Re: Aging Wine (was organic beer and ale)

[Guest guest]

Lana,

> Would you know anything about what wines would be good to keep for 21

> years? (or where I could find that information?) When I got into brewing I

> always wanted to make a batch for my first child's 21st birthday, but at

> this point I haven't had enough practice with winemaking to be able to make

> the batch myself. I'd love to get a few bottles of wine to lay aside for

> her 21st birthday but I'm so clueless on aging wine.

There is only one way to know whether a wine is going to keep for

awhile, and that is by tasting it. So unless wine is a passion and you

are a serious hobbyist, you probably won't personally come across

wines that will be able to keep for that long. Even if you did you

probably wouldn't know how to distinguish such a wine from other

wines.

And once you get out past ten years or so you have to have enough

bottles on hand so that you can taste the wine every couple of years

to see how it is aging (you should do that anyway with wine your lay

down no matter the duration). Once it hits its peak you will only have

so long before it starts to lose its character.

You also have the issue of proper storage. A wine cellar or cooler is

a must, and the temperature/humidity must be properly controlled for

long term storage of wine. I was very lucky in that the last place I

lived when I still had a significant wine collection had a storage

area that was the perfect temperature and humidity all year around for

wine. The other good thing is that it is really no big deal to convert

even a very small area or space into an ideal place for wine storage.

While I don't know much about home brewing of wine, I doubt you would

be able to produce a good tasting wine that will age for that amount

of time. The long aging wines tend to be very exceptional.

Here is what I would do. I don't know where you live but if there is a

good wine place nearby get to know the proprietor, who hopefully has a

good developed wine palate. Tell him/her what you like (if they are

really good they will ask very specific questions to determine what

kind of wine would be to your liking) and let them recommend some

inexpensive bottles to try.

Do this on a semi-regular basis and over time they will get a feel for

what you like and you will get a feel for what you like and what is

good. Then mention you are looking for a special occasion bottle for

long term storage at a reasonable price. Over time, if the proprietor

is an active taster, they will run across something that fits the

bill.

You probably won't be able to find a long term storage wine already on

the shelf where the exceptional quality is not reflected in the price.

That is one of the values of developing a good palate for wine. You

can taste wines that are young, very tannic, and cheap, and yet be

able to determine that is has both keeping value and is potentially

good wine. Its more of an art than a science but a valuable one if you

can develop a good nose for wine.

The guy that introduced me to good wine and how to taste them had a

whole section of his shop with wines that he had bought for 4 or 5

dollars a bottle that were worth 10x to 20x that amount just a few

years later. I still see some of those wines on the shelf and they are

even more expensive than when I was first exposed to them. He was able

to do that because he could drink and judge a young wine before it

matured.

Second strategy, read copies of the Wine Spectator (or read the

website online) and other similar mags and pay close attention to the

wine ratings each month. Usually they will tell you in the notes how

long they think a wine can age. Sometimes in the inexpensive wines a

potentially good wine for aging shows up.

Third strategy and probably the best in your situation, buy a port

wine. It is a fairly common thing for people to buy a birthday port

wine, i.e. a port wine that was produced in the year of their birth. I

have been in a number of restaurants where you will see port wines

that are lined up by year - usually 10 year intervals - '43, '53, '63,

'73, '83, etc. The only drawback is that maybe your daughters birth

year was not a good year for port wines, but usually even in " bad "

years there are some outstanding vintages.

You also have a lot more flexibility with port in that you don't have

to buy now, you don't have to be actively tasting, and usually you can

buy several bottles spread out over a number of years. So if finances

are a challenge now, you can wait until later to buy the year you

want. That is a little trickier with wine, since wines that eventually

are recognized as exceptional tend to get snapped up very quickly,

become very pricey, and disappear from the retail market altogether.

> Thanks for letting me pick your brain!

Not a problem. I love wine. I used to attend several big industry wine

tastings a year. Those are the fun ones where you are served a

bodacious setting of great food and have wine distributors from all

over the region (sometimes the country) letting you sample their wines

to convince you to carry them in the store or restaurant you represent

(technically industry wine tastings are not open to the public).

I also know several people who are constantly tasting wine and anytime

I'm in their neck of the woods they let me sample all kinds of new

stuff. Unfortunately I can't really afford what I like these days so I

have been concentrating on beer, but I am gradually moving back into

the wine world. But I tell ya, the next time I see a bottle of Yellow

Tail I'm going to line it up on my balcony and shoot it! There are

very good bargain wines these days (not Yellow Tail, which is good for

what it is but not what I am talking about) but I don't have the time

at the moment to search these things out. So I concentrate on beer

unless I get a good recommendation from a friend. :-)

Hope that helps!

[Guest guest]

Wow! Thanks so much for the write-up!! I hadn't realized how involved

aging wine was and I really appreciate you enlightening me.

-Lana

Third strategy and probably the best in your situation, buy a port

> wine. It is a fairly common thing for people to buy a birthday port

> wine, i.e. a port wine that was produced in the year of their birth. I

> have been in a number of restaurants where you will see port wines

> that are lined up by year - usually 10 year intervals - '43, '53, '63,

> '73, '83, etc. The only drawback is that maybe your daughters birth

> year was not a good year for port wines, but usually even in " bad "

> years there are some outstanding vintages.

>

> You also have a lot more flexibility with port in that you don't have

> to buy now, you don't have to be actively tasting, and usually you can

> buy several bottles spread out over a number of years.

>

[Guest guest]

Lana,

> Wow! Thanks so much for the write-up!! I hadn't realized how involved

> aging wine was and I really appreciate you enlightening me.

You are welcome. Wine is an agricultural product and thus takes some

care in storing over a period of time.

By the way don't let my comments discourage you from making wine at

home. Many a boutique winery got started that way (and the boutique

wineries in my state make some awesome wine). Just use good tools on a

much smaller scale and you should be okay. For example you can get

used oak barrels pretty cheaply.

Who knows, maybe you will produce an award winning wine someday right

out of your kitchen!

--

" And true manhood is shown not in the choice of a celibate life. On

the contrary, the prize in the contest of men is won by him who has

trained himself by the discharge of the duties of husband and father

and by the supervision of a household, regardless of pleasure and

pain. It is won by him, I say, who in the midst of his solicitude for

his family, shows himself inseparable from the love of God. "

- Clement of andria

[Guest guest]

By the way don't let my comments discourage you from making wine at home.

~Wine, fruit wines in my experience, are very easy to make! In

fact, this weekend I just bottled up a Blueberry wine I made a year ago. It

turned out wonderful! They don't involve a lot of labor, just time (like

anything done traditionally). I haven't tried my hand at grape wines, just

different fruits, but I imagine that it is probably the same time and

labor-wise. Chrissie

Bunnyearsfamily Heritage Farm

firstclassskagitcounty.org

Stanwood, WA

[Guest guest]

Chrissie,

> ~Wine, fruit wines in my experience, are very easy to make! In

> fact, this weekend I just bottled up a Blueberry wine I made a year ago. It

> turned out wonderful! They don't involve a lot of labor, just time (like

> anything done traditionally).

It wasn't the ease of production we were addressing, but the ability

to produce a wine that would remain viable until her daughter's 21st

birthday.

--

" And true manhood is shown not in the choice of a celibate life. On

the contrary, the prize in the contest of men is won by him who has

trained himself by the discharge of the duties of husband and father

and by the supervision of a household, regardless of pleasure and

pain. It is won by him, I say, who in the midst of his solicitude for

his family, shows himself inseparable from the love of God. "

- Clement of andria