- Jeni Port
To Drink or Not To Drink?
So goes the wine cellar conundrum. By Jeni Port.
Some see a bottle of good wine and look for the nearest corkscrew. Others wonder how it might taste after time tucked away somewhere dark and cool, and preferably not disturbed by curious fingers. Maybe five years, maybe 10. Maybe?
That simple distinction — and question mark — lies at the heart of what it means to have a wine cellar. Or it did.
As a young articled law clerk in Brisbane, Ken Gargett wanted wine to put away and enjoy over time. “It was a way to supposedly save money,” he says, “by buying now and not having to pay inflated prices down the track, when those wines would not likely be available anyway.” It was a wise philosophy. He bought a bottle of 1983 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) Grand Cru “Romanée-Conti” in the early 1990s for about $130. Today, he estimates there would be no change from $30,000 for the same wine, a warm but celebrated vintage from the top-ranked Burgundy maker.
While Gargett justified his cellar as the only realistic way he’d get to try many wines — his regular cellar tastings feature on his blog, Kenfessions — the truth these days is a little more inconvenient for the lawyer-cum-wine writer. Asked how big his wine collection is, he hesitates. “Honestly, no idea. It varies considerably, though in recent years I don’t drink it fast enough.” However, he stresses that he most certainly did drink the 1983 DRC Romanée-Conti. The wine wasn’t ever intended to be an investment, but for his own personal enjoyment.
Increasingly, the idea of personal enjoyment is uppermost in the minds of wine collectors. That means less time in dark spaces for wines and more time in the glass. The concept of a cellar is changing and it’s all for the better. It goes hand in hand with a changing Australian landscape. The dream of owning your own home is now beyond many and, with it, the potential for owning a wine cellar. One in 10 of us, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, now lives in an apartment. Coupled with this, the deregulation of state liquor laws has enabled a blossoming of wine bars, with lists devoted to fantastic wines served by the glass — many of them coveted and aged drops previously only available by the bottle — meaning that tasting some of the world’s great wines is, for many, suddenly within financial reach. And, importantly, wine drinkers are increasingly enjoying wines released young, and have a growing taste for youth over age in the bottle.
Sydney-based wine writer and master of wine Toni Paterson used to buy wines for long-term ageing. Now, not so much. Paterson admits her tastes have changed. “I buy more wines that look good with short- to mid-term cellaring,” she says. “I like chardonnay with a few years of age.” She also buys Australian grenache and pinot noir for early drinking. “This is what my guests tend to like, and in my experience [these wines] are better in their youth than with extended age.”
Then there are those apartment dwellers who have little choice but to work within the limitations of a smaller living space. Melbourne-based sommelier, Wine & Spirit Education Trust educator and wine writer Lisa Cardelli lives in an apartment and has a very deliberate policy when it comes to buying and storing wine. “I don’t buy a lot of wine,” she says. “I purchase premium wine twice a year and consume it immediately unless it’s a fortified or dessert wine — they both have all the elements necessary to survive in harsh environments.” Cardelli’s “cellar” is a corner space that’s dark enough to avoid UV damage to the wine and that gets fresh air, so as to control humidity and avoid bacterial growth. Nothing special.
For those of us using random corners or spare wardrobes as wine cellars, here’s a valuable lesson: if you really intend to cellar wine, be serious about it. If you can’t afford a space that’s dark, cool and stable (sleeping wines dislike vibration), with minimal temperature fluctuation and good air circulation, then chances are the years spent waiting, waiting for a wine to reach its full potential will all be for nought. That’s when it’s time to consider investing in a temperature-controlled wine cabinet or a dedicated cellaring space offsite.
Wine Ark is one of Australia’s largest wine storage facilities. John Cuff, “head keeper of the bottles” at Wine Ark, has noticed that the average age of his clients is getting younger. “It used to sit around the early 60s,” he says. Today, the vast majority of clients are aged 43 to 53. Men dominate but, more and more, Cuff notes, women are cellaring wine.
