A certain sense of pride comes from watching your wine mature and blossom over time. The years of meticulous care are recognised in the moments the secondary aromas beckon and softened flavours swirl around your palate. It’s a priceless pleasure…
Whether you are just starting or struggling to fit your car in the garage, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the information on cellaring out there. A little WD secret… All you need is a bit of wisdom from those who have walked before you and somewhere to store your wine, and VOILA! Your cellar creation becomes a living, breathing being that incites spontaneous moments of joy. Oh, and did we mention… once you start, it’s hard to stop!
Let’s uncomplicate cellaring…
Step 1 – What’s your why?
Are you cellaring purely for your drinking pleasure or planning on building an empire with your investment? Your answer will determine your cellaring approach.
And an important question... Do you even like aged wine?
Aged wine can be an acquired taste, and certainly not everyone’s. With this in mind, if you haven’t the honour of your palate caressing a wine at its peak, we lovingly suggest you invest in one. Make it an occasion and invite your friends. Allow the wine to impress and ask yourself, do you appreciate it more than a young wine?
And if you conclude that aged wine isn’t your jam, don’t be disheartened. Fill your cellar with short-term gems instead.
Step 2 – Work Toward Conditions
It’s great to romanticise the notion of an underground cellar. Who doesn’t want to pull a dusty bottle from the cool depths of a bluestone cellar? In reality, not everyone has access to an underground room. Especially in Australia!
The good news is you don’t need to run off and purchase a wine fridge or repurpose the spare bedroom (at least not straight away). A home cellar could be the way to go, so long as you pander to your wine’s needs.
As a rule of thumb, store your wine in the coolest place in your home, away from fluctuating temperatures, moisture and sunlight. And don’t forget to invest in a few wine racks for cork’s sake! Nobody likes a disintegrating cork…
Step 3 – What to put in your cellar (it’s not just reds)
It’s a personal choice. Some of us seek to reminisce, while others are strategic with investment in mind. Either way, if your palate is synonymous with aged wine, you could start with:
- 3 to 6 bottles of each wine; 1 to enjoy now, 1 for a few years later, and lastly, 1 at maturity
- A range of wine regions – let’s say 4 or 5
- A mix of red, white, rosé, sparkling, sweet wine, and fortifieds – to suit your taste, of course!
Step 4 – Marie Kondo, your wine cellar
Tag your wine, so you don’t disturb their slumber - they don’t like vibration. A few craft tags with key information will make it easy to view bottle information:
- Detail the winery, variety, vintage, price and peak drinking window
- Colour code by country, region or drinking windows (Green could mean ‘drink now’ and red ‘not yet’. Amber could be ‘not long to go’)
And if you want to get fancy, there are plenty of apps you can download to keep track of it all in the palm of your hand.
Now let’s organise your cellar in a way that would make Marie proud:
- Keep young wines accessible and older wines out of sight
- Position by variety, region, price, style or drinking age
Step 5 – Long Term VS Short Term
What’s the difference? It’s pretty simple… Some wines are best enjoyed in their youth, whereas others age into a wine of stature and prowess. With an aged wine, the intense fruit flavours of a young wine subside, leaving way for exquisite new flavours and aromas.
And it’s good to know that short-term cellaring generally refers to less than five years, and long-term cellaring is anything over five years.
All that’s left to do now is stock up! So, we will sign off now and leave you with a few pearls of wisdom…
If a wine isn’t great to start with, it probably isn’t going to get any better with age.
and…
Know your drinking windows. You’ll kick yourself when you find a missed opportunity in the form of an overaged wine.
