I apologize in advance for the lengthy response but this is a fantastic question and I really wanted to flesh out my answer for you and readers that are following along. You are absolutely right to realize that tasting new and developing wines is vastly different than tasting bottled wines. Especially, as wines gain bottle age, they change even further, developing secondary and tertiary “bottle bouquet” aromas. Before bottling is a whole different world. In general, over time, new wines, both red and white, increase in clarity as sediment falls out and decrease in acidity. Harshness also decreases as malolactic fermentation (MLF) occurs and dissolved carbon dioxide evolves out of the wine. Wines become rounder and more “together” in the mouth as tannins condense and fall to the bottom of the aging vessel. Aromas develop from very primary fruity and funky during fermentation to more mature and seamless aromas one associates with finished, bottled wine. The finish of a new wine tends to be shorter and the finish will lengthen as the wine ages. Unfortunately, the only way to be
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