Selecting the right wines for your cellar
Selecting the right wines for your cellar.
There is nothing quite like the experience of pulling out a perfectly aged bottle from the cellar and dusting it off in preparation for opening. A wine cellar is different from a collection of bottles and it can convey your journey through life. You start to stash bottles in secret places. You wonder what wine could be a keeper.
Then you start taking random notes and selfies with special bottles of wine. This is how wine collecting begins and as you take your first baby steps towards a real cellar, the questions start too: where to buy and what; how to store and where; when to keep and when to quaff. What do I choose, these are the questions raised when you are entering the grip of the grape….
Top Tips
Tip 1. Think about the wines you love. Look at their styles and think about where they come from i.e you love Coonawarra Cabernet, its homeland is Bordeaux – try adding in some Cabernets from other renowned regions like Bordeaux – France, Hawkes Bay – NZ, Tuscany – Italy or closer to home, the Yarra Valley in Victoria.
2. Make a plan and divide your cellar into three broad drinking windows sections:
- Drink Now (3- 5 years)
- Store Midterm (7-12yrs)
- Store Long term (15 years and above)
Approximately 50% now, 40% mid and 10% long, then divide between colour and styles i.e 70% Red 15% White and 5% Sparkling…oh and don’t forget magnums…bigger is better!
Secrets of Cellaring
The producer counts for everything. Put producers in your cellar with pedigree. We know it’s easy to jump on the new biggest brightest upcoming stars in the wine industry and by all means, store a few bottles in your drink now section, however, they are bright and shiny for a reason. They are NEW, which could mean that the vineyards they are working with are also young, i.e fruit hasn’t yet reached maturity.
3. Buy brands with pedigree – remember that wines don’t get better forever. Drink wines younger rather than older.
Have you got Pinot in your cellar?
4. One last golden rule when selecting the right wine for your cellars…
“Buy Pinot Noir now!! if you like it or you don’t, buy Pinot Noir now!”
Red wine doesn’t have to bowl you over with alcohol. Pinot Noir is the seductress of grape varieties. This French mistress coolly caresses your palate with subtle fruit and oak characteristics making it a great combination with fowl, game dishes, or its classic partner duck. Pinot Noir is softer. As your palate changes you begin to look into your cellar for rounder softer less tannic wines and if you don’t have pinot in your cellar you will leave yourself short…
You build a cellar by taking advice, researching wines, reading, writing notes and tasting – lots and lots of tasting (responsibly). This is a true secret of cellaring. Learn more about cellaring and our services at our Secrets of Cellaring Workshops happening throughout the year. {CLICK HERE}