Wine is alive.
At the moment fermentation ends, it is born.
The lengthy aging process that follows is a journey towards maturity, akin to a human's growth from infancy to adulthood.
This ripening could span from several years to decades.
When they reach the peak of their lives, what humans call the optimal drinking period, they're uncorked to nourish the taste buds and souls of humankind.
Initially, wines primarily resided in oak barrels until the 19th century when they found a new home—
Glass bottles.
Of course, this isn't to say that no one used glass containers to hold wine before then. The history of glass spans thousands of years; it's just that it didn't massively replace wine barrels for transportation until then.
As the practice of bottling wine in glass became popular around the world, a new aging method emerged.
Bottle aging.
Distinguishing it from the traditional "barrel aging."