How long should a wine be aged?

How long to age a wine is a matter of personal taste.  If you spent over $10 on a bottle of wine, it will probably improve with as little as two to three years of age in the cellar.  I recall one party when I brought a three-year old 2003 J. Lohr Riverstone Chardonnay to share, and another guest had brought the 2006 vintage which was selling in the stores at that time.  I had heard that white wines should be opened in the first two years, but this turned out to be bad advice.  I compared the 2003 vintage side-by-side with the 2006 vintage and found the slightly older wine to be less edgy, better balanced, and offered a broader spectrum of flavors than the younger wine.  More recently I was impressed by the performance of a two-year old 2008 Challis Lane Cabernet Sauvignon that I had brought to a party that was very well received – I paid $10.05 for two bottles at a BevMo five-cent sale.  Essentially, by tucking these $10 to $20 wines away for two years, I have added 50% to 100% to their value when consumed blind.

So, how long should you cellar a wine and expect improvement?  A lot depends upon how the wine tastes when it is young.  A soft wine with barely noticeable tannins may benefit from two years in the cellar.  A wine with bolder tannins would benefit from more aging, which tends to soften these tannins.  A well-made Zinfandel can be cellared for five years or more and expect it to improve.  A Cabernet Sauvignon with powerful tannins, heavy body, and apparent richness will benefit from ten to twenty years in the cellar if you have the patience.  The trick with aging a Cabernet (including Bordeaux) is that these wines tend to shut down early for a number of years before blossoming, where only aeration tricks can bring out the wine’s beauty.  I suggest reading tasting notes and advice from other tasters on www.cellartracker.com (for free) to help guide you.

What happens when you cellar a wine for too long?  The crisp fruit flavors give way to earthy flavors.  Those fruits that remain tend toward plums, prunes, and raisins.  The wine’s intensity and weight both wane.  And the structure of the wine can disappear.  Does this render the wine undrinkable?  No.  Unpleasant?  Possibly.  The best way to learn is to experiment by opening one bottle from the same case every year.  And, if you do not like how a cellared bottle tastes, try letting the wine breathe another hour and taste it again.  I found one wine that required seven hours of decanting to reveal its fruit after it had been aged for a few years.  The worst case in over-aging is that the wine has turned to vinegar, but that would take a lot of patience and negligence to accomplish.

The winemaker at Shenandoah Vineyards once provided the following guide to cellaring the wines they produced that can be used as a general guide for most wines costing $30 or less.  Of course, you may be able to estimate this better by tasting the wine when young and considering its balance, structure, and tannin level.

	Improve	Hold	Open
Wine	Years	years	days
Sauvignon Blanc	3	2	2
White Zinfandel	1	2	2-3
Zinfandel	3	4	2
Cab-Shiraz	4	4	2
Zinfandel - select	5	5	2
Barbera	5	5	2
Sangiovese	3	2	2
Cabernet Sauvignon	5	5	2
Primitivo	4	4	2

July 4, 2012 – Wine: 2002 Rubicon Estate Red

I only bought this wine out of curiosity.  “What does a 98 point wine taste like?” I thought before clicking on the Place Order button.  Well, exquisite richness and balance, and fascinating fruits … that’s what it tastes like.  The fun part about aging a wine like this is noticing the dramatic changes in the tasting experience as the wine ages.  The first time I tried this wine in 2007, I was amazed by its cocoa-powdered, pebbly tannins.  This time it is the pure red fruit flavors that have me hooked. This wine needs about 90 minutes in a decanter to open up.  Once it does, the palette offers up flavors of black cherry, cranberry, subtle minerals, and summer sweet Santa Rosa plums on the finish.  The fruit is just delightfully pure, though not overdone.  Shortly after opening the first bottle back in 2007, I sought out a case of the stuff to indulge upon over the coming decade.  This has been my fourth bottle so far.



2002 Rubicon Estate Red



July 3, 2012 – Wine: 2001 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This has been my favorite vintage of Corison Cabernet since I first discovered the winery back in 2006.  The 2001 vintage has offered a special richness and prominent dark chocolate among its beautiful fruit flavors.  This was my last half bottle to open from the 2001’s, and it has evolved nicely.  In 2010 the wine had gone into a shut-down phase of development, but emerged by the end of the year.  Now, the wine offers great richness, nicely controlled body, and wonderful fruits of sour cherry, red currant, mineral, subtle dark chocolate, and notes of plum on the finish.  If I didn’t have the fantastic 2005’s to look forward to, I would truly be lamenting the end of this wine.

