Bottle life: a course, not an endpoint

The standard

A documented bottle development rests on repeated tasting over time, not on a shelf-life figure set at bottling. It records how a wine actually changes.

Criteria

• The course is tasted at several points, not estimated once
• Maturing, peak and decline are named separately
• Storage conditions are stated as a precondition
• The endpoint stays correctable, not fixed at bottling

Distinction

Bottle life ≠ Ageing potential: one is the lived course, the other the capacity to withstand it. Bottle life ≠ Drinking window: the drinking window forecasts a section, bottle life describes the whole. A documented bottle development turns a shelf-life figure into an observed course.