Tag Archives: cellar

When to open that truly special bottle of wine

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It is always difficult to determine when to share a truly special bottle of wine and who to share it with.  We recently gave our good friends a bottle of 1993 Penfolds Grange for their wedding and within four months, they wanted to open it and share it with us when we came over to their house for dinner last week.  While honored that they would love to share such a special bottle with us, we convinced them to save it for a more special purpose like their first anniversary, getting their Australian citizenship, having a child, or something like that.

I have had some truly great wines over the years where I have originally bought a couple dozen bottles, but as I have consumed them and gotten down to my last few bottles (and knowing this vintage of this wine can never be found again, except possibly at auction or in a private cellar), the responsibility grew as to when to serve this bottle and with who to share it.

When I was less mature as a wine drinker (and less mature as a person!), I would want to target a truly special occasion for that last bottle of a truly great wine.  It actually got to the point where it was a burden to decide instead of the joy it should have been.

Recently I have changed heart and instead of putting on the pressure to find the a special event to justify that special bottle, I am now looking at how I can consume that special bottle to make an ‘ordinary’ event much more special.  Let me give you two examples of that.

I have a group of guys that formed a great team on the last big project I worked on and they are respected and trusted colleagues and friends.  Six of us are getting together next Wednesday for a reunion and a great meal out.  While the place we are going is not a BYO (Bring Your Own), I know the owner and the sommelier and because I bring a lot of business to them, they are happy to allow me to bring my own wines for special occasions.  I have done that for my and my wife’s birthdays for example.  And I am doing that again for our reunion.  Because of the respect I have for this team of guys, I am bringing some great wines to the meal.  It is not a matter of waiting for the right occasion to break out the great wine, but how to make every occasion much better by opening and sharing those special bottles.  That is what will make an ‘ordinary’ reunion that much more special.

If we keep waiting for a better occasion, we end up either dead or with a ‘dead’ bottle because we waited far too long.  This recently happened to someone with a 1962 Penfolds Grange which was no longer any good because they waited too long.

One of my wife’s all-time favorite wines is the 1996 Wolf Blass Grey Label (which is a blend of 30% Shiraz and 70% Cabernet Sauvignon similar in style to the Penfolds Bin 389).  These blends are iconically Australian and make for a tremendous drop.  We were fortunate to have bought three dozen bottles of this excellent wine in the late ’90s and I think we paid about $16 per bottle for this wine, but I can’t remember for sure.  Several years ago, we put this wine up against the Penfolds Bin 389 in a vertical tasting and compared the 1996 Wolf Blass Grey Label to the 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2004 Penfolds Bin 389, and the consistent pick for the best wine that evening was the 1996 Wolf Blass Grey Label!  That is how good this wine is!

Well, now a decade later, we have one bottle left and I have been thinking about the right time to have it, but I am waiting no more.  Instead of finding the right occasion for the wine, I am just going to have the wine tomorrow night as I wanted to make the night more special for my wife and myself instead of it just being an ‘ordinary’ Saturday night at home.  We are not sure if we are making spaghetti bolognese, wagyu beef burgers, lamb or whatever, but we know the night will become special because we will be sharing that last bottle of a great wine together.

Therefore, instead of waiting for that absolutely special occasion, my recommendation to you is to look at how you can make ‘ordinary’ occasions far more special by bringing that great bottle of wine to share!

Looking back, I now believe it was a mistake to pass on the 1993 Penfolds Grange at my friends house and we should have made the evening more special by enjoying it together.  And (hopefully!) the next time he offers, I will say ‘yes!”

The Many Faces of Semillon – Part 2: Museum-Released and Aged Semillons

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In my post entitled Overview of Australia’s Wine Regions – Part 3 where I described the Characteristics and Grapes of Australia’s Larger Wine Regions, I extol the unique and symbiotic relationship between The Hunter Valley and the Semillon grape.
 
