I make a loquat seed liqueur that takes about two years to finish. The first several months are spent in contact with the seeds, citrus zest, vanilla bean, and other elements, then it is bottled and left to sit for at least another year.

If you were to taste it right before bottling, you would think it less drinkable than pine-sol. After the appropriate amount of time, however, it becomes a delicious, amaretto-like dessert drink. It really is fascinating how much it changes over time.

> My wife likes strawberries. I don't care for them. Professional wine tasters are just people with their own preferences.

Yeah but we expect some trends among professionals, don't we? Just like we'd expect all food critics to rate McDonalds below French Laundry. Wine ratings are all over the map for professionals, amateurs and everyone in between.

There was a discussion about Docker on the front page yesterday, professionals in tech also disagree on quality and usefulness.

Yes a professional wine taster told me just the other day, "this is very good, not a style I like, but classic x.". If I asked them "Is this a good x?", they could tell me it was. However if I asked them to recommend a wine, they are unlikely to suggest x.

Taking this further, wine experts usually specialise in a particular region. Learning the wines of a region like Burgundy is a lifetimes study. If you ask a Burgundy expert for a wine around £50 to go with shellfish, don't be surprised when they recommend a Meursault. As an expert in New world wines you might get very different answers.

> but in 10 years may soften. So no they don't get better with age, it just takes years for them to be ready to drink.

A relative of mine did some work for a winery. As part of the payment or as a gift for a job well done they got a bottle of wine from 1965. The bottle was covered and dust and grime, looked pretty gross. By that time we drank it it had aged for about 25-30 years. The taste though was amazing. Didn't even taste like wine, had a very smooth velvet-y taste. Almost no acidity, not tannic at all.

At that point they've often turned into a type of drinking vinegar which, believe it or not, often don't taste acidic at all.

This is not true: if a wine turns into any sort of "vinegar" then a bacteria was present that should not have been. This is considered a "fault", and won't happen normally, even after 100 years in the bottle.

Hmm. I remember tasting a nicer higher end balsamic vinegar and you're right it didn't taste tannic or acidic. But that wine did taste different, in other words it still tasted like wine more than good balsamic vinegar.