled spirit and that no natural fermentation can continue past about 16%. I must assume he had been involved with his studies before writing the answer. The other guy got it right. Cognac is brandy, made from wine from specific regions of France.
These bottles are cognac (brandy), and anyone in the wine industry would know this is a distilled product. Brandy is made by distilling the finished wine, then aging it in oak barrels. It is impossible for wine to distill itself. Once bottled, the brandy will stop aging, but really never goes bad. 30 years is still quite a long time though, so as long as they have been kept in a cool, dark place, and not left out in the sun or put through large temperature fluctuations, they should both be fine.