ne of the most frequently asked questions on my wine courses is, 'Will this wine cellar well?' My typical answer is along the lines of 'Why bother?' I point out that most wines are now designed to be approachable and drinkable within 48 hours of purchase and that wines so designed are unlikely to have potential for much longevity. The days when wine red especially - was harshly tannic and needed years of cellaring to soften are long past.
A few points. Cellaring wine is risky and expensive. To start with, wines made for long-term cellaring are usually in the premium price bracket. Ideally, to store such wines you need a space that is cool, dark and humidified the year round - not a feature in many Melbourne homes, which can be near-freezing in winter and up to 40 degrees C in summer.
Even if you have perfect facilities and lovingly store your top-shelf wines for years you may find that the wines are tired, flabby and well past their peak when you eventually taste them. For long-term cellaring there is the added risk of cork deterioration. (Corks - always wet - are made from oak bark - which has a finite lifespan.)
'But wines always improve with age, don't they?' ask the students. Logically, it follows that if this were true then you could put any wine away for x years and expect it to be better when eventually opened. But a wine that is very ordinary when purchased will still be a crappy wine after a few years in the cellar mellower maybe, but improved? Uh-huh. There is no right answer, it depends on your point of view. Wines do change with age some people / cultures see those changes as an improvement, others as deterioration.
If my students persist in seeking Australian wines to cellar I recommend reds with a consistent track record at auction, with good fruit and acid, assertive tannins and a high youthful colour typically shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. Definitely not grenache or pinot noir.
Whites suitable for cellaring should be quite pale, show fine varietal character and pronounced zesty acid for example, semillon and riesling these can often be in the value for money range. Forget wooded chardonnays.
How long will a wine keep in a proper cellar? Try a mixture of educated guesses, good luck and better judgement.
NB Trials seem to show that screwcaps keep wine in good condition longer than cork. The sudden rush by winemakers to screwcap their wines can only be of benefit to increasing storage life under any conditions. And the bottles can be stored standing up.
Vinolinguistics / Wine waffle
I used to run a regular piece called Wine Waffle examples of pseudo, meaningless or just plain incomprehensible language used by wine writers and marketers. The time has come to revive the practice. This issue we look at tasting notes sent out by Southcorp to herald the release of their Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (online pdf = file).
Under the heading 'Colour' the notes read, 'Forebodingly deep and dark red with a purple core.' The online Cambridge Dictionary defines foreboding as 'a feeling that something very bad is going to happen soon.' Is there something about this wine they should be telling us?
Recommended
Jansz
Non-vintage $22.
Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia. Light straw, tiny busy bead. Faint yeast, hazel nuts and citrus blossoms on the nose. Refreshing elegant style. Delicate fruit flavours are beautifully balanced with citric acidity. Excellent aperitif or accompaniment for entre course.
Orlando
St Helga Riesling 2003 (screwcap) $14.
Eden Valley. Very pale yellow. Aromatic with pronounced lime zest. Quite full in the mouth with ripe berry generosity. Medium dry finish with softer acidity than expected.
Seppelt
Original Sparkling Shiraz 1999 $18.
Red to black. Blackberries and anise bouquet. This benchmark of sparkling reds glides down the throat like liquid velvet. Consistently delicious style.
Mount Pleasant
Hunter Valley Chardonnay 2002 $14
Bright gold. Hints of pineapple and lychees on the nose along with nicely understated French oak. Round, soft and mouth-filling - reminded me of fresh, just-ripe white peaches. Oak, thankfully plays a supporting rather than a dominant role. Pleasant, longish aftertaste. Top value.
Wolf Blass
Gold Label Pinot Noir 2002 About $20
Adelaide Hills. Screwcap. Tried this at the launch of the new WB releases. Mid crimson. Spicy berries on the nose. A generous, warm, full-on pinot with stacks of upfront fruit and a moreish finish. A very likeable style that could convert red wine drinkers to pinot. At the launch Blass chief winemaker Chris Hatcher said, "Screwcaps are the single biggest thing to happen in winemaking since the seventies." Chris is so intent on keeping his wines free of cork taint that he has put the latest super-premium ($150+) Platinum Label Shiraz 2001 under screw cap.
M. Chapoutier
Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 $22
Mount Benson, South Australia. Mid-crimson. Spicy, plummy, dusty nose. Soft tannins in the mouth add structure to secondary rather than primary fruitiness. The wine shows solidity, intensity of flavour and firmness towards the finish.
Penfolds
Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2001 $24
Kalimna and other South Australian vineyards. Crimson shading to black. Bouquet of ripe blackberries and vanilla oak. Beautifully balanced style of velvet tannins, mature sweet berries and integrated oak.
Yellowglen
Crmant 2001. $16.
Paleish yellow, medium vigour. Floral, dried peaches bouquet. Softer bubbly with faint sweetness. You've got to hand it to Yellowglen for consistent quality and value pricing across their range.
Lindemans
Reserve Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier 1999. $15.
South Australia. Lightish gold. Complex, slightly developed nose. Creamy fizz, its fuller flavours remind me of a chardonnay with a couple of years under its belt.
Yalumba
Y series Unwooded Chardonnay 2003. $12.
Light straw colour. Fragrant peaches and melons in the bouquet. Generous and ripe on the palate, finishes with medium acidity.
d'Arenberg
d'Arry's Original Shiraz Grenache 2001. $18.
McLaren Vale. Mid-crimson. Youthful. Fresh berries on the nose. Round, fleshy, and supple with drying tannins. Blackberry flavours dominate, firm on the finish. Good main dish wine. © Martin Field