KEY POINTS:
In this age of instant gratification, most wines are polished off within 24 hours of purchase. Few of us now take the time to cellar our wines, but those with the restraint to squirrel away some well-chosen bottles can reap rich rewards in following a wine down a fascinating path from youthful exuberance to mellow old age.
The majority of modern wines are made to be drunk young. Some wines from the classic regions of Europe have the bones to last a while, but most mainstream home-grown sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot gris and rose in particular are best finished up within a year of release.
However, with a grape like riesling that is born to age, it's exciting to watch it metamorphose from its fresh and fruity youth into the toasty complexity that comes with time. Some of our better sauvignons also evolve attractively with a few years in bottle.
Most reds benefit from a year or so on their bottle age. Bordeaux blends and syrah soften over time, while pinot noir exchanges its bright red fruit for more earthy spicy notes.
However, it's not just the grape that makes a wine suitable for laying down, but also the quality. It needs to be balanced, with good intensity, acidity and in reds, a decent tannic structure too. With this frequently found only in wines made from low cropped vines, most commercial and cheaper wines won't go the distance.
If you can afford to, buy a case of an individual wine, opening bottles at regular intervals to check its evolution. It's an interesting exercise even with less long-lived wines to see how they change with time.
When you've made your selection, don't plonk your wines in the garage or in a rack in the kitchen. With their general fluctuations in temperature, these are the worst places to stash your cases.
Constant temperature is the most important consideration when finding a place to store your prized bottles, between 10 and 13C being ideal. As UV is the enemy of wine - hence the coloured glass used for many bottles - seek out a dark place and one with minimal vibrations.
If you're going to be ageing wines over a long period of time, humidity is important to stop corks drying out - also assisted by keeping the bottles horizontal with the liquid in contact with the cork. However, in the medium term in relatively moist climates like Auckland this isn't a major concern and becomes irrelevant when wine's under screwcap.
If you've got good wines and nowhere suitable to store them, you could splash out on a temperature controlled (but pretty pricey) wine cabinet. There are also establishments that can look after your wines for you, particularly useful if you're buying them as an investment where a wine's provenance affects its price.
But if they've been bought to be drunk, don't forget to do just that! I recently uncovered a batch of bottles in the chaos of my own cellar that should have been enjoyed years ago. Now fragile and faded I was cursing that I'd not invested in some cellar-tracking software that would have kept me on top of my collection.
Older wines can be wonderful, but bottles are still definitely better cracked open when slightly too young than when they're way past their prime.
A CELLAR SELECTION
A PINOT WITH PROVENANCE
Dry River Martinborough Pinot Noir 2006
$105.99
Old vines, low yields and meticulous work in the vineyard appear key to ageworthy pinot noir. Dry River has all three, and more than a decade of examples maturing gracefully to prove it. Silky smooth, the 2006 has an intense palate of black cherries and plums, nutmeg spice and violet, wrapped around a tight minerally acid core. Drink between 3-10 years.
From The Wine Vault.
KIWI CLASSIC
Te Mata Coleraine 2006
$75
The 2006 vintage marks 25 years of Coleraine, one the country's longest-lived Bordeaux blends, as illustrated by the verticals of older vintages shown regularly by Te Mata. A refined and firmly structured wine with brooding dark fruit layered with exotic spices and florals, toasty oak and earthy and leathery undertones. Drink between 5-15 years.
Stockists include Glengarry, Caro's, First Glass, Fine Wine delivery Company, Hamilton Wine Company, Scenic Cellars.
TO DRINK NOW
Kumeu River Villages Chardonnay 2007
$18.90
Kumeu River make some of the few long-living New Zealand chardonnays, as well as this Villages wine you can quaff while you wait for its big brothers to mature. Citrussy and minerally, with subtle ripe peach fruit and hints of hazelnut, it's consistently one of the classiest chardonnays at this price. From Glengarry, Wine Direct, La Vino, Liquor King, Wine Circle.
