Tire Rack had an interesting little blog posting about this topic:
http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/hunters-ramblings/how-old-are-the-tires-i-buy
"..............What is a reasonable age for a tire when making a purchase? Tire Rack works with many global manufacturers from around the world. It's not unusual for tires to be six to nine months old when we receive them direct from the tire manufacturers. We employ inventory rotation so that most of the tires we ship are less than a year old.
How fresh are the tires being sold by Tire Rack? As previously mentioned, Tire Rack employs inventory rotation so that most of the tires we ship are less than a year old. However, due to the global economy view taken by many tire manufacturers, Tire Rack isn't able to guarantee production dates..................."
http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/hunters-ramblings/how-old-are-the-tires-i-buy
"..............What is a reasonable age for a tire when making a purchase? Tire Rack works with many global manufacturers from around the world. It's not unusual for tires to be six to nine months old when we receive them direct from the tire manufacturers. We employ inventory rotation so that most of the tires we ship are less than a year old.
How fresh are the tires being sold by Tire Rack? As previously mentioned, Tire Rack employs inventory rotation so that most of the tires we ship are less than a year old. However, due to the global economy view taken by many tire manufacturers, Tire Rack isn't able to guarantee production dates..................."