Thinking of a small cellar

[pektel]

So I was thinking of picking up some wines for aging long term. My collection never consists of more than a few bottles, and never get to age for more than a month or 2. I keep my cigar cooler in the basement in the corner, and thinking it would be a good spot to build a smaller wine rack. The temp stays around 60 year round. I guess my question is what wines are appropriate for aging, and if a simple rack in my basement would be sufficient for such aging. I prefer fuller bodied, drier reds. Cabernet Sauvignon is my favorite, and has been for quite some time. Have not got into burgundy's yet, but only because there is no one local who carries anything. I do also like the other end of the spectrum, Pinot noir, but for some reason I believe they will not age well, since they are so light to begin with.

Any input from the wine gurus here is much appreciated! With knowledge of if I can store wines in that climate long term, and suggestions of cases to buy to age. By that I mean, I have not tried many, but stick to the ones I really enjoy. My favorite cab right now is frei brothers. Absolute best I've had so far.

Thanks!
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[mosesbotbol]

Pinot Noir and Cab's are both great for aging.

[TheRiddick]

Don't want to make it sound elitist, but Frei Brothers anything is not worth "aging". These wines are made for drinking short term. Same with roughly 95% of the wines in the marketplace. Buy and drink them, if you like how they taste now just drink them, they won't improve much if at all, aging or not. In fact, they will loose most of the stuffing with age. No sense in buying expensive equipment. And there is always the next vintage coming down the pipeline, it won't differ much from the year before.

Some high end wines may improve (there is no "formula") and are made for aging, but we're talking $50-75 a bottle and up, often way up, probably not the subject of the thread.

[pektel]

I wasn't saying that frei was the end-all, be-all of cabs. Just requesting input on proper wines that I should be buying to age, and not wasting my time on things that aren't worth aging(apparently frei brothers).
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[pektel]

And yes, you are right. I am more looking at 700-800 a case price-wise. Though less expensive advice will be considered too.
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[TheRiddick]

Besides Frei what else do you drink? Which varietals? Regions? The more you can say the easier it will be for someone to recommend wines to you. Anyone saying "I love ____________" does not mean you'll also like the wine, similar to cigars.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by pektel

And yes, you are right. I am more looking at 700-800 a case price-wise. Though less expensive advice will be considered too.
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To say you like Frei Brothers and now want to spend $700-800 is quite dramatic! Not saying your pockets aren’t deep, but that is a lot of money per case for most at your level in oenology. You may be there when said wine is mature and glad you bought it.

I can tell you as a simple consumer who started buying wine to age 15+ years ago, that even modest wine can benefit from a few years cellaring. One recent example; I bought a case of 2005 Jacobs Creek Cab/Shiraz in 2006 for $57. Last summer, each bottle was quite a crowd pleaser considering the house. Most would say to don’t bother, but if they had a perfect provenance 2005 next to the 2009 it would be hard to refute. Aging wine is all about provenance.

Not all wine has to be expensive to go the long haul even. Jura wines of France can age several decades in both red and white. You could buy two cases $700-800. Dao wines of Portugal can go two decades no problem and still taste fresh. Many CA cabs are wonderful from the 1950’s on. Only 20 years old is baby killing to me on a good CA cab.

One thing to remember is that not everyone likes mature wine. I find the modern wine drinker or just getting into wines, especially new world wines do not like mature wine. The oxidized, musty/mushroom notes and lack of primary fruit is not what they are seeking in wine.

Not to get into a debate on wine as there are much more esteemed and knowledgeable members here, but I think they’d agree on this advice. Buy classic wines to age like top CA cabs, Barolos-Barbaresco, Bordeaux, and Rioja among others. Be aware of ratings and follow critics who have similar palate. If you stick with the tried and true, at least you’ll have that no matter what your wine du jour preference is down the road. There are many articles and with suggestions on how to divide your investment in both style and projected maturity that are worth readying.

Keep trying new wines, read up on wine, and drink wine with experienced wine drinkers.

[pektel]

Thanks mosesbotl. And I was giving an extreme (but entirely possible) scenario on the case price. The option Is there if I need to go to that price range to get a suitable wine to age. I mean, I go through maybe 3 bottles of wine a week. But they are all regular everyday budget wines. I was mainly thinking about the small cellar for special occasion stuff. 2-4 bottles per year. I'm okay with $60ish per bottle for that. But it looks like I may not have to get into that bracket after all, judging by your post.

I guess my first step is to spend the coin on a nice aged bottle of cab, to see if I even like it. I don't think I've had a bottle recently older than 02-03.

I also really like the idea of finding a critic with a similar palate.

I was tossing the idea around last night after talking with my custom cabinet line about building a wine rack for me. They always give me an excellent deal on stuff for personal use.

Riddick, I will make a short list for you. You're right. The more info the better. Give me a bit to compile a list of likes/dislikes.
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[mosesbotbol]

I side more with quantity than quality. I much rather have cases of great tasting stuff than just a few bottles of Mouton. One should still have a few heavy hitters for the right occaison. If you have a cellar, just pack the cases on top of each other until you find a suitable display situation. There's about 57 cases to a pallet, so a lot wine does not need a lot of space. Until you're 100+ cases, even no solution will get you by if you are just aging them.