2001 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Ridge Winery, June 30th, 2012

Winery - 7 / Wines - 8
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Mountain-top winery with panoramic views of Silicon Valley.  Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
www.ridgewine.com

I returned to Ridge Winery for a special event held for its wine club members.  The event featured tasty barbeque pairings with Ridge’s different Zinfandels.  Because they had limited the number of attendees (and sold out early), the crowd was a nice size.  There was room to move about, a place to be alone, and folks to talk with should you want to do so.  The weather was nearly perfect, and a brisk wind had swept the skies of any haze, so the views were especially crisp and clear.

The view from Ridge on a clear day

 The event started out with a taste of one of Ridge’s Chardonnay wines, built in a Burgundian style with prominent minerals.  From the registration table where you get your glass and your first pour, you walk up to the special events barn where there were four tables, each pairing a special barbeque item with a particular single-vineyard Zinfandel.  The first table paired barbecued chicken and mustard potato salad with the 2010 Paso Robles Zinfandel.  The second table had been depleted of food early, so I only tasted the wine, which was the 2010 Carmichael Zinfandel.  Next came table three with its pulled-pork and 2010 East Bench Zinfandel.  The fourth table featured barbecued brisket paired with the 2009 York Creek Zinfandel.  My favorite food was the pulled-pork, and my favorite wine … was a tie.  I liked the immediate appeal of the East Bench Zinfandel, but the York Creek shows more promise to those willing to let it rest for four or more years.

During the event, they offered a 20% discount to any club member purchasing a case or more of wine.  I seized the opportunity to stock up on some half-bottles for my collection.  These sales are so much harder to resist after you’ve enjoyed some tasty barbeque and Ridge wine.  I wonder if that was part of their plan.

(There are two other reviews here that describe my prior experiences at Ridge, along with rating information found in February 2012 and April 2012.)

June 30, 2012 – Wine: 2002 Provenance Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

When I first visited Provenance Vineyards, the 2003 vintage of this wine was already being offered in the tasting room, meaning that the remaining bottles of 2002 had been archived in the wine library for aging.  (Properly aged wine typically commands a higher price.)  Two years later I stumbled upon a bottle online and ordered it.  I was quite impressed with the wine.  Last Christmas, I was looking to replace a different bottle in my collection and happened upon this bottle again.  At $35, I could not say “no”.  I opened this bottle to impress some friends, and it worked.  The body was in excellent balance, with a sense of weight and subtle richness.  I noticed flavors of minerals, blackberries, and cranberries, with subtle notes of leather and mint.

2002 Provenance Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

June 27, 2012 – Wine: 2006 Ridge Lytton Springs

This was one of the nicest wines to emerge from 2006, as the Zinfandel grapes fared somewhat better in the hot weather than the Bordeaux varietals.  Of course, the Lytton Springs blend from Ridge is always a fantastic wine.  Because I uncorked later in the evening than usual, I was tasting the wine before it had completed its necessary decanting and observed as it went from seemingly tannin-less and unstructured to well balanced, more intense and well structured.  This metamorphism took place over about 20 minutes, so I would suggest an hour decant.  On the palette are dark cherry, red currants, mineral, and hints of leather on the finish.  In a vintage where my favorite cabs faired less than favorably, I’m glad to know that the Zinfandels have taken up the slack – in this case, knocking it out of the ballpark.

2006 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel Blend

One-day wine-tasting trip to Napa Valley

If you have just one day to visit Napa Valley for wine tasting, you might want to sample a single winery from each region of the greater valley.  Each winery you visit should offer something noteworthy, whether it is impressive architecture, impressive scenery, an impressive art collection, or simply impressive wines.  The following wineries are the places I would want to visit if I only had one day in the valley.  Keep in mind that most winery tasting rooms operate during the daytime from about 11:00am until 5:00pm (some start earlier, others close earlier).  None of the wineries on this list requires a tasting appointment in advance, so you are free to arrive or depart as you wish.  You should allow one hour for each visit, and about thirty minutes of driving between each.

To see the list, click on One Day Napa Valley Sampler from the links on the right.

