Solera

An aging process by which wines (or other alcohols or spirits) are blended so as to increase the average age over time. Traditionally implemented with stacked barrels, new wines are added to the top barrel(s). After a period of time, some of this wine is moved to the next layer of barrels, while fresh wine is added to the top level, mixing with the remainder of the wine left. After another period of time, some of the second layer is moved to the third, some of the first to the second, and again fresh wine is added to the top layer. Once this reaches the bottom layer of the solera, some wine is removed from this layer and is sold or, if waiting to increase the overall age, discarded. Over time, this results in some of the original wine always remaining in the solera system. As time progresses, the average age of the wine in the bottom level of the solera will increase, resembling wines that have aged for that many years. This does not always need to use stacked barrels, and can take many other forms.