Tasting Notes : Pomerol & St. Emilion (1966-2003)
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Cellaring Continued...
Typically, the one-bottle-at-a-time wine buyer will at some point discover their regular merchant is sold out of their current and typically new-found favorite wine. So, embarking on a desperate mission of serious wine shopping, they get lucky enough to find another source with a few remaining bottles and make the decision to stock up. And so it begins: The Cellar.
This "cellar" may wind up in a counter top wine rack on display, a kitchen cupboard, or a cardboard box in a closet, crawl space, or garage. But make no mistake about the implication, this IS the ominous beginning of a wine collection. For now, we'll simply refer to it as "the stash."
THE MONSTER AWAKES
Factors that will cause the drinker to morph into collector and the stash to grow (often uncontrollably) are sentimentality, discovery, boredom, and speculation.
Sentimentality results from saving the last bottle or two of a particular favorite for a "special occasion". Discovery of new favorites tends to slow depletion of the existing stash, while, at the same time, adding to its overall volume. Boredom has the same effect.
Speculation usually begins when inflation, created by supply and demand, makes monsters out of bottles that began as "great values". The drinker purchases a wine that inadvertently pays a (theoretical) dividend and so decides to begin purposeful wine investing (aka: collecting).
"Rules" of Wine Collecting
1. Take your time; choose wisely.
(There's no hurry to fill your "cellar". There are new wines every year. Read what the critics say, but follow your own taste. Spend more money tasting than acquiring.)
2. Taste before you select.
(If you don't like it now, you won't like it later; an ugly duckling might become a swan, but ugly-tasting wine becomes ugly-tasting old wine.)
3. Buy at least 3 bottles of each.
(Diminishes the chance of collecting marginal wines and also waiting too long, not wanting to drink the "last" bottle.)
case goods.Regardless of the cause, the effect of the growing stash is to make the drinker-cum-collector think about protecting and preserving it. Although this is the most common way wine collections start and grow, it is also completely the oposite of how it should be done.
The right way to collect wine is to invest in a proper place to store the collection first, but I won't waste another breath trumpeting this largely lost cause ... Collectors and purchasers of older wines know this Golden Rule: if in doubt about the provenance of a wine (how it has been kept), don't buy it. However, this should never deter anyone from opening and evaluating such doubtful offerings!
THE HEAT IS ON
The most important single factor in storing wine is CONSISTENCY of temperature. CONSISTENT temperature is absolutley vital to storing wine. The overriding consideration in storing wine is keeping that temperature CONSTANT. How many more ways can I say this?
Changes of plus or minus 10° F within a 24-hour period -- ruin wines. Although a solitary incident may not be fatal, it will nevertheless permanently change the flavors — away from the fresh-and-fruity and toward the old-and-musty. Repeated temperature fluctuations will surely ruin wine. Heated wine may smell and taste "cooked" or maderized, like Sherry or burned sugar.
"Perfect" Wine Cellar Conditions
1. Constant Consistent Temperature.
(In the range of 55-65°F, with no up or down fluctuation totalling more than 5° in any 24-hour period.)
2. Dark.
(Exposure to either natural or artificial light ages wine prematurely or ruins it.)
3. Solid, vibration-free.
(Go for the cave, the slab, or the bunker; avoid the refrigerator, the second-floor bedroom, or the houseboat.)
4. Slightly Humid.
(To little, the corks dry and shrink; too much, the labels and corks can develop mold.)
The garage, the root cellar, crawl space under the house, or the unfinished basement are very bad places to store wine, because of wide and frequent temperature fluctuations.
Lacking a dedicated temperature-controlled room or cabinet, it's best to store wine on the floor of an interior closet, where no wall is shared with the outdoors, a furnace, stove, refrigerator, water heater, dish washer, clothes dryer, sauna, kiln, boiler, foundry, particle accelerator, etc.
There is a tool to help find and monitor suitable temperate environments: a minimum/maximum thermometer. This relatively inexpensive and convenient device will show the highest and lowest temperature in any given time period.
