What Wines are most age-worthy?

Joel Butler 3.9 2.25.2025

Recently reading some critiques of a less than experienced ‘wine influencer’s commentary about why some wines age better (tannins?) and effectively condemning Pinot Noir for not being so (light color, low tannins), I thought it a solid topic to open a discussion.

I also wanted to apologize for not writing anything for a little over a week, but I am in Denver researching a non-wine oriented subject related to my high school’s upcoming 150th anniversary here in my home town.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I don’t know the person who wrote this article encouraging some lightly vitriolic ripostes, but from its tone and perspective, and evident ignorance of some basics chemistry etc. They are not too clear on what it takes for a wine to age well.

TO answer the question more fully, I think it is helpful to have deeper experience. Time and opportunity allows one to taste a wider range of wines and if one has a trained palate which often coincides with longer experience, one can more discernibly, correctly identified the type of wines more likely to age well.

What I, and several friends and colleagues with long experience have learned, are that two or three factors at least, likely more, are necessary if you want a wine to age well over a long time.

Which begs the question that the article in question’s critiques expounded. Just what do you mean by aging well, and how do you measure that? My generation, and certainly many of the great wine-writers of yore, from Robert Parker Jr to George Saintsbury, were raised to believe that fine age-worthy wines, no matter their origin in the classic wine world (Bordeaux, Burgundy, German Rieslings, Rhone, Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Rioja, Vintage Port) must be aged a minimum of 10-15 years, and capable of improving, even needing, 30-50 years.

More recently, most of us with some experience, and lots of wine passing our lips, have come to assume that newer models, such as Napa Cabernets, Supertuscan styles, top Chilean and Australian Cabernet blends, Etna rosso, Taurasi, Bierzo from Spain, Oregon and North Coast PInot Noirs and others also fit into this age-worthy model.

But all of this begs a more fundamental question—does anybody, anymore really care about aging wine and experiencing the complex evolution that takes place? Certainly, most wine writers and merchants still talk in terms of the aging capacity, or ‘drink by’ date. Yet most people don’t have wine cellars, never will, and enjoy wine for what it is right now. Younger wine drinkers want to be wowed right now. Older wine-lovers, at least those who no longer have homes with space for a wine cellar (if they did to begin with), well, we don’t have time anymore to age wines for 10-20 years or so. That’s life!

I still have a small wine cellar, but I have friends and know people who have either sold off their cellars of aged wine, or left it to their heirs. Yet this brings me back to the original proposition of this article. What wines are worth aging, and more importantly, for how long.? What wines can stand the test of time, provided you have the time, the money and the space to do so? Believe me, if you have the above, and moreover the patience, there is much to gain.

My own experience of aging wines based upon the principles (chemistry) I have learned over 50+ years, suggests that the most critical physical factors that allow for successful longer-term aging are: the level of acidity and lower pH; the degree of extract, not to be confused with extraction; reasonable alcohol levels for the style and variety of wine being made; and overall balance. A high degree of tannins, as the writer of the article criticized suggests, is not the strongest factor for an age-worthy wine, unless other aspects noted are in harmony with them and indeed supersede them.

Using these criteria when selecting wines I have purchased over the last 50+ years, I have had good success picking those which have blossomed well over 10-50 years. Wide tasting experience over many years and focused tasting plus the opportunity to drink classic styles reputed to age well hasn’t hurt, either!

Again, what do you mean when you say you want an age-worthy wine? On a purely quantified basis, the most age-worthy wines I know are German Rieslings. Why? They are built upon a solid core of acidity, moderate levels of residual sugar and generally high extract with lower alcohol degree.

I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but there are no other wines, excepting certain fortified wines like Vintage Porto, Madeira, and other late harvested sweet wines like Sauternes or Vinsanto, which consistently are capable of aging as well and as long or longer.

The principal, critical target in the author’s article was their assertion that Pinot Noir really doesn’t age well, and shouldn’t be aged. The grape has low tannins, low anthocyanins (color compounds) which do have a solid role to play in allowing proper aging. But it also possesses firm acidity and often lower pH values than Cabernet Sauvignon, for example. What’s missing, or at least glossed over, is that Pinot Noir and other varieties as well, cannot be planted just anywhere. You cannot grow age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon in California’s Central Valley heat, either.

I had to laugh, perhaps better to say I truly admire a winemaker-friend’s Rube Goldbergian formula (below) for defining what it takes to have an age-worthy wine. Seriously, the letter salad below does elucidate the complex reactions taking place as a wine ages ideally. The important take-away for me, demonstrated in most of the wines that I have cellared or drunk, is lower pH really matters, as does the temperature of ferment (and cellar temperature). Lower pH (higher acidity) and more moderate fermenting temperatures along with having a colder cellar temperature have more potential affect on age-worthiness than tannin and alcohol levels.

