red wine & storage

[Innkeeper]

Hi Y-me and welcome to the Wine Board. The first thing you need is proper storage conditions. For a twenty five year haul, they have to be perfect. You will need an active or a passive system that will keep temperatures at 50 to 60 degress F, and 60 to 70% humidity. If you move during the twenty five years you have replicate the storage conditions immediately.

You say you do want a wine that is "not too dry." Do you know what "dry" means in wine? It means that all the sugar in the wine has been fermented into alcohol. It does not mean that it dries out your mouth when you drink it.

If you want a wine that actually contains sugar, you choices are Port and Port. Port will also give you the best chance of surviving twenty five years. For a dry wine you might try a 2000 Bordeaux that are still on the market. This is supposed to be the vintage of the century. Since it was the first one, this claim could hold up for a while. Another option is Brunello di Montalcino. All these wines will cost you closer to or more than the $40 than the $15.