Also on the rise: the use of wine cabinets. When Melbourne-based wine writer Campbell Mattinson wanted to self-publish a book on wine some years back, he needed to raise funds. His personal cellar, which had been 25 years in the making, was sold to fund the project. Today, Mattinson might be cellarless, but he has invested in a wine cellar fridge, meaning he still has some mighty good wines, kept in perfect condition, permanently to hand. “Theoretically [it] holds 170 bottles, though, really, safely it would be closer to 100,” Mattinson says of the unit. “I use it as much for storage as for cellaring.” Selling his cellar, he adds, broke his heart. He confesses he often wonders “how [the wines] are travelling”.
Cellaring is about a personal journey. “I remember having my first bottle of Roda 1 [Bodegas Roda tempranillo] in a small restaurant in Barcelona,” says Clare Valley winemaker Stephanie Toole of Mount Horrocks, who calls wines such as Roda 1 her “memory” wines. “I’ve been buying it ever since.” For Gill Gordon-Smith, who recently sold her McLaren Vale wine bar, Fall from Grace, to live and work in Italy for part of the year, Australian wines are never too far away in her new home in Tuscany. She brings some favourites out “when I need a bit of Oz or to share with friends”.
Wine cellars celebrate a living thing in a state of constant change. They can be small, they can be big, they can comprise young wines or wines that are old and crusty; those that are cheap or expensive. The rules are few, but there is one you unquestioningly need to obey: enjoy.
How To Enjoy Your Cellar
Ian HongellWinemaker, Torbreck, Barossa Valley, South Australia
“I started buying wines when I got my first winemaking job. I liked to obtain Australian classics — Wynns, Hardys, Penfolds. At the time many friends were starting also, so swaps were a cost-effective way to see some nice wines.”
Cellar faves: Guigal “La La” reds (Rhône Valley), Chateau de Beaucastel (Rhône Valley), Ornellaia (Tuscany), Ovid (Napa Valley), Bond (Napa Valley)
James HallidayWinemaker and wine writer, Yarra Valley, Victoria
“Wine is not like a postage stamp, frozen in a time warp on the page of an album. It is there to be drunk; the older, the rarer, the more exquisite, the more it demands to be drunk. There is no greater pleasure than sharing a bottle with one’s friends.” — “Setting Up Your Own Wine Cellar” by James Halliday (Angus & Robertson), 1989
Cellar faves: Burgundy
Robert WaltersWine importer, International Fine Wines/Bibendum Wine & Spirits, Melbourne
“The cellar is a collection that is built over time, which means that each wine captures moments in your history. Each bottle in my cellar was bought when I was a certain age, living at a certain address or when I visited a certain city, when I was drinking with a certain group of friends, when so and so was the vigneron or winemaker. So the cellar is also a repository of memories.”
Cellar faves: Champagne, Burgundy (white and red), Piemonte, German riesling, Loire Valley, old Australians
Sally McGillNational imports manager, Joval Wines, Adelaide
“The one thing I’ve discovered about my wine palate is that I prefer wines to be younger and fresher. I don’t really enjoy very aged bottles and hate it when I open something and realise that I’ve left it too long. Aerating young wines, including overnight, really helps.”
Cellar faves: Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Etna, Jura, Corsica, Beaujolais
Toni Paterson MW wine writer, Sydney
“It is always better to open something early than late. If the wine is a bit young, just give it more air. And I try not to buy too many bottles of the same wine, as there are too many great wines to try and not enough time. I often buy one wine and try it as a young wine, then, if I like it, I buy a few more for cellaring. Trying before you buy is the best way — head to the wine regions whenever possible and buy directly from the producer.”
Cellar faves: Australian grenache and pinot noir, Chianti Classico, Beaujolais
This is an extract from an article that appears in print in our twelfth edition, Page 64 of Winning Magazine with the headline: “To Drink or Not To Drink?”. Subscribe to Winning Magazine today.
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