Now we’re not committing any more heinous wine storage crimes it’s time to talk about which wines you should and shouldn’t be keeping. This is a topic which constantly comes up when I host wine tastings. The questions usually go something like this:

• “Does wine always improve with age?”
• “Is it dangerous to drink aged wine?”
• “Are aged wines better than young wines?”
• “How long can you age wine for?”
• “But you can only age really expensive wines, right?”
• “So how do you know which wines to age?”

As these questions prove, ageing wine is a topic full of myths, fallacies and misunderstandings. Do not despair. Here’s the first part of my efforts to guide you on your way to ageing like a pro. It all boils down to this basic principle:

So now we’ve got that sorted, let’s talk about ageing wine…

Why do we age wine?

Unlike those…