HOW TO MAKE YOUR GOOD WINE BETTER

How would you like to improve the quality of any wine you buy? Let me tell you a story...

 

When I became the Sommelier at Porter's Steakhouse, there were some value-priced "coastal" Cabs laying around in the wine cellar. ("Coastal" is a term signaling that the wine is a low-end label made from grapes harvested somewhere along the coast of California...or somewhere in the neighborhood.) Anyway, these Cabs, and a few Merlots, were from six to eight-year old vintages. Apparently they'd been on a previous edition of the wine list and removed. As with the "Island of Misfit Toys" in the Christmas story of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, these "coastals" had been banished to the "Island of Misfit Wines", only to be acknowledged during monthly inventory with a passing glance.

 

These wines weren't old enough to be banished to the kitchen as cooking wines, but they weren't respectable enough to serve at a nice steakhouse. I offered management the original wholesale price to take these misfits off their hands. I knew that great wines improved with age, but what about these orphans? I figured that the four-year old wholesale price was worth the risk of finding out. Besides, being the "Wine Guy" in the family I was expected to bring the wine to a family party. Here was a chance to treat my family to some older vintages!

 

So what do you think we found when I uncorked them? They definitely weren't equal to a 1985 Chateau Margaux Bordeaux, but the were better than a typical two to three-year old "coastal" off the shelf at Wal-Mart. The tannins had softened, the "mouth-feel" had become richer, and the black-fruit flavors, typical of a young Cab, had started to move toward the more mature Cab flavors of caramel, coffee and cigar box.

 

The benefits of inadvertent delayed gratification became evident.

 

How long should you hold a wine before you drink it? Different grapes are like people and animals. We all have our own life-cycles. A better-quality California Cab may peak out at 15 years. A California Chardonnay may go six years, while a Chardonnay from the Burgundy region of France may go twice as long as it's California counterpart. There are so many combinations of grapes, regions and vintages that will affect the optimal drinking time, it's best to "Google" the wine and it's vintage.

 

Another factor is bottle size. The 187ml and 375ml bottles (smaller) will age faster than the regular-size wine bottle (750ml). The opposite is also true. Larger formate bottles will age more slowly.

 

In an uncertain economy, a good way to get "bang-for-your-buck" buying power is to buy a few extra bottles when you do your wine shopping. Lay the extras down in a cool, dark place. Even a year or two of extra cellaring will pay you the benefit of a better quality wine than at the time when you first bought it. This will also provide you with some back-up wine for the future, should the economy get worse before it gets better.

 

Need help figuring how long to cellar a wine? Email me at jeff@stlwinecates.com and I'll be happy to help you determine the best date to drink your hidden gem.