Some help buying wine

[mrdutton]

Do you have a place to properly store the wine? You will need a cool, dark or dimly lighted area that is somewhat humid to store your wine. The temperature should be right around 50 to 55 degrees F. and should remain fairly constant throughout the storage period.

Wine that is stored in conditions warmer than these tend to age faster. A wine you would normally consider keeping for 6 to 10 years might only be kept for 3 to 5 years before it "goes over the top". Bright lighting can also have a deleterious affect on wine so you'll want your cellar to remain dark or dimly lighted at best.

As for the selection, there are many decent wines in the $10.00 to $30.00 dollar price range that can be cellared for that period of time.

I suggest you get together with your local wine merchant and talk to him/her. Your wine merchant will be able to discuss your tastes and desires with you directly and should be able to provide you with some very good advice on wines you might select for a cellar.

White wines are not generally cellared for long periods of time - although there are exceptions such as the very best Graves and Sauternes for instance.

Red wines can be and are cellared for longer periods of time. Some of the very finest reds can be cellared for several decades. A lot depends on the type of grape and the vintage.

There are a number of very good reference books you might want to read to learn more about wine. Check with your local book store or online with such places as Barnes & Noble or Amazon.Com.

I have not even begun to give you the "complete" answer. There are others present on this wine board who are much more knowledgable than I. Maybe one or more of them will "pick-up" where I left off.

I think that my best advice to you is to check with your local wine merchant and go from there.