In praise of cellaring cheaper wines

It is surely an accepted fact among those with knowledge of the subject that many wines that are not expensive can age very well indeed.  Some relatively inexpensive wines are absolutely intended to be aged.  But it is also my expectation - based on no real evidence whatsoever - that few of these wines are actually kept long enough by those who buy them to reveal how wonderful they can be after a decade or two in bottle. No doubt there are some collectors who stow away quantities of Chinon, Muscadet, St.Joseph, Lalande de Pomerol, Bierzo or Gattinara for a good many years, but surely not so many.  There can be few people in the US with cellars full of aging Gigondas.

Why would this be ? 

It is is hard to be too categorical about my proposition that these wines are not cellared. Simply because the wines are seldom seen in the “market” when mature does not mean they are all drunk in their youth. Enthusiasts may indeed be stashing them away to consume later.  What we do know is that they are very seldom sold when mature so it is very rare to experience the beauty of these wines after fifteen or twenty years absent cellaring them yourself. This is self perpetuating of course. Without expanding the population of those who experience the wonder of these wines when fully mature through a viable secondary market, the beauty of these wines remains largely undiscovered. Only if traveling to the region itself may one perhaps experience this revelation courtesy of a generous winemaker or perhaps at a local restaurant.

There are several reasons why no secondary market has developed in mature lower cost wines. Among these reasons an important one is financial.  The question of money merits a brief if unwelcome digression. These wines over prior years have not shown the price appreciation that would induce holders to sell.  So one may assume anyone holding these wines very much wants to drink them down the road, since selling them later certainly makes for a poor investment. Which is why these wines are never released onto the market when mature. There are no willing sellers. The absence of a viable secondary market means if you love these wines with age, you need to buy them on release.  This is especially true if you are particular about what you want (and who would not be ?).

The mental furniture of people who buy wine to keep is arranged in one of two ways.

1. You are very mindful of the financial cost of what you are drinking. This is the person - perhaps professionally trained in the time value of money - who looks at that bottle of Chinon and sees from the still present price sticker that he paid $25 for it in 1997. Had he put that money in the stock market that $25, he computes, would today be worth about $170. So runs the mind of the investment banker or money manager. He cannot help himself. His joy in drinking the wine is unavoidably colored by knowing it was a lousy investment - because that bottle might fetch only $65 if sold today. Perhaps he could get more pleasure from a current release wine if he spent $170. Anyone who routinely sells their wine is at least partially in this category.

2. The person whose mind is more aligned to absolute quality. If there is any comparative assessment going on at all, it is that the 25 year old Chinon is giving at least as much pleasure as would a 25 year old Paulliac Second growth that would have cost a whole lot more. Bravo !

If you are naturally in the first category, it helps if you can adjust your mental furniture to think in terms of the absolute pleasure a mature wine provides and leave all the money stuff out of it.  If at the outset you know that the future of that bottle is only that you will pull out its cork at some joyous evening among good friends ten years down the road, then all that matters is the absolute joy that that bottle then provides.  If the wine was inexpensive you will be able to do this often. And if you have met the grower and bought their wine each vintage for the last fifteen years you surely will get more out of it than drinking a super expensive bottle from some Chateau you have never visited and whose owners are a corporation where the subject of money seems to be a big part of it.

I think it is time to rejoice that in these times of outrageously high wine prices for historically heralded regions or particular producers that there are wines to be had at much lower price points that develop real interest as they age. Lower initial cost is of course a huge benefit. The wines are accessible to a wider set of people. It surely means you can buy more. You can spread your purchases widely. Take a few chances perhaps - put away some Albarinho. The rareness of the drinking experience should add to its appeal.  This is especially so with white wines, aged examples of which outside of the classical regions are rare as hen’s teeth. Try some aged Fiano or dry Furmint and see what you think. Then try them with cheese ! And you can drink aged wine much more regularly and without stress - which is a unique pleasure. Even alone in front of the fire….

Encouragement for holding these less expensive wines can be drawn from knowing that the benefits derived from global warming and better understanding of vinification processes are resulting in more persistent fruit and better phenolic ripeness. So one can be confident that today’s wines of this type will age better than ever. See my post elsewhere on my hopes for the future of Cabernet Franc.

The list of wines that fall into this category is too long to enumerate here. Clearly you need to be prudent. But it is worth noting that it includes both wines from regions with long histories of making age worthy wines - such as Aglianico del Vulture, Savennieres or Rioja - but also some newly developed terroirs with as yet no tradition for making long lasting wines - such as the wines from Mount Etna in Sicily or the Sierra de Gredos in Spain or dry wines from the Duoro in Portugal - where even the growers may not yet know with certainly how the wines will develop over extended periods of aging.

The choice of what to cellar is of course very personal. Holding the wines takes patience. And good storage conditions. But the rewards are surely there to be had.