How long can you keep Sauternes wine?

Sauternes is a sweet white wine from the eponym wine region in the Bordeaux area. They are made from noble rot on Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. The best are fermented and aged for up to three years in new barrels. These wines have distinctive notes of honey, apricot, citrus zest and dried fruit.

Unfortunately, these are also expensive wines….

But : How long can you keep a Sauternes wine?

ANECDOTE : By the way, do you know WHO invented Sauternes? It’s actually thanks to the Dutch! Get the full story here!

If its opened : a week (roughly)

An opened wine will last days…and that goes for Sauternes as well unfortunately. However, due to its high level of sugar, it can go on longer than a regular wine.

You should recap the wine. I use a Vacuvin to vacuum the air in the bottle. This helps to limit the contact with oxygen and thus lengthen the time it stays good.

To limit contact with oxygen, you can also pour it in a smaller bottle.

Another thing I would suggest is putting the wine in the fridge. The cold slows down the chemical reactions. Anyway, I wouldn’t exceed a week though. But if you do, be sure to taste it first, you might have a nice surprise

If its unopened : forever…

I want to say it lasts for ever….

For sure, the color will change. The wine will come darker and darker. It’ll evolve into a caramel color (that’s when some wine enthusiasts start drinking it, thinking it’s at its peak). But it can continue to change. The color will become black…but that doesn’t mean the wine can go down the sink!

The color may be off-putting but the wine remains delicious, that I can assure you! So taste it, before you waste it!

Why can Sauternes last years? Have you read why Bordeaux wines age well? Wines need four things to age : high acidity, complex aromas, high levels of tannins or sugar and a lengthy finish. Well, guess what, Sauternes has all four! Taste a Sauternes in its young age, you can definitely check the four criteria : acidity, sugar, complexity and long finish.

… if stored in the proper conditions.

Poor conservation of wine can affect its aromas and, in the most serious cases, make it defective. I would suggest following these rules:

• For long-term storage, whatever the wine, keep you wine at a cool and constant temperature : preferably between 10°C and 15°C. Extreme temperatures, hot or cold, are likely to deteriorate the wine. For example, the worst place to store you wine is the kitchen, which experiences very strong temperature fluctuations. Putting it in the fridge can harden the caps, which then lose their elasticity and are no longer airtight. The air can then attack the wine… and you wine finishes down the drain.

• Bottles closed with a cork must be kept lying down so that it remains in contact with the wine. If the cork dries out and shrinks, air can enter the bottle and oxidize the wine.

• Store wine away from light. Sunlight, like artificial lighting, heats the wine, which becomes old before its time. Artificial light can also lead to the appearance of unpleasant aromas in some wines.

• Last but not least : keep the wine away from vibrations, to avoid stirring.

Conclusion : How long can you keep Sauternes wine?

So to sum up, you can keep a Sauternes wine :

• a week if opened
• forever if not and if stored in the proper conditions. If you’re not sure of you storage conditions, I would recommend taking a peak at the color (it will tell you if its aging quickly or not) and tasting it after ten years

What was the oldest wine YOU tasted? Let me know in the comments!