Over the hill: A wine that's been kept too long (or poorly) and is no longer enjoyable.
At Its Peak, or Over the Hill?
All that said, tasting how a wine changes with age, even just a little age, is one of the pleasures of wine drinking. We're asked all the time how you can tell when a wine is at its peak.
STALE: Old, over the hill wines which have lost their freshness without developing the positive aspects of successful aging.
The odour of stale beer from a white wine that is over the hill -- usually in old Moselles.
Big
Full of body and flavour, high degree of alcohol, colour, and acidity.
Undifferentiated nuts, may be present as a subtle flavor element in any wine or as a predominant characteristic in a Sherry, Madeira or Tawny Port ... or, as above, in a "maderized" wine that's over the hill.
Web-weaving by Cliffwood Organic Works ...
probably not as long-term ageworthy as serious Barbaresco or Barolo; tannins are subtle at most. But its fullness, power and balance, and its Nebbiolo-based construction, suggest that five years or more in the cellar wouldn't see it go over the hill.
soon as they are bottled while others require years (or decades) of maturation in bottle to reach their optimum state. Simple wines, which are designed to be drunk young, will not improve with age. Rather they will deteriorate and be over the hill if ...
The Noveau is released without any barrel aging, so it is at its peak of freshness and drinkability as soon as it is released. Don't hold it for more than a few months, because by spring, it's usually over the hill.
 See also: Character, Wine, Long, Tannin, Red
|
