WINE PAGE
While not all wines are intended to be cellared, most can manage a couple of years in the bottle before their taste and aroma begins to deteriorate substantially. Probably due to the fact that 95% of Australian wines are consumed within 24 hours of their retail purchase, the majority of the wines you will find in your local bottle shop are designed to be at their best drinking upon release.
At the other end of the spectrum a handful of wines, stored in the right conditions, are capable of lasting many decades. Often these wines which are intended to be cellared for a medium to long period, will not particularly enjoyable at such a young age. A great example of this is Penfolds Grange, where it is not released to the public for 5 yrs after it has been pressed.
Typically, wines made from grapes harvested from older & more mature vines, grown in dry well drained and temperate conditions are more capable of being cellared for longer. These are usually made from red grape varieties but there are a great many whites styles that are just as capable of 20 years in the cellar.
In Australia, perhaps due to the youth of our wine industry you are far more likely to find wines capable of being cellared for between 5 and 15 years. While price will often help differentiate these wines, it is not always the sole indicator. There are numerous wines that can be purchased for less than $15 that are capable of ageing for 10 years or more. The real way to determine the cellar potential of a wine is to understand the differences in the grape type, growing conditions, seasonal climatic conditions, wine style and production process upon a wines ability to age well. If you intend to become a serious collector, it is fundamental that you understand these differences. You will become less reliant of other people's best guesses, and be able to make your own judgements.
A good start is Langtons Distinguish of Wines. Probably even more important is to realise that each and every vintage of wine is different, and will age differently to those both before and after it. Most wineries have a list of how well that vintage was compared to previous and they give a gauge on how long they recommend the wine to sit, but remember this is only a guide. While it may seem to be a rather laborious process, each vintage of any particular wine will need to be checked for its cellar potential, but that is the fun of collecting and to taste your labour after 5 years of cellaring...
Then once you have selected what wine you want to cellar, the best way to go about collecting is to buy directly from the cellar door. This can be done via mailing lists and usually the best wines are sold within a few days of the posting. As it happened to me when trying to buy Jasper Hill one time a few years ago. All you have to do is ring them or send them an email and they will place you on there mailing list. I have provided allot of vineyards up above for reference and there are about 5 of these vineyards that I am on their mailing lists. However the only problem with this is that you get the wine cheaper than the bottle shop but you have to buy at least six, sometimes a dozen at a time.
The 10 varieties of red wine that I collect are: Penfolds Grange, Henschke 'Hill of Grace', Redbank 'Sallys Paddock', Mosswood Cabernet Sauvignon, Lakes Folly Cabernet Sauvignon, Brokenwood 'Graveyard', Mt Mary 'Quintet', Jasper Hill 'Emily's Paddock', Yeringberg Cabernet Sauvignon and Jim Barry 'The Armagh'.
There are a few shops that sell great wine, but not always at great prices. In Melbourne I think the best retail shop for wine is Dan Murphy's and Richmond Hill Cellars. Here a few websites that let you browse in their store for wines and spirits.
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