Picture this: You are celebrating your 25th wedding anniversary.
Now, imagine pulling out a bottle of spectacular wine from the year of your wedding to cap the celebration. The occasion will be great no matter what. But for someone who loves wine, that special bottle can become a special punctuation mark.
Wine lovers have been saving special wines for as long as there have been vintages on wine bottles. And you can, too.
You could go to a fine restaurant and purchase a bottle there for the equivalent of your mortgage payment for the month.
Or, you could do some planning and buy in anticipation of your special event. Here are the basics:
1. Select and buy a wine that's meant to age
2. Store it properly
3. Fast forward a few years, open the bottle, and enjoy!
One example: I've saved numerous bottles from my daughter’s birth year. She was born in 2000. Fortunately, this was a very hot year in Europe that produced many great age-worthy wines. Bordeaux, Rioja and the Piedmont areas all had great years. I focused my attention on those regions.
I also bought futures of a few Bordeaux wines. The price per bottle averaged roughly $45 when I purchased the futures. Roughly four years later, I took possession of the wine. Before I even saw the bottles, I sold half of my purchases for $100 a bottle. At the end of the day, the basis of my daughter’s stash was essentially free (less the opportunity cost of locking up my money for 4+ years.) For years after that time, I picked up bottles of age-worthy 2000 vintage online and in retail stores. I still look but the availability has decreased and the price has increased tremendously.
I store everything I bought from wine futures in the locker of the store that sold me those wines. The rest of my wine sits in a special wine refrigerator that has a $6 humidity monitor inside as well as regularly replaced containers of water to keep the humidity between 50% and 80%. The wines in my refrigerator will be consumed first.
Here's how you can do it yourself.
1. Select a wine meant to age for years to come.
Many people believe any wine will improve with age. This is simply false. In fact, most of the wine we buy should be consumed within five years of purchase, and many wines are best consumed within 18 months of bottling. There are, however, many wines that are designed for aging. Some areas known for fine aged wines are the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions of France, Napa Valley, Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy, and Priorat and Rioja in Spain.
This is not a complete list, but it's a good place to start. Most wines from these regions won't suit your needs, but the higher end wines from good vintages will work well.
Very few wines can age 20+ years. Even the most amazing growing areas will have off years. Weather will make or break any grape crop. Fortunately, if one area is not ideal in the year you are buying, there will likely be another area with great conditions for saving.
Some resources to help you fine the right area for your purchase are Robert Parker Vintage Guide, Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Vintage Charts, and Wine Spectator (membership required).
Not only will these charts help you select a region with the best “juice,” but they will also help you make the decision of when to open that bottle. While age-worthy wines are not cheap, you don’t have to go the very high end to find something suitable.
2. Buy the wine.
Really great wine isn’t released for ye