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All these ideas
should help get your friends drinking more wine. I hope
I interpreted your question correctly...
Q: I am
Interested in starting up a vintage wine collection,
can you please advise me of your recommended way of
keeping the wine. Especially how often I should rotate
the wine while in storage or can it be continuously
rotated.
A: Well
a temperature controlled wine cellar that stays about
60 degrees, no light, no vibration and a bit of humidity,
but not to much, would be ideal conditions for wine
storage. If a cellar is an attribute your house provides
then wine racks down there is a nice solution. Our east
coast cellars seem to stay at a nice cool temp in the
summer and don't get to cold during winter, so we have
it kinda easy. My time on the west coast however proved
that cellars are fewer and far between out there. So
specific temperature controlled units are more of a
necessity.Check out these sites for an idea on wine
storage units,
www.wineenthusiast.com
You may find
some units that interest you and fulfill the requirements
of good wine storage: temp control, little vibration,
low to no light and a touch of humidity.
Here is some
general info on wine storage that will save me about
a thousand keystrokes on this keyboard.
Now as far
as rotation goes, it's up to you. As you start to accumulate
wine, there will be certain wines you want to age for
15 years and other you may just want to let sit for
5, it depends on what wines you are plunking down in
the cellar. When you rotate, you drink. As you get up
into the 100's of bottles there should always be something
that you can be drinking to see how it is ageing. Even
if you think the wine needs some more time, you have
to start tasting it eventually. Check out my article
regarding this at
Q: I received a bottle of Dom Perignon
1985, this year my husband and I will be married 25
years I saved theDom for our 25th anniv. and now someone
told me that the Dom is no longer good. Please tell
me I didn't blow it...
A: You
didn't blow it.
That "someone"
who told you that, may find themselves in a fine dining
restaurant some day and notice the numerous vintage
premiere Champagnes on the list that are pre-1980's
and tell the other diners in the party, "those
bottles are no good", and that "someone"
will be wrong.
Top of the
line vintage Champagne (like Dom) have a nice shelf
life, if stored properly. There are still vintages from
the 60's rolling around out there somewhere, and connoisseurs
are still drinking them, they taste different from the
new releases, but that's the intention.
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