It’s bottle age.
This.
As opposed to, say, aging in a barrel.
The idea with the term “bottle age” is that bottle doesn’t leave its own imprint on the wine (unlike eg. barrel aging or aging in a tank on the lees). The idea is not that the bottle itself would leave a characteristic of its own to the wine.
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Aging in the bottle develops tertiary aspects to the profile of the wine. The bottle and moreover the cork matter to some extent. Microoxygenation over several decades, small amounts of evaporation, temperature, light, disturbing movements all may have an effect on the wine in the bottle. Stelvin closure may matter. The color of the bottle to the extent it blocks ambient light may matter.
This is a fantastic topic, going to move to Wine 101
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Different wine writers and educators tend to apply these terms slightly differently, and not always consistently. The WSET definitions, for instance, are along the following lines:
Primary Aromas
These are the aromas that exist after fermentation … and come from the grapes …or are created during the fermentation process, … and include fruity, floral, herbaceous aromas, or other primary clusters.
Secondary Aromas
These are created by post-fermentation winemaking … such as those extracted from oak (vanilla and toast) …, creamy, buttery characteristics from malolactic fermentation, or the yeasty and biscuity aromas that can develop as a result of lees contact or autolysis.
Tertiary Aromas
These … originate in ageing processes, … such as due to a long period in oak (coffee, toffee or caramel), … or due to a long period in bottle (petrol, honey or mushroom).
Some other popular descriptions are in the articles below:
- Primary vs tertiary wine aromas: what’s the difference? by Decanter’s Chris Mercer
- How to Understand the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Aromas in Wine by Wine Enthusiast’s Marshall Tilden III, dipWSET, CSW
- What do you mean by “secondary” and “tertiary" notes in wine? by Wine Spectator’s Ask Dr. Vinny
A problem common to all such classifications is apparent from the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine (SAT) lexicon on page 2: some of the same aromas are included in two categories. For example, dried and cooked fruit aromas as well as cinnamon are included among both primary and tertiary characteristics, and chocolate and coffee are both secondary and tertiary. Some of the reasons behind this and further inconsistencies are discussed in The Trilemma of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Aromas by Deborah Parker Wong, dipWSET. The underlying chemistry is explored in detail in the Meta-Analysis of the Core Aroma Components of Grape and Wine Aroma.
A consequence of the ambiguities in the primary-seconday-tertiary classification is that they make assessing the quality of wine and its readiness for drinking or suitability for aging (the stated goals of the SAT) difficult and unreliable.
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Apparently new posters are restricted to at most four links per article, so here’s a link to the Meta-Analysis of the Core Aroma Components of Grape and Wine Aroma.
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