What red wine is relatively affordable and will benefit from a few years’ aging?
Monday, October 27th, 2008 at
8:08 am
Robby S asked:
I am turning 21 this November, and while this means I don’t have a long history with or knowledge of wine consumption and storage, I have greatly enjoyed the few glasses I’ve had with family friends and relatives over the past few years. Because I am not a huge partier, I’d like to commemorate my turning 21 by purchasing a bottle of wine (preferably red) on that day, then save it for a few years to finally open on another birthday. I have no specific plan, I just like the idea of buying a bottle of wine on my 21st and drinking it on some future birthday, as soon as the next year or as late as 50.
Being only 20 I obviously don’t have the grandest budget for this, but I was hoping someone would have a few bottles or vintages I should look into–or just a particular type of wine that is always likely to improve with moderate aging.
Thanks so much!
I am turning 21 this November, and while this means I don’t have a long history with or knowledge of wine consumption and storage, I have greatly enjoyed the few glasses I’ve had with family friends and relatives over the past few years. Because I am not a huge partier, I’d like to commemorate my turning 21 by purchasing a bottle of wine (preferably red) on that day, then save it for a few years to finally open on another birthday. I have no specific plan, I just like the idea of buying a bottle of wine on my 21st and drinking it on some future birthday, as soon as the next year or as late as 50.
Being only 20 I obviously don’t have the grandest budget for this, but I was hoping someone would have a few bottles or vintages I should look into–or just a particular type of wine that is always likely to improve with moderate aging.
Thanks so much!
Tagged with: Aging • Knowledge • Wine Storage
Filed under: Wine
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First you must find a type of red wine you enjoy drinking. There are so many varietials out there. What kinds of foods do you enjoy?
For Steak, you may want a merlot or cabernet
For Lamb, you may want a cebernet or zinfandel
For BBQ, you may want a zinfandel
For grilled chicken and/or pork perhaps a pinot
There’s no right or wrong choice, wine is about preference.
There are a couple great wines out in the market place which are under $40 and have had great reviews and are good to drink now or celler for while. 2003 Whitehall Lane Cabernet has had several great reviews. But there are also sooo many others. Hartford Court also has some wonderful Zinfandels and Pinot’s.
Wine tasting a big thing now… you may want to check out a site called localwineevents.com to see if there is a wine tasting event in your area to gather the information you need to make an informed selection.
wine is all about personal preference. there are so many choices out there and there are a bunch that are pretty cheap. you can get a good bottle of wine for under $20. i would recommend an austrailian wine called Yellowtail. It is a semi-dry wine, but great and last for quite a while. Also a cabernet is nice. If you like sweeter wines I once tried this blueberry style wine that you can only find certain places, but I believe they sell it online and it was fabulous. I would definately go for a yellowtail or cabernot.
It is a good planning to save up some nice bottles to commemorate in the future.
However, you need to keep in mind that different wines age differently. White wines are notoriously short lived, unless you get some ultra-premiium French white Burgundy or white Bordeaux, which are very expensive. Red wines tend to last much longer, but how long they last depends on the quality of the wines that you purchase. As a result, if you are planning to save wines for a long time, at least spend some money.
The best example I always give to people involves one of my best friends. They bought a nice bottle of Dom Perignon when their daughter was like 5 years old. They saved it, unfortunately, very inapporpriately, upright in the pantry, where it is hot. On the daughter’s college graduation, they took the bottle out to celebrate. They told her that this would be the nicest bottle of champagne she would ever tasted. When it was drank, the champagne had been all but ruined – nasty vinegar that went down the drain. The daughter had a horrible taste of champagne she never had another sip again.
So, if you intend to save the wine, spend a bit of money.
For white wines, I would recommend to save it for a few years (5) and be prepared to open. Try something like Caymus Conundrum ($25), Frank Chardonnay ($30), or Gunderloch Reisling ($35-45). If you want to go expensive, you can try some sweet dessert wine such as Chateau Riusec ($50) or Chambers Muscadette ($25/half).
For red wines, i would definitely go with Cabernet or French Bordeaux if you are serious about keeping it for more than 10 years. You are taking a risk, but it is a well worth risk, since it is fun to open a bottle of really old wine for the heck of it. For Cabernet, try Californian Cab such as Robert Mondavi Napa Cab ($25), Heitz Napa Cab ($35), Joseph Phelps Cabernet ($45), Jordan Cabernet ($45), Caymus Cabernet ($50). If you want something even more expensive, which may be worth it, get Silver Oak Alexander Valley ($60), Pride Cabernet ($60) or Merlot ($60). For French Bordeaux, any of the third or fourth growth would be reasonable. A good bottle of Chateau Clerc Milon or d’Armallaic would set you back for only about $30-40 for a OK vintage.
I also would recommend to get more than 1 bottle if you can afford – maybe 2 or 3. That way, you can open one and save another one or two to see if they are worth keeping. Keep your wine in cool dark place on the side way. If you can afford getting a wine fridge – which may cost from $100-300 for a reasonable 8-30 bottles capacities, it will be worth it.
Wine collection is fun and exciting. The reward it amazing. We opened a bottle of Chateau Montelena ‘92 and Chateau Mouton ‘90 this year thus far, which are probably the best we had this year. I can’t wait for my vertical Opus One tasting in a few months. Good luck and have fun.
Chateau Carruades de Lafite $40 – $50/btl
I bought a bottle of 1964 (which was the year I was born) and drank for my 35th birthday in 1998. It was still good. This wine holds up quite well over time. I doubt you would hang onto it that long, but it is a keeper.
Other Good French reds that hold up very well over time:
Chateau Gloria $50 – $60/btl
Chateau Kirwan $75 – $90/btl
There are so many good red French wines that will hold up, the problem is they are expensive.
You can buy good California wines that will keep for several years, but they don’t keep nearly as long as the French wines unless you buy something expensive like Dominus or Opus One.