The word ageing (crianza in Spanish) appears on labels, restaurant wine lists and in after-dinner conversations. It is almost always associated with barrels, dimly lit cellars and wines that have waited years before being released. But ageing a wine is much more than leaving it in a barrel for a set period of time.
That is why understanding what it means to age a wine also helps to grasp an important idea: more time spent ageing does not necessarily mean a better wine. The key lies in finding the time and the vessel that allow each wine to express its origin and character.
Ageing a wine means accompanying it for a period of time, after fermentation, so that it can evolve before it goes on sale. That time can be spent in wooden barrels, in steel or concrete tanks, in clay amphorae or in the bottle itself.
Each one offers different conditions. Some allow very limited contact with oxygen; others provide a more gradual micro-oxygenation and, in the case of wood, can also contribute certain aromas and tannins.
The Spanish word is no accident. Criar means to raise or nurture: to give something the environment and the time it needs to develop what it already carries within. Ageing does not create a new wine. It refines what the vineyard and fermentation have given.
That is exactly what the word speaks of: accompanying an evolution.
After fermentation, the wine keeps on changing. Its components gradually come together, the tannins can soften and the aromas evolve. Fresh fruit can gain depth and appear alongside more complex notes, while the feel in the mouth becomes more harmonious.
Many of these changes depend on oxygen. In a barrel, the wood lets very small amounts of air through over the months, and that minimal contact helps the wine evolve. In a closed tank the exchange is almost nil, and the wine better preserves its fruit and freshness.
Time itself is also at work. A freshly fermented wine is still a set of pieces that do not quite fit together. A few months of rest allow them to settle.
In many wineries, each variety or each plot is also aged separately and the final blend is decided later, once it is known how each part has evolved. That is why ageing and blending usually go hand in hand: ageing gives each wine time to show itself, and blending decides how they come together.
On the nose, ageing shifts the emphasis. A young wine is reminiscent above all of fresh fruit and flowers. Over the months, that fruit becomes riper or more candied and new notes appear: spice, leather, tobacco, damp earth or forest floor. They do not replace the fruit; they are layered over it and give depth to the whole.
In the mouth, the most obvious change is in the texture. The tannins of a young red can feel rough or drying, like a coarse sensation on the gums. During ageing they become rounder and the wine feels more fluid and cohesive, without sharp edges. Acidity, for its part, remains essential. It brings freshness and helps the wine keep its tension and length as it evolves.
There is no single vessel for ageing a wine. The choice depends on the style being sought and, above all, on the characteristics of the grapes and of the wine that is meant to be expressed.
Stainless steel preserves fruit and freshness quite faithfully, as it is a practically inert vessel with very little oxygen exchange.
Concrete offers different conditions. Its structure allows the wine to evolve gradually without adding the aromas typical of wood, so it can be used when the aim is to accompany the wine’s evolution while keeping an expression closely tied to the wine itself.
And then there is wood, one of the vessels traditionally associated with ageing.
Wood plays a dual role. On the one hand, it allows a slow exchange of oxygen that helps the wine evolve. On the other, especially when the wood is new, it can contribute aromas and compounds that change the wine’s profile.
The type of wood, the size and age of the vessel and the time the wine spends in it determine how noticeable it will be.
A new barrel can contribute notes of spice, toast or vanilla. A used barrel has less aromatic influence and lets the wine keep more of the spotlight.
There are also larger vessels, such as foudres, in which the ratio between the volume of wine and the surface of wood is different.
It is a question of measure. When the wood is well integrated, it can support the wine’s texture and complexity without hiding its identity.
Because a wine is born in a specific place. If ageing takes centre stage, there is a risk that the wood ends up speaking louder than the vineyard.
Once bottled, the wine continues to evolve, now with almost no contact with air. It is a slower process in which the aromas merge and the wine gains harmony. Over the years, part of the colour and tannins bind together and settle at the bottom, which is why some wines leave sediment in the bottle without this being a sign of any fault.
Time in bottle can be especially important for wines with structure and the ability to evolve. What seems firm or closed today can gain harmony and complexity after a few years. Knowing whether a wine is ready to drink now or better kept depends largely on how far it still has to go in that respect.
In Spain, the 2003 Wine Law (Ley de la Viña y del Vino) sets minimum times for some of the terms that appear on labels. A red labelled Crianza must be aged for at least 24 months, six of them in barrel; a Reserva, 36 months, with a minimum of 12 in wood; a Gran Reserva, 60 months, with 18 in barrel.
When the label carries none of these terms, it does not mean the wine has not been aged. Many wineries prefer to state the months in barrel, the type of oak or the time in bottle on the back label or the technical sheet. That information says more about the style of the wine than the generic term.
These are useful references, but they measure time, not quality.
A wine with a short period of ageing can be excellent if its purpose is to express fruit and freshness. Another with long ageing can feel heavy if the grapes did not have the structure to support it.
The useful question is not how long, but whether that time makes sense for that wine. And the answer is in the glass: when ageing is well judged, it is not perceived as something added, but as a more complete wine.
The more character the grapes bring, the more sense it makes for ageing to be an accompaniment rather than a disguise.
Celler Mas Doix makes its wines from century-old vineyards, with vines dating back to 1902, and from five plots with their own names, such as La Vicaria and Les Foreses. The winery has farmed them organically since 2016 and with biodynamic practices.
With grapes from such an origin, what is expected of ageing is that it lets the vineyard show through, not that it covers it up.
Exploring the wines of Mas Doix reveals that each one follows its own path: some seek a more direct expression and others need more time to show themselves.
Ageing makes sense when it accompanies the identity of the wine without hiding its origin. Discover the wines of Mas Doix and the winemaking and ageing journey behind each one.