Let's face it, most people buy wine to drink and enjoy right away. However, there’s a smaller segment of wine enthusiasts who purchase wines with the intention of cellaring them for the future. These collectors often do so for two main reasons: they want to enjoy the wine at its peak, or they buy wines as an investment.
When buying wines to cellar, the intention is to allow them to evolve and reach their optimal drinking window, often many years after their purchase. Certain wines, especially reds like Bordeaux, Barolo, or Rioja, are known for their aging potential. Over time, the flavors and textures of the wines mature, becoming more complex and nuanced, offering an experience that is different from drinking them when they are young.
On the other hand, some collectors view wine more as an investment. These individuals purchase wines that they believe will appreciate in value over time. Much like stocks or mutual funds, wine can be seen as an asset, with certain bottles or vintages expected to fetch high prices in the future.
Whether you’re cellaring wine to enjoy its evolution or investing in bottles that could increase in value, wine collecting has become both a hobby and a potential financial strategy for many. Unfortunately, the path of wine collecting/cellaring is not cheap, for starters you need to have space, where to put the wines, where wines will be kept at a constant temperature (ideally at 55º F), humidity and without vibrations. Some people build cellars in their homes, others buy portable cellars (like the Eurocave), or rent wine lockers. Whatever you choose, storing wine costs money that needs to be added to your final estimate.
Keep in mind that as a wine ages, particularly red wines with tannins and structure, it undergoes various transformations. Initially, the wine may be tight, with pronounced tannins and bright fruit flavors. Over time, these tannins soften, and the wine becomes rounder and smoother, its mouthfeel more integrated and balanced. The fruit aromas that are prominent in the wine’s youth, such as fresh berries or citrus, begin to fade and evolve into more complex, secondary aromas. These can include descriptors such as truffles, leather, meat, forest floor, and earthy notes. These changes occur as the wine’s chemical compounds continue to interact, and over time, the tannins polymerize (bond together), making them feel softer, while acidity and fruit flavors recede, making room for more savory, complex aromas and flavors. This shift is why many wines, especially reds, are best enjoyed after they've had some time in the cellar.
In essence, reductive aging allows wines to develop a whole new spectrum of flavors and textures, moving away from the fresh fruitiness of their youth and transitioning into something much deeper, richer, and often more complex. For wine enthusiasts and collectors, this transformation is one of the joys of aging wines—experiencing the evolution of a bottle over time as it matures into something unique.
I have a confession to make, one of my best wine experiences was during a Burgundy vertical tasting seminar organized by Wine Spectator. I basically tasted 10 different vintages of the same wine from young to old, which allowed me to see to see how the same wine had evolved in the last 20 years. It was mind blowing! Smelling and tasting raspberry and red cherry aromas on the young pinot noirs and then seeing how those aromas changed to mushroom, truffles, forest floor and animal must, in the old wines. It was a completely different experience!, and though the wines were delicious when young and highly drinkable, they were much better when they were old.
To cellar wine successfully, a few key elements are needed: acidity, fruit concentration, tannins, and sometimes sugar. While not all of these elements are necessary in every wine, they help ensure the wine will age well and improve over time. For red wines, the primary factors that make a wine suitable for aging are fruit concentration and tannins. Tannins, in particular, play a crucial role in the aging process. When a red wine is young, its tannins can be quite astringent, giving the wine a harsh, puckering feeling. With time, however, the tannins undergo polymerization, where they bond together, softening and making the wine smoother and more drinkable. As the tannins soften, the wine’s fruit flavors can evolve as well, often becoming more integrated and complex. Examples of red wines that improve with age include Barolo, Barbaresco, Bordeaux, high-end California Cabernet Sauvignon, and Vintage Port. These wines are often more difficult to enjoy in their youth because of their high tannin levels, but they evolve into more harmonious, round, and complex wines with time.
For white wines, aging depends more on acidity and sugar levels. Wines like Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) Riesling are excellent examples of white wines that age well because of their high sugar and acidity content. Over time, the wine’s youthful fruity aromas will evolve into more complex, richer flavors such as marzipan, quince, honey, and dry apricot. While some of these notes may be present in the wine when it is young, they will develop and intensify significantly as the wine ages, creating a more layered and complex drinking experience.
If you plan to cellar wines, you need to do some planning, besides finding the space and organizing your collection, you need to decide how much you will invest. My advice is to buy several bottles of the same wine, and reserve some to drink now and some to drink in the future. And taste it and re-taste it to see how it evolves. Timing a wine’s peak is not always easy, sometimes you wait for too long to find out a wine is on decline (it happened to me a few times) or you open them too soon and when they are not ready.
Always follow the critics, they normally let you know if you should keep or hold a wine and for how long. Vintages here are important, especially if you are cellaring as an investment, as an excellent vintage will fetch higher prices. Prices vary by brands too, high demand of limited production/boutique wines will push prices up. Provenance of the wines is also very important, so do your research, you are after all investing a lot of money here and there are plenty of counterfeiters out there. Don't forget to keep records and documents. It’s always safer to buy directly from the wineries, taking advantage of wine clubs for example and sales en primeur or wine futures (while the wine is aging at the winery before release). Some hot items, though, will only be available in live auctions, like those that happen in the US, Hong Kong and the UK, but also online at the following wine houses: Morrell's, Zachy's, Christie's, Sotheby's, etc.
So, who are the blue chips of the wine world? I reviewed some of the offerings in recent catalogs and included some brands for your reference.
Whites: Burgundy Grand Crus from: Comte Lafon, Domaine Leflaive
German Rieslings: from Egon Muller, R Weil, JJ Prum.
Light Reds: Burgundy Grand Crus from: Domaine de La Romanee Conti, Leroy, Ponsot, Ramonet, Armand Rousseau.
Big Reds: Bordeaux Left Bank (from 1st Growths: Lafite, Mouton, Margaux, Haut Brion, Latour) and Right bank: from Petrus, Cheval Blanc, Le Pin, Angelus.
California Cabernet Sauvignon: from Harlan,Schrader, Screaming Eagle (most expensive wine sold in auction), Ridge, Bryant Family.
Brunello di Montalcino (Biondi Santi, Soldera, Casanova di Neri),
Hermitage and Cote Rotie (E Guigal La Turque,La Mouline,) Jaboulet La Chapelle, etc.
Ribera del Duero: from Vega Sicilia, Pingus
Australia: from Penfolds Grange, Torbreck Shiraz
Super Tuscans: from Solaia and Tignanello, Sassicaia, Tenuta Ornellaia.
Barolo and Barbaresco: from Conterno, Giacosa, Gaja.
Dessert Wines: Vintage Port (Dow's, Graham, Quinta do Noval, etc) and Sauternes (Chateau d'Yquem)
Wow!, look at the prices some of these coveted wines fetched in past auctions:
Chateau D’Yquem 1811 $117,000 (for 1 bottle)
Château Lafite Rothschild 1869 $230,000 (for a lot of 3 bottles)
Armand Rousseau Chambertin 2005 $43,750 (for a 6 bottle case)
I guess we will all need to be billionaires to buy some of these!
Until next one. Cheers! Silvina.
#thoughtsoflawina #winecellaring #winecollecting
