Not all wines are suitable for longer term storage, and most red wines, and almost all whites, will not benefit from more than four years of ageing. It is difficult for a winemaker to make a bottle of wine that tastes good after only one or two years, that can also evolve into something even better a decade later. In fact, few wines are produced with the intent that they will be drunk much more than ten months later, never mind ten years later. Everyday wines simply taste more and more stale, faded and dull as the aging process goes on.
However, some wines are made in such a way that they will be unapproachable for a decade. Most of these wines are red, and the majority of the ageing process involves the relationship between fruitiness and tannin. The wines will evolve in the bottle - their tannins will soften and their acid will mellow. Red wines will grow paler and develop sediment; whilst ageworthy whites will darken to a rich, nutty amber.
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