Tim Donahue’s formula for “making’ an age-worthy wine. (court)esy of Paul Gregutt’s Northwest Wine Guide on Substack)

Which is why I too, dispute the perspective of the author of the piece referred to at the beginning. Yes, it is true that Pinot Noir doesn’t have deep color nor rich tannins. But good Pinot Noir generally does have lower pH, good acidity and fine-grained tannins that combined with enough dry extract, will yield an age-worthy wine; 10-20 years or more. Is that enough time to be considered a ‘long-aging’ wine? Yes. The author’s point about Pinot Noir not being age-worthy is accurate only insofar is that most Pinot Noir, unfortunately, is not necessarily grown in the right climate, on the most suitable soils. Even in Pinot Noir’s home region of Burgundy, centuries of experience have revealed that some plots simply produce better wines that can age longer gracefully.

And that is true for New World areas. I have no problem in keeping certain Pinot Noirs from the Willamette Valley, cooler parts of Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Barbara Counties 10-20 years. Not more than a month ago, I finished my last bottle of Rochioli’s West Block 1994 Pinot Noir, purposely held back until it was 30 years old. It was delicious and provided everything a fine old wine should; complexity, supple flavors, and nuanced, balanced intensity. Perhaps this wine is an exception, but it is not a rarity for what is possible.

It may not be the length of time considered ideal for red Bordeaux or fine Rioja, but today, who is counting? Not most of the current generation for whom, I daresay, old is out of fashion. That said, I know there are those who are interested, if only now and then, in drinking something older than 2 hours or 2-4 years. Age-worthiness is a moving target, absolutely dependent on location and climate and if you want to drink fine older wines, those are important criteria to remember.

What are today’s most age-worthy wines? It’s a given that 90-95% of the wines made globally are not meant to age more than 5 years. Which is perfectly fine. Wine is a beverage to accompany a meal and should be easy, friendly and pleasurable to quaff.

Given climate change, most wine professionals would likely agree that the aging requirements for most of the classic wines has shrunk (climate change has undoubtedly changed the chemistry in the grape). But here are my guidelines for what to expect as reasonable for a given wine variety or appellation TODAY, provided it is in a favorable climate and where vignerons are adapting appropriate techniques to mitigate the undesirable effects of climate change.

California Cabernet (mainly Napa-Sonoma): 8-20 years. Prior to 2000 or so, before climate change began to seriously affect ripening curves and leading to today’s normal 14.5-15.5% alcohol ranges, most of the classic producers made wines that easily could age 15-25 years or more. Certainly, there are some today that will grow old gracefully, But many fewer, and for a very stiff price tag.

Bordeaux CRU CLASSES: Similar to above, but less drastically so given an overall milder, more humid climate, the best Cabernet or Merlot based red wines should age well for 9-30 years. I don’t think we will see again wines like the 1928’s, 1945’s, or even those from the hot vintages of 1949 or 1982 which could continue unfolding for 40-60 years; But a minimum of 10 years old seems like a pretty solid bet. And most people today simply prefer the richer fruitier character of Cabernet when it is not so old. Though it’s a pity that fewer folks will experience the magic that transforms a young Pauillac or Pomerol into the multilayered, intriguing, complex beverage that 25 years + aging can achieve in a good vintage.

Pinot Noir/Burgundy: 8-25 years. The grape is a cooler climate variety, to be sure. So age-worthiness is strongly dependent on having a climate that has lower overall heat accumulation, especially in the summer months, because Pinot is an earlier-ripening variety. Cooked fruit flavors, high alcohol levels don’t make for stylish Pinot Noir.

Syrah/Northern Rhone Valley: 8-30 years. I still have great faith in the ageability of fine Syrahs from the Northern Rhone like Hermitage, and Syrahs from more moderately warm to cooler areas such as Walla Walla Valley, Amador Foothills, Santa Barbara County, Carneros, Western Sonoma County, McLaren Vale and Heathcote or Best Western (Australia), Hawkes Bay New Zealand and the Coastal regions of Chile and S. Africa, for example. The most successful wines, IMHO, are those where the wine-maker treated the variety more like Pinot Noir than Cabernet, alleviating the effects of waiting too long to pick the fruit and garnering over-ripe plummy fruit and higher alcohol (>14.5%). When I think about all of the great N. Rhone Syrahs from past vintages before climate change initiated insidiously higher temperatures, such as the 1978 Cote Rotie of Emile Champet and the classy, deeply gamy-earthy, black fruited Hermitage la Chapelles of the 1940-1990 period, typical alcohol levels rarely crossed the 13% level.

