Who knows anything about wine?

herlysgirly

I'm not a big drinker, but I will have a drink or two on occasion, when I'm not nursing/pregnant.  So I know NOTHING about wine.  That being said, I was working on decluttering my kitchen today and found some alcohol that I forgot we had in our hutch.  There is a bottle of "2007 Bietti Moscato d'Asti Cascientta Vietti" in there, as well as "Chateau Ste Michelle vintage 2008 Riesling - Columbia Valley". 

I'm assuming that it's not a very fancy wine, otherwise we probably wouldn't have it in our house, lol.  After googling them both, they're about $15 wines.  Is it only the expensive "fancy" wines that "get better with age," or do the regular store-bought ones do this too?  Basically, should I get rid of it/ cook with it/ use it to celebrate baby later? 

VineyardMel

You're probably close to wanting to drink them. Sweet whites like that are usually best no longer than 5-7 years after bottling. You should be fine to use them to celebrate baby.

mystrana

Haha... I have some really good experience with this situation! DH and I are just not big wine drinkers, so we had all these bottles of wine just sort of sitting in our kitchen cabinet from various events where people had brought us wine over the past few years. Well, finally we decided to just start bringing them over to our friend's houses when we had dinner there (in addition to a dessert or something that I knew was edible, lol)

Anyhow, I've learned that store-bought wines do not, in fact, get any better with age. In fact, they kinda get cloudy and oddly colored and when you compare them to a new bottle of wine, the difference is striking. And then people try to drink it and they compare it to urine and that's when you know that you've had a bottle of wine too long.

So, my recommendation would be to give it a sip and if it doesn't taste like, uh, urine... cook with it or celebrate baby! But my experience tells me that you're on the tail end of that wine's lifespan.

KarBear

VineyardMel:

You're probably close to wanting to drink them. Sweet whites like that are usually best no longer than 5-7 years after bottling. You should be fine to use them to celebrate baby.

This!  Usually it's only the reds that get better with age   Both of those will be pretty sweet, so pop them in the fridge and enjoy in a couple months...or now if you have friends.

sfolola

Moscato D'Asti is a white frizzante, or bubbly, wine.  Basically a dessert wine; which is not intended to be cellared.  It's great with dessert, or a sorbet.  But you should plan to drink it soon.

MississippiCatfish

Ah, I love the Chateau Saint Michelle Riesling! Feel free to send some my way!

SpartyMom2B

KarBear:

VineyardMel:

You're probably close to wanting to drink them. Sweet whites like that are usually best no longer than 5-7 years after bottling. You should be fine to use them to celebrate baby.

This!  Usually it's only the reds that get better with age   Both of those will be pretty sweet, so pop them in the fridge and enjoy in a couple months...or now if you have friends.

This. Reds definitely improve with age, but only when properly corked and stored (at the right temp and humidity level).