Place either thermometer in the potential storage area and monitor, morning and night, for a week. If the daily Farenheit swing is over a few degrees (5-8?), pick a new location and begin again. Once a likely spot is found, the wine stash can be moved there, but monitoring should continue weekly, monthly, seasonally, annually, centennially, etc., until confident of the location's temperate stability.
The great body of anecdotal evidence suggests that wines stored at lower ranges (50° - 55° F) will be preserved longer and have a longer time period when the wine is in its "peak" of drinkability. Wines stored at higher ranges (65° - 70°) will age sooner, but not as well, and have a shorter time window for maximum enjoyment.
Wine aging is not predictable with any degree of certainty and there are no guarantees that even properly stored bottles will improve. However, wines from good vintages and producers can unveil complexity, ballance and mystery beyound any intial flavor profile. Hence, the rewards of cellaring.
Wine "Aging" Mysteries
Why do some wines seem to become more complex and smoother-tasting as they age?
Although a great deal of circumstantial evidence shows what factors affect wine aging, no one really knows or can explain the chemistry of wine aging. The ASEV has a few studies but nothing conclusive with respect to chemical and biological interaction that adequately explaines the aging process. However, once the enophile has tasted the mysteries of a well aged wine, there is little doubt chemical explaination will be needed. Mother time can create and harm any given bottle. Ultimately, expermentation and your own palate will guide your decision making process. So how does one know the right time to drink that aged bottle, when the wine has reached its peak of enjoyment? There are many books and recomendatons (time frames), again each person's palate and experience is unique and prevents a one-size-fits-all answer to this dilemma. Many collectors buy several bottles and open them over a period of many years observing the changes. I often find wine goes through evolutionary chapters, evolving slowing than suddenly changing dramically often returning to a slower aging curve and again evloving quickly. Expermentation and tasting aged wine will inform you of how the wine has developed and what you like. Good luck and if you have any questions, please contact us via email.
Cheers,
Andy & Merri Berwick
Right Bank Bordeaux
Wine Commentary
Merri Reid Berwick, CSW
Tasting wines from the great chateaus of Bordeaux is always a wonderful treat. But typically when one talks of mind blowing Bordeaux, one thinks of the prestige producers of the Left Bank, not so much the Right. I certainly was guilty of that. But after a recent tasting of Petrus(1982,75,85), Lafluer(1985),Ausone(1998,2002), Cheval Blanc(1998),Valandraud(1995,2001), Vieux Certain(1982), Gazin(2001),Beausejour(2000),LaGaffeliere(1982), L'Evangile(1983),L'Eglise Clinet(1989), L'Arrosee(1966,1985),La Fluer de Gay(1998), Clinet(1993,2000), and Certan de May(1996,2000), I have changed my mind about the Right and my Bordeaux taste preferences. These were all quite exquisite wines and I truly enjoyed the richness and texture these Merlot driven wines presented. The vast majority of these wines were rated by the experts in the 90+ranges, with Parker giving the 1982 Petrus a 98-100 points. My favorite however, was not the 82 Petrus but rather the 1998 Cheval Blanc, with a close second being the 2002 Ausone. While these wines are pricey and hard to come by, I confess they are well worth the hunt and financial sacrifice. There are, however, many other great Right Bank reds which can be enjoyed for a more modest price and I am on a quest to find and drink them. While the movie, Sideways, may have had wine drinkers repeating "I'm not drinking no stink'n Merlot", I , on the other hand have become quite committed to the grape that produces such beautiful flavors and aromas, and the area(Right Bank) that brings them to us. Cheers.
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Recomended Resources- Links- Reading
The Society of Wine Educators
Wine & Spirit Educational Trust
Masters of Wine
Master Sommelier
American Society for Enology and Vinticultur
U.C. Davis
*The above organizations have excellent reading materials and course curriculum.
We recommend you start with the Soceity of Wine Educators or the Wine and Spirit Educational Trust for general wine information and reading materials. For more advance studies move to the Masters of Wine or Master Sommelier programs. For Enology and Viticulture, U.C. Davis has an excellent program and distant learning classes we highly recommend.
