POLL : To bottle or "bulk age(in carboy)" your wine?

My understanding is that the two different agin's contribute to different aspects of taste, and that different wines will benefit more from either one(or to be exact, from a different combination of the two). I can't remember exactly what the two agings are supposed to help off the top of my head though, hopefully someone else will be able to help with the specifics.

Joel

I'll let others be more scientific, but in general, bulk aging allows for a more consistent batch of wine. Since no matter what you do, each bottle will age (and therefore taste) different over time, the longer all the wine is together, the more consistent it will be.

I've also found it's easier to age the wine properly if it's in a carboy, as it's a lot harder to pull off a dinner's worth of glasses.

Rob

Jambo wrote:

Yes, bulk aging does tend to yield a more consistent wine and that is usually desirable. One would like to know what to expect when he opened the

10th bottle of wine from a batch. But there is another reason. A small amount of wine, like a bottle, will be effected by temperature more. If you keep your wine in controlled temperature, this may not be important; but if you keep it at room temperature it may be. A room goes up and down in temperature, day to night or over the range the AC is set at. A bottle is a small amount and will change temperature faster and be effected by temperature change. A large amount takes longer to change temperature and will be effected less. Temperature change may be more detrimental than the wrong temperature. I have heard people at wineries say that a 750 ml bottle will age differently than a magnum because of this.

Bulk age until the next season's grapes are here. I have nine carboys of '04 right now and will bottle in about three weeks. There's just not enough room to keep eighteen or more carboys around. The only problem I've had is tartrate sediment, nothing serious.

Ray Calvert wrote:

In message , Jambo writes

Pros: simple logistics, from my point of view. I make about 25 gallons of wine in a season; work and home life mean I simply wouldn't have time to bottle them all promptly, even if I wanted to, nor do I want to collect and wash all those bottles at once...

As it is, I can collect wine bottles from my friends, wash 2 or 3 a night with the regular washing-up, plug them with a roll of kitchen towel, and store them till I feel like bottling. That way, it doesn't become a chore. Once in a while through the winter, I do some racking, if I can be bothered. Then I start bottling about March, and use up as many bottles as I've got clean. Drink a few bottles and re-wash them, collect more from my chums, and do another couple of demi-johns. In a couple of weeks time, I'll bottle the last of the damson that I made last August, and it'll be time to start all over again.

Cons, I really can't think of any.

Works for me...

cheers, robin

Ray is spot on ---- as he often is! Fluctuating temperature has a condsiderable effect on aging wines.

Certainly if you have a real cellar that is temperature stable, with no more than a few degrees variation, then bottle aging and bulk aging will tend to be the same. However very few amateur vintners have the luxury of such a cellar and we store as and when we can. That being so, and where the aging wine has to endure a larger range of fluctuating temperature, then bulk aging is much to be prefered since the larger volume of wine is inherently more resistant to temperature change.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Calvert" Newsgroups: rec.crafts.winemaking Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 5:56 PM Subject: Re: POLL : To bottle or "bulk age(in carboy)" your wine?

Just a comment Trevor (and welcome back). I was touring a large winery in California. They of course did have temperature controlled storage. They had us taste the same wine bottled in 750, 1.500 and 3.00 litter bottles. The larger the bottle, the smoother the wine tasted. They just said wine aged in larger bottles is better. But they were storing them in temperature controlled areas. I know this contradicts even what I have said and I have no suggested explanation.

Ray

Even bottled wine will experience some ullage. Perhaps there was more air space in the smaller bottles relative to the volume than in the bigger bottles. - I don't really know - merely a guess.