Hunter Semillons are un-paralled anywhere in the world.  A multitude of Hunter wineries make great, great Semillons, in three styles which really relate to their age in the bottle and when they are released.  They are:

  • Crisp, new Semillons a year or two in the bottle
  • Semillons stored for 5 years before being released
  • “Museum” Semillons being bottled and stored 10 years before being released 

The discussion of young and medium-aged Semillons is covered in the previous post “The Many Faces of Semillon:  Part 1 – Young and Medium-Aged Semillons”.  In Part 2, we will now discuss the beauty of Museum-Released and Aged Semillons.

While I like my young and medium-aged Semillons, “museum-released” and aged (10 years or older) Semillons are in a class by themselves.  The older Semillons can still have a bit of acid, but have soften considerably, and developed a complexity and balance of tastes which is ethereal in experience.  The golden color, followed by nosing such a wine (I actually use Riedel Montrachet glasses instead of the Riedel Semillon / Riesling glassware for my truly aged Semillons.  See recent post on “What’s in a Glass?”) and flavors in your mouth provide one of life’s most precious pleasures!

I find an aged Semillon is best matched by scallops, either fried in butter, or made into a scallop boudin.  The food needs to have some richness to balance the richness of the aged Semillon.

My favorite three Museum Semillons are the 1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 1, the 1999 Meerea Park Alexander Munro, but top of the list is the 1990 Waverley Estate Semillon, their second vintage.  Unfortunately, there is no more to be found and I have only two bottles of the 1990 Waverley Estate left in my cellar.  However, the 1992 and 1996 Waverly Estate Semillons are magnificent also, and the 1998 and 2000 vintages are coming into their own.

I have done a tasting of the 1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 1, the 1999 Meerea Park Alexander Munro, and the 1999 Waverley Estate Semillons and it was difficult to pick a winner.  Each was truly outstanding in its own right.

A 10 – 20 year old Semillon can be truly magnificent.  The only problem is that there is some variability in the taste caused by difference in cork.  I had to pour a 1994 Waverley Estate down the drain because of a poor cork.  They have been good and always replaced a bad bottle for me, but is can still be a disappointment when you have had one great bottle and open a second one of the same vintage to find a small and discernible difference.  That is why I am a fan of moving from cork to screw-top.

As so often is the case when researching material for a post, I came across something already written which does a good job of describing what I wanted to say.  A review of the Semillon grape from Wine Knowledge is worth a read and entirely matches my view on Semillon.

I have not recommended any Semillons from regions other than the Hunter Valley.  There are certainly some great Semillons produced in Margaret River and the Barasso Valley, and certainly some magnificent Semillons produced in the Sauternes and Barsac regions in France, but my deeper knowledge and appreciation of Hunter Valley Semillons makes me favor the Semillons from that region over all others.  My only exception to that would be the great dessert wines made from Botrytis Semillon from Sauternes such as Chataeu D’Yquem.  (See my post on “Why I think Chauteau D’Yquem is the Best Wine in the World”, my most-viewed post of all time!)

The Many Faces of Semillon – Part 1: Young and Medium-Aged Semillons

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In my post entitled Overview of Australia’s Wine Regions – Part 3 where I described the Characteristics and Grapes of Australia’s Larger Wine Regions, I extol the unique and symbiotic relationship between The Hunter Valley and the Semillon grape.
 
Hunter Semillons are un-paralled anywhere in the world.  A multitude of Hunter wineries make great, great Semillons, in three styles which really relate to their age in the bottle and when they are released.  They are:

  • Crisp, new Semillons a year or two in the bottle
  • Semillons stored for 5 years before being released
  • “Museum” Semillons being bottled and stored 10 years before being released 

Because of the many different faces and tastes of Semillon, it has a multitude of uses.  It can be enjoyed on its own, with cheese and crackers, with Indian or Thai food, with eggs such as when serving an omelet or fritatta (one of the reasons I think of Semillon as the ultimate breakfast wine!), a Tandoori chicken pizza, or many other foods.  I also find when you need that 100 ml of white wine for cooking that Semillon fuses beautifully and enhances, but does not overpower the food with which it is blended.  My bride has a number of recipes in her great blog DAZ in the Kitchen where wine is required to cook the perfect meal.

