dlb@druxv.UUCP (Dave Bauer) (04/15/85)
fluke!chuckb asked about aging 82 bordeaux, and he asked some questions about starting a cellar in general. Since my mailer doesn't seem to know how to reach him, I thought I'd throw in my 2c worth publicly. Cellaring wines is not really the art form that many wine snobs make it sound like. But there are a few things to remember, as noted previously: 1. constant temperature 2. darkness, and, probably most importantly, 3. proper choice of wines Diurnal temperature variations accelerate changes in wine. It is more important to keep wines at a constant temperature than it is to have the correct teperature. A proper cellar is somewhere in the upper 50's F, and it holds that temperature 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In an apartment, you probably won't find such constancy, but what you should try to do is find some place that holds a constant temperature throughout the day. Try, maybe, an interior closet (away from outer walls), or maybe under your sink if its far enough away from the stove, oven, and refrigerator. Seasonal temperature variations, where the area slowly heats up over a period of weeks as the seasons change, are not as destructive to wines as are daily temperature fluctuations. Thus, a closet that has a 64 degree temp yearround is much better than a place in the living room that fluctuates from 55 at night to 70 during the day. But now there's a bit of bad news for chuckb. What is most important is to choose a wine that will age well. Look for wines that have a good amount of tannin (tannin can be sensed as being that furry feeling that you sense behind your teeth as you inhale over the wine. Its the same thing that you sense in a strongly brewed cup of tea). The tannin helps preserve the wine and it mellows away with age, leaving the pleasant flavors of the aged red wines that we all enjoy. One of the wines fluke!chuckb said he was planning to cellar for 10 years is the 82 Mouton Cadet. Mouton Cadet is not up to taking 10 years of bottle age without deteriorating. Mouton Cadet is a wine made for early consumption; its tannin levels are low and it is marketed to that segment of the population that goes to the liquor store at 5PM and opens the bottle at 6PM to serve with the steak dinner that night. His stock of Mouton Cadets will probably be best within the next year or two. To learn what wines will improve with 10 years of cellaring, your best bet is to talk to a good wine merchant in your area and ask him/her for suggestions. It isn't necessary to buy only $30 bottles - a good merchant can direct you to many lesser-known labels that are under $10 or $12 and will age just as well. If you get serious about cellaring many wines, consider a subscription to The Wine Spectator, a California-based wine semi-monthly newspaper that often suggests bargains to seek out that will improve with some bottle age. -- dave bauer (303)538-4482 AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver ihnp4!druxv!dlb 11900 N. Pecos St., Room 30J28, Denver, CO 80234