I was taking a look at my wine stock and was thinking about how some of the wine that I have hold a special meaning to me and then I started to wonder when would be the right time to drink the wine. Is there really any right time to drink wine? Wine is meant to be drank, enjoyed and savored, not stored and left on a shelf. The beauty of wine is that you can drink it at any time and it makes every moment special, no matter what the circumstance may be. Wine that has been given as a gift should be shared with the giver, so that the moment can be shared and appreciated by each other.
Each bottle has a distinctive flavor all its own, but you only have a set period during which you can enjoy that flavor before it is lost forever. I am going to go out on a limb and say that shelf life, depending on a few factors on how it is prepared, the vintage and so on, can be up to 7 years for a red and 2/3 years for a white. I based that on more typical U.S. wines, shelving for old world wines or better quality wine can be longer-even up to decades. That is presuming that it is a unopened bottle of wine, if its opened wine-life may be shelved for up to 10 days, again its variable. Please remember that you may find a few different takes on wine shelf life, so the best bet is to drink it within a few days of purchase, if not the same day. I have to mention that it is always wise to check the vintage on a bottle before purchasing, I recently came across a 2008 chardonnay featured amongst the more preferable 2010/11 vintages and when I brought it to the stewards attention, he replied that it is still drinkable.
Here are a few sites for your convenience on wine-life:
WHITE WINE COOLING-winecellarinnovations.com
eatbydate.com/drinks/alcohol/wine-shelf-life-expiration-date