Hi, new to wine making here! What are the general shelf lives for these wines? We just made a batch of the cabernet sauvignon and were curious how long it should be good for once bottled, providing that we do everything correctly to minimize oxidation. Thanks!
Kit wines last exactly as long as commercial wines stored in the same conditions. Cellaring is a crazy-complicated deal, with steady temperature being paramount, then low temperature, humidity, darkness and vibration-free surroundings following in.
If you’d be comfortable keeping a $20 bottle of storer-bought Cabernet in your cellar for a year, your batch of wine will last exactly as well. It’s really more about what’s on the outside of the bottle rather than the inside.
If you’d like to read up a bit on cellaring, I’ve started talking about it here: Cellar’s Market. I’ll put up some more things about how to set up your cellaring situation in the future.
Cheers–happy winemaking.