But the real question is “Which age Semillon goes best with what type of food?”  With sharp cheeses such as a Blue Cheese or a Gorgonzola (which my bride uses when making a prawn Risotto and is outstanding!) demands a newer and crisper, more acidic Semillon.  I personally would almost always rather drink an aged or Museum-released Semillon.  However, with a sharp cheese and when a bit of acid is required, you should try a younger Semillon.  I have found two younger Semillons that in my opinion stand out (the rest are just not that interesting yet).  They are the Andrew Thomas Braemore Semillon and the Tyrrell’s Johnno Semillon.

Andrew Thomas is one of finest wine makers in the Hunter Valley, if not one of the finest in the world.  And he is a really nice guy also!  I have had the pleasure of sitting next to him at a degustation affair with matching wines a few years back, and others have told me how pleasurable he was to meet and talk to when watching sport in a bar!  A great guy making great wine!

I have been surprised to to learn after buying some excellent Shiraz’ such as the 1998 Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Shiraz and the 2007 Pokolbin Estate Shiraz, that Andrew was the wine maker for both of those wines.  But that is a topic for another post.  Back to Semillon.

I have had the 2009 Braemore and it is brilliant.  Crisp, a touch of acid and a bit of lemon flavor.  Many young Semillons taste flat to me, but the 2009 Braemore is ripe with flavor.

The Tyrrells’ Johnno is the other young Semillon I enjoy.  I have had the 2010 and 2011 vintages and both are exceptional.  It is a bit more edgy and acidic than the Braemore in my opinion, even though Tyrrell’s positions it as a smoother type of Semillon.  However, it is a most enjoyable drink when you need to pick a Semillon right from the bottle shop.

I really start to enjoy my Semillons though when they have 5 or more years in the bottle.  They become less acidic (even thought many still have a lot of acid and a lot of life in them yet!) and more complex.  Both the Thomas Braemore and the Tyrrell’s Johnno Semillons are worth keeping in the bottle for a few years if you have the discipline and patience!

There are almost too many good Hunter Valley Semillons to mention here, but for me, the top class includes the Tyrrels Vat 1 (especially the 2005 vintage), The Meerea Park Alexander Munro and Meerea Park Teracotta Semillons (anywhere from the 2004 – 2006 vintages), The 2005 Brokenwood ILR (I was fortunate to pick up the last 9 bottles at the cellar door a little while back), the 2004 Lindemans Semillon and the 2004 Thomas Braemore.  I am sure I have left some great wines off this list, but I can attest the wines I mentioned within are truly outstanding medium-aged Semillons.

These “medium-aged” Semillons go really well with egg dishes.  I had about a third of a bottle of the 2004 Meerea Park Teracotta left over one Sunday morning and heated up some leftover quiche for a late breakfast at about 11 am and a glass of the Semillon to go with it.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  Since I rarely drink in the morning, my bride and I now look for reasons to make egg dishes (such as a Salmon Fritatta or Quiche Lorraine) so we have the excuse to drink a medium-aged Semillon with dinner!  I also like my medium-aged Semillons with Indian and Thai food.

As so often is the case when researching material for a post, I came across something already written which does a good job of describing what I wanted to say.  A review of the Semillon grape from Wine Knowledge is worth a read and entirely matches my view on Semillon.

I have not recommended any Semillons from regions other than the Hunter Valley.  There are certainly some great Semillons produced in Margaret River and the Barasso Valley, and certainly some magnificent Semillons produced in the Sauternes and Barsac regions in France, but my deeper knowledge and appreciation of Hunter Valley Semillons makes me favor the Semillons from that region over all others.  My only exception to that would be the great dessert wines made from Botrytis Semillon from Sauternes such as Chataeu D’Yquem.  (See my post on “Why I think Chauteau D’Yquem is the Best Wine in the World”, my most-viewed post of all time!)