Zinfandel: 6-20 years. Yes, fine Zinfandel, especially from older vines, can and do age well, if generally not for so long as Syrah or Cabernet. Zinfandel is a complicated grape to work with, Though it is one of the few varieties that can manage high alcohols (> 14.5%) fairly gracefully, its tendency to raisin on the vine in very warm areas even while other berries are still green in the bunch does complicate the ability to produce a balanced age-worthy wine.

Hence, my conservative timespan, though the finest growing regions in California such as Sonoma Valley, Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Amador Foothills and the western reaches of the Paso Robles area can and do succeed in crafting lovely wines that combine power and grace. Whether due to altitude, or proximate cooling marine influence, the best sites in tandem with careful farming manage to produce startlingly fine wines.

Nebbiolo: 8-30 years. In some ways similar to Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo is a variety that is one of the most difficult to make fine long-lived wines that age gracefully. High in tannins and acid, low in anthocyanins, very vigorous, late ripening and prone to higher alcohol levels (14-15%), it’s a bitch to make well. Fortunately, today’s best Piemontese vignerons have learned to deal with climate change and temper the variety’s eccentricities. Don’t be deceived by the often pale ruby-garnet color of Nebbiolo that it is ‘over the hill’. It’s the grape, stupid!

Over the last 30 years or so, producers have adopted fermentation techniques and gained a better understanding of extraction to assure more fine-grained velvety tannins which complicate rather than conflict with the wonderful, savory, wild berry fruit, autumnal, earthy flavors and scents that Nebbiolo at its finest achieves.

Riesling: 6-40 years. I have already commented on this variety’s ability to produce remarkably long-aging, elegant wines, so long as it is grown in cooler areas such as much of Germany, parts of Austria in the Danube Valley, Alsace (though not as cool as one imagines), Alto-Adige and Collio in Italy. But surprisingly, the grape has adapted well to warmer areas in the Pacific Northwest like Eastern Washington and Okanagan Valley in BC, and the warm but high Clare Valley, Eden Valley appellations of South Australia. NO surprise as well that it thrives in cool, marine influenced regions of New Zealand, and Australia, too, such as the Great Southern area.

Whether made in a lightly sweet style such as German Kabinett wines, or Dry (trocken) styles as typical Australian, Austrian and north Italian Rieslings are, the grape’s inherent high acidity, ability to maintain low pH levels yet develop deep fruit flavors and good extract levels at lower alcohol potential (7-13%) accounts in great part for its age-worthiness.

Chardonnay: 4-15 years? Chardonnay can grow anywhere, almost. It will make an agreeable wine, but generally incapable of aging well, or long. If you want a Chardonnay that does age and blossom, best to look to Burgundy, especially Chablis and Puligny Montrachet or nearby, the Sonoma Coast, Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Barbara County in California. Increasingly we are seeing great potential for Chardonnay in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, and likewise longer aging versions from cooler spots of Australia like Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills and Margaret RIver.

The fact remains that Chardonnay’s personality is so much more ‘effusive’ and that it is so malleable, compared to Riesling for example, it is just too tempting for wine makers to not push it so hard, yielding a wine that is fleshier, richer and less like to make old bones. Much of this is quite rightly due to consumer preference, not just terroir limitations or winemaker's choice. To have classic, long lived Chardonnay (rarely as long as fine Riesling, however), you will be more successful searching for wines from the coolest areas like those above, and those producers judiciously balancing ripeness, oak-aging, reductive aging techniques (e.g. aging on fine lees for an extended period at cool temperatures and farming for lower alcohol levels and more acidity.

Tempranillo: 7-25 years. Tempranillo benefits from heat, as does Grenache, but it also really needs a wide diurnal temperature shift to maintain good acidity to avoid plumminess and one-dimensionality. Hence, the higher altitude, altiplano and mountainous regions of Northern Spain and northern Portugal (the Douro Valley where it is known as Roriz). offers more ideal conditions. These conditions allow this moderately acidic, firmly tannic variety to yield wines that depending on winemaking practices, can gracefully age a long time, or simply make for easy drinking young wines with enough of an edge to complete the hearty, often meaty cuisine of these areas.

There are many more varieties that can produce fine age-worthy wines under the right conditions. I think of Sangiovese in Tuscany, Umbria, Grüner Veltliner in Austria, Aglianico in Campania and Basilicata, Italy, Malbec in Argentina and Cahors, France, Mourvedre in Provence and S. France. Painting with a broad brush, expect these wines to develop fine nuanced character with anywhere from 6-20 years aging.

The big takeaway from my perspective is that wines which can age well are more dependent on balancing the various physical properties appropriate to the climate best suited to that cultivar, rather than traditional notions like having high tannin content or concentration.