Recommendations on wines to cellar

[Johmar]

Hi fellow wine enthusiasts!

I am new to this board; I have in the past made several thousand dollars in wine purchases that I cellared back in 1995. I am nearing the point where I need to make another large purchase. I do not know what to choose. In 1995, I walked into my local wine shop and told them of my intentions. They selected all the wine for me. Some aged well others did not. Over all, it was not what I expected for the amount of the investment. I am only interested in Red's. I am not an expert, but I love an excellent Red and despise a poor one. I would like a range of pricing and reccomendations to cellar over a ten year period, drinking them as we go, if that is fesable. Again, I am a novice so any help would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks in advance,

John

[Innkeeper]

Hi John, and welcome to the Wine Board. I'm going to leave your post here, but also move it up the Novice thread, because a. It will get more action there, and b. This thread is really about bricks and mortar than what goes in it.

[Innkeeper]

Hi again. There have been many changes in the wine world during the last eleven years. The most prominent change involves hang time. Because of the popularity of big overblown wines, vinters are required to leave grapes on the vine until they practically rot. Unfortunately this creates big fruit high alcohol wines that are usually badly out of balance with exceedingly high pH. This meaning they will not age well.

This affects California Cabernet and Meritage, some from Australia, and even some Bordeaux. Another development is inconsistancy of Red Burgundy. It is like a crap game.

Before buying any of these be very careful. Look for recommendations on this and other forums, and find a reputable retailer.

Wines that you can still hang your hat on are those from the Upper Rhone, the Italians Borolo, Barbersco, and Brunello, the sweetest German Rieslings and other late harvest sweet wines.

I love Cabernet as I'm sure you do, just be careful which ones you buy.

[Johmar]

I really appreciate your help, I look forward to many responses to get me on the right track. Maybe, I should re-think cellaring?

Thanks again and also for moving my post to a more appropriate forum.

John

[wdonovan]

I don't know about rethinking cellaring. As long as storage conditions are good, you still have some options. I know we're drinking Bordeaux from '88 to '96 right now. If I didn't cellar, I'd be drinking new stuff that wouldn't be half as good. There are still a lot of Bordeaux that will go 10 years, even the basic Rhones will survive half that, Chateauneufs - 10 for sure. Yes you have to be careful. Read reviews, pick the wines yourself. That's part of the fun in having your own caves. You admit to having one experience in trusting that job to others, whose motives are obviously different than yours.
One question though.... why the obligatory 10 year restock? Why not replenish as you go? Then you always have some wine with age on it. With your present method you always start out young, age to ten, wipe out, renew, start out young...... Given the choice, I'd want a perpetual supply of wine just coming into peak.

[Innkeeper]

Good advice from WD. I will raise the caution flag on the CDPs though. They seem to be plagued with Brett (brettanomyces) these days including big names such as Chateau de Beaucastel. Some people don't seem to mind this in their wine. Parker, for example, highly recommends the one I just mentioned. In a young wine, it can usually be tolorated, but the longer you age it, the more damage it does.

To put things back on a positive track, the above does not apply to the Upper Rhones. We love to lay down Cote Roti, Hermitage, and others of that ilk.

[Innkeeper]

In this week’s newsletter (11/30/06) that was transmitted yesterday, Dan Berger quotes Dr. Richard Peterson a long time wine maker and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the California State Fair.

“I join you and others in predicting that most Napa Valley Cabernets produced today will fail their aging tests over the next decade,” wrote Peterson. “The reasons are their high alcohol/high pH and lack of ‘metabolically ripe’ varietal flavor – it having been trumped by over-ripe, prune-y and Port-like characters in grapes that are picked with excessive sugars. Even Cabernet Sauvignon grown in good terroirs cannot survive being harvested at 27.5 Brix year in and year out.”