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Originally Posted by JJRousseau
Marq, I think you've got that backwards. Most wine is not meant for aging. Good Champagne will definitely improve with age. The question is, how good is the wine that the Ironmans are saving. If it wasn't made to age 25 years, it will be vinegar, regardless of how it is stored.
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Nope. I don't think so.
Most wine being produced today is meant to be consumed as soon as purchased. People just don't have the patience to wait 3 years to drink a bottle of wine, I know I can't. So almost anything you buy today is going to be fine as soon as you get it home. However, virtually any wine (most noteably redwine) will improve with age simply by waiting as little as 6 months to a year. The reason is as I am sure you know, tannins. When a wine is very young the tannins molecular structure is like that of short little strings, as the wine sits in the cellar, these wee little strings bond together and become longer strings. It's these long strings of tannin molecules that give good strong red wines it's smooth mouth feel and complex flavours.
But I have digressed from the original champange conversation.
Champange, belive it or not is a red wine (sort of), it's made from a red grape tho I forget which one at the moment. So it does have a certain amount of tannins that will benefit from aging, however, not nearly as much as a dark rich cabernet or shiraz.
So in defense of my earlier comment, sure Champange might get a little better after a few years but not so much that it's really going to be worth the wait.