In the past I have discussed proper wine storage, but this is certainly not the same as longer term wine storage for maintaining a wine collection. Proper storage without a wine chiller is possible, like storing wines laid down, in the coldest place of your house, away from sunlight, vibration, and odorous substance, and other practical guidelines. But this can make wines last for months at most, and definitely not intended for aging wines as in for years. Humidity and temperature fluctuations will catch up soon to destroy the wine, or as I heard often in my last US trip, one may end up committing the crime of `vinocide’. Below is my practical take on starting a small wine collection for those overzealous wine enthusiasts, who like me, do not have the benefit of a wine cellar.
Tips on Wine Collection (more for personal consumption, and not for reselling): Invest in a wine cabinet. While the most ideal is to build a real cellar, it is obviously not a feasible proposition for us - regular folks. Besides, for a cellar to make sense, one should be looking at a minimum of four digit wine inventory to be worthwhile of the investment. A simple wine chiller that can store 36 to 72 bottles would do. Prices of wine chillers are not as expensive as they were before, unless you want a Sub-Zero brand. You can buy a 24 bottle China made Haier brand for just over P10,000.00 to hundreds of thousands for American brand Sub-Zero.
Ensure the logistical integrity of the wine source. This may be from the wine shop, the supermarket or even a direct wine importer (preferred) – it is so essential to know how the wines you are buying are stored and transported. So often, we buy good wines, only to find out upon opening that these wines are already aerated and oxidized. It would have been a huge crime to have kept some wines for so many years, when these same wines to start with were already off-quality due to poor storage and negligent transporting. I suggest checking thoroughly your wine source. Sadly, several supermarkets in town fail miserably in storing wines even remotely close to what is ideal.
Buy what you would drink, and not what others would. I have always heard wealthy wine enthusiasts go buy expensive Grand Cru burgundies, only to complain that they wanted the Bordeaux wine body and the Cabernet nose. Sure, burgundies may be `hot’ now, but if you are not into Pinot Noirs nor Chardonnays, you will not enjoy these wines, whether to drink now or to drink later on after keeping. Drop the concept of collecting what others enjoy. Wine selection and collection should be personal.
Buy in 3s or 6s. If there is a wine you loved immediately after tasting, particularly one of present release younger vintage and still of good value, get more than your usual one or two bottles. The vintage will change soon, so if you see the same wine you enjoyed, take advantage of its current vintage’s availability. Now, it goes without saying that the wine should be able to age, at least a reserve level with ample oak aging, and not your usual entry level wine. Keeping a similar wine to drink at different times can also help a drinker determine whether aging helps improve or regress the same wine.
For very consistent or reliable wines as experienced from having drunk different vintages of the same wines in the past, it will be good to also store multiple vintages of these wines. This I admit is one of my best pleasures, as no matter how good the wines are, there will always be negligible or significant differences vintage to vintage, more so with old world wines. The discovery of a specific vintage outperforming another vintage is very self-fulfilling. Having different vintages of the same wine is called a vertical collection.
Read about the wines before buying. While I am not really in favor of relying on magazines like Wine Spectator, Robert Parker’s Wine Enthusiast, and other wine authority magazines, it pays to do your research too before buying wines. Wine reviews and notes are so accessible now, and doing your homework can help on wine decision making, especially from lack of exposure to wines of certain regions. But I do suggest that information-filtering is to be consciously done. Also, note that wines change when it travels, so tasting notes, no matter how accurate it could be when tasted by the wine critic, will not be the same when it finally come your way.
Concentrate on what I consider mid-premium wines from P1,200 to P2,000 /bottle ($25 to below $50) range to store and collect. All these wines are at the minimum, reserve level, oaked and 95 percent age-worthy. This is a huge range and includes several great wines from almost every noteworthy wine regions. Some of the `must-haves’, without going specific brands are Napa California Cabernet Sauvignons, Sonoma Zinfandels, Barossa Shirazes, Coonawara Cabernet Sauvignons, top Grand Reserve Chilean Cabernet Sauvignons, Grand Reserve Argentinian Malbecs, Rioja Reservas and Gran Reservas, Ribera del Duero Crianzas, Chianti Riservas, Barbarescos, Cru Bourgeois Bordeauxs, Northern Rhone wines and some great sweet whites like Barsacs and German Spatlese Rieslings.
Work on a budget. This is a bit tough as we all have our own style of budgeting. But people can get carried away. If you go to the more high-end wine shops, you can easily be talked into purchasing more than you wanted. A simple swipe on the credit card here and there may not hurt, until the billing statement comes in the mailbox. So, it is best to have a monetary budget ceiling in mind. I would peg it at P1,000 per your chiller’s bottle capacity. If you have 72- bottle capacity, budget P72,000 from the onset—obviously, since I suggest the mid-premium range, you cannot fill your chillers up all the way to the last bottle space with this budget. Instead I suggest filling up 75 percent or 54 bottle for a 72-bottle capacity, to always allow room for new wines in case some caught your fancy on chance encounters.
And finally, have the discipline to keep your collection for months, so as not to defeat the concept of wine collection. At least some wines should last for a few years. Choose the ones with longevity, like a good recent vintage Bordeaux 2008 (if still within the mid-premium range). And believe me these wines will be great to savor with a few years of waiting.
If you have huge chillers, wines can be kept longer. But if you have limited space, keep only those age-worthy wines. Regular everyday drinking wines, those in the P300 to less than a P1,000 range can be kept outside of the chiller, but still at my previously advised short term storage guidelines. And if you happen to overbuy those premium wines because of good bargains or due to recent trips to Hong Kong that will exceed your wine chiller capacity, you may have to choose which ones to store and which ones to drink earlier. Otherwise, you might have to buy another chiller that will take extra space away from your living room or kitchen. This is one issue the husband has to convince the wife on... I should know.
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