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Food and drink: The case of the cellar dwellers

When patience and restraint pays big rewards

In broad terms, most every wine will improve or get better in the bottle, so storing it for even a few weeks or months in a quiet, cool place allows the wine to gather itself, settle down and recover from the shock of being bottled, shipped and generally bounced around in its early life.

But when it comes to aging red wine, I'm a big fan of the seven- to 10-year cellar rule. Most will taste better given the chance to age in the bottle and, based on my three decades of cellaring wine, most bottles tend to excel between the ages of seven and 10 years when all the major components - fruit tannin, acid and oak - meld together to offer a flavour that's far more complex than the primary fermented fruit flavours installed at bottling.

Once you come to know the delights of sipping aged wine it's much more difficult to go back to drinking simple youthful versions of your favourite blends.

But there is a caveat for young collectors. Remember, not all wines are made to improve with age. Rosés, most aromatic whites, and unoaked bottles require little if any time in the cellar. Their attraction is in their pure, fresh, unadulterated primary fruit.

Price can often be a guide to age or not-to-age question. Few wines under $15 are designed for aging, although reds that contain large amounts of cabernet, syrah, mourvèdre, malbec and zinfandel will benefit from cellar time, no matter what their cost.

Because most red wine is fermented on, and left in contact with, grape skins for an extended period of time they contain large amounts of tannin that need time to combine with the fruit, acidity, alcohol and oak to become a seamless, balanced delicious drink that won't clobber your food.

How long you can age wine is a more difficult proposition. Top wines from highly rated vintages can easily age decades or more under perfect conditions. Those conditions are: a dark, cool (8-14C), vibration-free space with a humidity level of about 60 per cent.

I would also suggest that if you enjoy drinking red wine young you would see significant improvement in mouth feel and texture if you age everything for three to five years.

At seven years many wines will peak and possibly hold that level of deliciousness for another three to five years. The better the producer, the wine and the vintage, the longer you can wait. In the case of vintage port, the aging process can go on for decades.

Contrary to popular belief, at least among collectors, wines do not live forever. I have a number of bottles in my cellar that should have been drunk years ago. Although I must admit from a purely historical sense there is nothing better than opening a bottle of wine, made 30 or 50 years ago, to put your life in perspective. But you need not have too many examples.

This month I'm presenting a dozen wines chosen for their ability to age in bottle, not their price and I've noted, given the vintage date on the bottle, how long you could wait before opening them.

As to how much of any given wine should you buy, that's a good question. If you take the plunge and buy four bottles of each you'll be well on your way to starting a cellar for life and reaping rewards that only patience and time can bring to wine.

If you don't have a wine cellar, a box on its side in a dark corner of a cool basement will get you started. The rest, as they say, is up to you.

I should mention that you might want to consider buying a case or two of your favourite current drinking red to help preserve your cache as it ages in the cellar. After two or three years, you'll have a 250- to 350-bottle cellar with some age that will only require replacement buying.

Finally, the best advice I can offer aspiring wine collectors wanting to invest in wine is to remember that eventually all wine is made to drink.

 

Osoyoos Larose 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada $40

Real finesse here that sets a new level on the bar for all the wannabe icons. (10-15 years)

Santa Carolina Dry Farmed Carignan 2008, Valle de Cauquenes, Valle del Maule, Chile $19

Expect solid fruit expression and intensity; made from dry-farmed, 80+-year-old vines. (4-7 years)

Finca Flichman Gestos Shiraz 2007, Mendoza, Argentina $23

More concentration and weight than finesse but at this price it over delivers. (3-6 years)

Doña Paula Malbec Estate 2008, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina $22

Dried herbs, rich black cherry and plum fruit flavours with flecks of orange. Will age well. (5-10 years)

Domaine de Beaurenard Chateauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard Rouge 2007 Rhone Valley, France $94

Fine fruit and structure. Great vintage, great wine. (10-15 years)

Allegrini Palazzo della Torre 2006, Veneto, Italy $30

Palazzo is such an elegant wine it will age forever. (10-20 years)

Seghesio Zinfandel 2008, Sonoma County, California, United States $37

Tons of fruit and concentration here that bodes well for the cellar. (10-20 years)

Perrin Vacqueyras Les Christins Côtes du Rhône 2007, Rhone Valley, France $27

A good red from a great vintage that will improve even more over time. (3-5 years)

Porcupine Ridge Syrah 2008, Coastal Region, South Africa $18

Eight months in French oak sets up this fruity red for a 10-year run in bottle. (5-10 years)

Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, California, United States $24

Quality and value that is built to improve for another five years. (5-8 years)

1884 Reservado Malbec 2008, Mendoza, Argentina $17

Supple, smoky, olive, cherry jam red that will be sensational in four years. (5-7 years)

Longue-Dog Grenache Syrah 2008 Languedoc, Southern France $13

A meaty, peppery, black raspberry, floral red that will improve with a bit of aging (1-2 years)

 

Anthony Gismondi is a globetrotting wine writer who makes his home in West Vancouver, British Columbia. For more of his thoughts on wine log onto www.gismondionwine.com