When I was first starting to explore this hobby, I saw several references to "Bulk Aging". I thought I had a pretty good idea as to what it was, but I was having difficulty finding a "definitive" definition. I finally determined what was meant by bulk aging. It refers to the process of allowing the wine to age in a large vessel for an extended period of time. This process starts after the wine has been fined and continues until the wine is bottled. Depending upon the type of wine, the "large vessel" is an oak barrel, a stainless steel container or a glass carboy.

Bulk aging continues to fascinate me, as it is one of the few places where the home vintner, working with a kit, can "personalize" their wine. Almost all grape wines improve with some aging, whether it is in the bottle or in bulk. But one must be careful as certain grape varietals do not age well beyond six months, while others can be aged for decades. Most of the kit wines will not hold for more than five years, so the there is your window of opportunity,

I also asked R.J. Spagnols, the maker of the kits we sell, for their opinion. What they offered is what I have read over and over, "the smaller the container, the faster the wine matures." As to whether or not you should bulk age, they offer two schools of thought. If you bulk age, you will have 30 bottles of identical wine. If you let the wine age in bottles, you will have 30 bottles with some different subtleties. Whether or not they will be significant enough to notice will probably depend upon your pallet.

So far, the longest I have bulk aged a wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon that I left in the carboy for 9 months. I then let it age another 3 months in the bottle and it is one of my favorite wines. However, I also made a Shiraz that I bottled on day 58 and it is wonderful. I can't tell the difference between my bottle and a $30 bottle I got from a commercial winery in California.

My recommendation to you is experiment like I have and compare the results. I currently have 2 batches of the same Cabernet in process. I am going to bulk age one and bottle the other on day 60. I will let you know the results next year.