Working in the cellar – being prepared

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Most of us probably don’t own or lease our own cellar.  I have built two of them now, only to have changed homes and gotten very little value out of them which was a real shame.  Now we live in an apartment and I use a larger and smaller Vintec wine fridge to store about 150 bottles of wine for close access in my apartment.  However, when we are doing a tasting or I just need to replenish my apartment holdings, or more importantly if I just want to ‘play’ and organize my larger cellar, I sometimes will spend a considerable amount more time there – usually from 1 – 4 hours.  (My wife claims it is my ‘man cave’!)

I rent a larger wine cellar from Wine-Ark which does a very nice job of providing cellar space.  They provide either a managed cellar service (where they inventory and store / retrieve your wine on your behalf) or you can rent a private and dedicated cellar space which is what I do.  It is located about 20 minutes from where I live, so I want to make sure I am both safe and productive while visiting my cellar.  The cellar is consistently cooled to 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit).  This is necessary for storing and aging the wine properly.  Other safety considerations include that I am mostly over in my cellar by myself.  During the business day and on Saturday morning the office is open and I could have access to the guys who man the operation, but mostly when I am over there working in my cellar it is only me in the location, so I take that into consideration.  For example, my old phone service did not provide strength of coverage being in the basement of the Wine-Ark, so I switched and my current coverage does.

While I do not think of organizing wine as a dangerous activity, it is possible I could fall off a stepladder, drop a case of wine on me, or have some other small accident (fortunately I have not had an accident in 4 years!).  More importantly, I want to be comfortable and productive.  I have seen guys enter their cellar in a T-shirt to retrieve a few bottles, and that is OK if you are only in 14 degrees in a T-shirt for a few minutes, but if you plan on spending 30 or more minutes at that temperature, you should prepare to keep your body warmer.  I always wear a long sleeve shirt and a wool sleeveless (to provide more arm movement when moving things around) vest.  However, once in my excitement to get over to the vault, I forgot my vest and it was uncomfortable.  Therefore, I now have a vest always stored in the cellar for such an event.  While it is not like being stuck in the freezing cold for an extended period, it does sap your energy more quickly and can be uncomfortable to the point of nausea if you stay in for too long a time without proper clothing.

I also keep 3 bottles of water (so as not to get dehydrated) and a flashlight in case the lights go out while I am working.  This should never happen as the electricity system needs to be backed-up to ensure constant temperature is provided for the wines, but the lights are motion sensor-ed or time controlled and can go out if you are not careful.

My basic tool kit comprises:

  • preprinted paper to inventory my wine and making adjustments to inventory as I move wine in and out
  • plain paper (for writing notes)
  • Labels to overlay boxes that have text written on them already or as a mailing label is I am going to ship off some wine
  • 2 pens
  • Large tip black marker for writing on and labeling boxes
  • Small tip black marker for writing on labels
  • A wine review guide (to research specific wines as to when to best drink and mark it as such on the carton)
  • Tape gun and extra roll of packing tape (I use 3M as there is no problem keeping it in the cold) to make up boxes as needed to move wine back and forth
  • Roll and dispenser of regular (Scotch 3M) tape for taping paper or labels onto boxes
  • Several one-bottle and two-bottle shipping containers in case I want to package up a bottle or two to ship off to a friend
  • Extra boxes to store or transfer half dozen or dozen bottles as required
  • Flat-head screwdriver to lift off wooden lids from containers (usually more expensive wines are shipped in wooden boxes)
  • Cutting (Exacto) knife to cut open boxes of wine or to cut up empty cardboard boxes for recycling

I started with most of these items, but added a few as I learned the need for them over time.  All of my supplies and tools fit into a single cardboard box which is used to hold a six pack of wine, so it does not take much room at all.  The pens, markers and tape all work fine at 14 degrees, but I check them every now and then to ensure they are still working.  Wine-Ark provides stepladders and trolleys to provide transfer of your wines from the cellar to your car, so I do not need to keep my own of those.

If you plan on working for longer than 4 hours, you should also consider packing a snack, but I just make it a point to get out of the cellar (and warm up a bit) to grab a bite of lunch.

I get great enjoyment out of ‘playing’ in my man-cave and want to make sure it is a comfortable and productive environment.  It all adds to the enjoyment of drinking the wine.