The life cycle of red wine is particularly tricky to understand. Wines are made and then aged, being tasted regularly, and placed on the market when they are first ready to drink. At this point in the cycle, they are called “young” and show off mostly their fruit and floral aromas and flavors plus any added through winemaker choices like aging in oak.

If left beyond this early drinking phase, some red wines go into what is known as their “dumb phase.” A time when the wine shuts down. The fruit and floral notes get muted but the flavors it will have in maturity (leather and cigar box, for example) haven’t developed yet leaving you with a terrible-tasting red wine.

Once the dumb phase has ended, the wine is in its drinking window - the best it will be. Eventually it will peak and decline.

So, how do You Know When to Drink Your Reds?

Enter: the vintage chart. There are a variety available but your friends at couch + cork have found Wine Spectator’s vintage chart to be the most approachable.

Just click the country and then find the region (usually right on the bottle!). Look down the left side for the year of your bottle and then its status:

HOLD - the wine is in its dumb phase, do not drink it.
DRINK OR HOLD - the wine is drinking well young but will age nicely, too - if you have two bottles, drink one and save one!
DRINK - this wine is ready to drink either because it doesn’t have aging potential or because it is mature and at its best.
PAST PEAK - this drink has passed its optimal drinking window.*

*Just because a wine is past peak doesn’t mean it’s bad and it’s ALWAYS worth tasting a past peak wine. It is just not as good as it was at it’s peak.

And Don’t Forget

You don’t have to use the vintage chart - you also have access to the wine experts at couch + cork; just text us at 802.440.0437 and someone will help you decide to buy, leave on the shelf, open, age or throw the dice!

Thank you again for a great night of summer wines

✌🏼‍ ‍💜 + 🍷