Starting a Wine Collection

So you may be thinking you should actually plan for a selection of wines to drink at a later date rather than just have a few miscellaneous bottles laying around. Most people will start with a couple dozen bottles on a small rack or put away in wine cartons in a closet. Once the wine collection gets bigger than this a little more thought and planning are required.

Why Age

The simple reason for laying down wines is to drink them later because you believe the wines will improve. Or it could even be that you like to shop for deals and stock up when you find them.

Environment

It doesn't have to be fancy and expensive

Is this the proverbial, "You need a wine cellar at 55 degrees" speech? Nope. Not because it wouldn't be ideal, but because most of us can't afford that.

What you need is somewhere with steady daily cool temperatures. A slight seasonal variation won't hurt the wine. There's nothing magic about 55 degrees. That's the underground temp. where wine was stored in the old days before refrigeration. If your wine is cooler than that it'll age a bit slower, if warmer it'll age quicker. If you've got somewhere that stays in the 50s or lower 60s that's great. Basements, interior first floor closets work fine. If you've got A/C in the house that helps, too.

If you have none of this you can go with an insulated space, buy a wine fridge, or even rent space in a commercial wine storage business. Renting storage space isn't available everywhere and your wines aren't easily available, but they have ideal storage.

Keep your wine out of direct sunlight. Avoid heat spikes.

The one truth about wine storage is that at some point you'll run out of space as you didn't plan for a 200, or 700, or 2,000 bottle cellar!

What to Buy

What do you like? Aging wines is usually thought of for Cabernets and some other reds. Some Chardonnays, dessert whites, and sparkling wines also age well. So start with what you like, but keep in mind tastes do change. Don't overbuy, meaning if Malbec is your go to wine now that doesn't mean it will be in five years especially as you start to experience aged wines.

If you don't like Cabernet Sauvignon (or some other wine) because you think it's too tannic, too "strong" or some similar reason I'd invite you to buy a few to age.

Alas, not all wines, even of the same variety, will age the same. Some are made to age, some to drink when purchased. If you're able to taste first you can tell by tannins, acid, and overall structure (look those words up, if you need to). If you're shopping retail you can go by the reputation of a winery, a region, or even by the alcohol level as generally the higher alcohol reds don't age as long.

Oh look! My wine club shipment is here!

You can do internet searches for recommendations of what to buy and age. Ask people at a wine shop.

Joining a wine club or two from wineries that make ageable wines is definitely a good way to grow a cellar.

If you find a wine you believe will be great in a few years don't be shy. Buy more than one bottle! Buy four or six if you can afford it. Nothing like getting only one bottle, finding out how fantastic it is in a few years and then you have no more, or worse, finding out it's over the hill. Whoops. If you have several you can try one sooner than you think it might be ready to see how it's aging. This helps you estimate the optimum drinking window.

Tracking & Drinking

You'll want to organize the wines by tracking them electronically. CellarTracker is the most popular online tool or you can just use a spread sheet.

If you've got a hundred bottles and you just throw them in there in an unorganized fashion some day you go in there and find a wine and say, "Oh, I should have drunk that five years ago." And this will keep happening. You've got to organize and track your wine!

What I've Discovered 

This is really just based on my storage, which isn't totally ideal, and my opinions so take it for what it's worth.

How many years should you age? In my experience mostly with California reds: Cab Sauv 10 yrs, other Bordeauxs (Merlot, etc) 5-7, Zinfandel 5-7, Pinot Noir 3-5, Syrah 5-10. These are generalizations. Some Oregon Pinot will go longer than most from California. Some French and Italian wine will go for many decades as will a few New World wines.

These aging windows are based on more modern CA wine. Stuff from the '70s and '80s generally aged longer as it was made it a style meant to age (lower alcohol, firmer tannins, more acids).

If you buy too much of certain wines they may be over the hill before you get to them. Or even if you have more wine than you can drink. For me around 300 bottles or so is good. 

Along with buying wines to age don't forget those daily drinkers.  I run out of those inexpensive red blends and cheap white wines often. These are the burger night and cooking wines.

Yes, this is gonna cost you money, but that's okay cuz it's a hobby.  :)