June 26, 2012 – Wine: 2003 St. Supery Elu Meritage

I first discovered St. Supery’s Elu wine online.  I was reluctant to purchase an entire case without first trying the wine, so I made my way to St. Supery winery to give this wine a taste.  Shortly after that my wine order was on its way.  That was for the wonderful 2002 vintage.   This bottle came from a later visit to the winery when I stocked up on some 2001 and 2003 vintages.    Having bought and opened the 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 vintages, I can say that the folks at St. Supery know how to deliver a fantastic wine, in good vintages and in weaker ones.  As soon as the cork was out of this bottle, a wonderful fragrance leaped from the bottle.  The texture is smooth and lush, with flavors of black cherry, strawberry, mineral, currants, and notes of coffee.  This wine has aged gracefully (even in the half bottle) and maintains wonderful balance.

2003 St. Supery Elu Meritage

Where to stop for a quick lunch in Napa Valley

Napa Valley offers so many places to enjoy fine dining that it can be daunting to select a place to eat.  When you are out wine-tasting, you might be looking for something fast and convenient that provides a quality meal.  The following is a list of places to dine in the valley that deliver a nice lunch in short order.

You can follow the link on the right or simply click here:  Quick lunch ideas

June 23, 2012 – Two Party Wines

2007 Twenty Bench Cabernet Sauvignon

This is my go-to value wine from Napa Valley for flavor, body, and balance.  For under $20, and a couple of years in the basement, you end up with a terrific drinker that is well suited for parties (or other occasions where you have to share).  This wine showcases the vintage’s characteristics nicely, with blackberry and blueberry fruits, good minerals, and decent structure.  At this stage, the wine offers very good balance and well-controlled tannins.  Needless to say, this bottle was quickly drained by the party goers.

2008 Challis Lane Cabernet Sauvignon

This is a California Cabernet that is sourced from more than one wine region in the state.  I originally picked up this wine during one of BevMo’s 5-cent sales, where the second of two bottles costs just five cents.  I was looking for a nice Cabernet to add to my end-of-summer pasta sauces and decided that two bottles for under ten dollars seemed quite reasonable for cooking.  The wine also had decent comments from the store’s wine reviewer so I bought a couple of bottles.  Then, some of my $40 cabernet went bad, so I cooked with that instead.  I still have more of the bad Cabernet, so I decided to bring this bottle two years later to tonight’s party.  I held my breath as the bottle was uncorked and poured.  Much to my surprise, it was better received than the Twenty Bench Cabernet, which cost me four times as much.  Curiosity commanded my attention so I poured myself a taste.

What a delightful wine this has turned into after two years in the cellar!  While this wine lacks the structure of the Twenty Bench (and better wines), it offers deliciously clean fruits of blackberry and raspberry, and a suggestion of minerals.  The real treat was the wine’s smoothness and impeccable balance.  If anybody had told me I could turn a $5 wine into a $20 wine just by cellaring it for two years, I would have bought a case of it.  I just checked online and the 2010 vintage is selling for $10 each.

June 15, 2012 – Wine: 2003 Quintessa Red

I remember tasting this wine for the first time at my local wine shop with an array or 2003 Cabernets and blends.  This wine stood out for its quality, but a few others were noteworthy when factoring in their price (Meyer Cab, Cain Cuvee, and Ramey Claret).  I sought a half bottle and tucked it away for a special occasion.  The occasion turned out to be thanking a good friend for inviting me to the San Francisco Opera.  After 5 minutes of decanting and some vigorous swirls, this wine was wonderfully balanced, smooth, and still rich on the palette.  The fruits were unusually good for the vintage, starting with black berry, black cherry, mineral, and red currants.  This wine was delicious and it went down too quickly.


2003 Quintessa Red



June 14, 2012 – Wine: 2005 Robert Craig Affinity

This wine has to be the epitome of the 2005 vintage from Napa Valley.  The nose and palette express the classic flavors of this vintage.  It also achieves a nice balance between the fruit flavors from that year and the other complexities and minerals from the vintage.  While there is much more to this wine than I am able to describe, I did detect flavors of blackberry, black licorice, black currant, sweet black prune, and notes of dark chocolate.  While quite smooth now (after about 75 minutes of decanting), the wine still begs for another two or more years in the cellar to achieve near-perfect balance.


2005 Robert Craig Affinity (Meritage)