Suggestions for starting a wine cellar.
Discussion
What's your budget?
You could spend thousands or hundreds.
And your taste in wine will be different to anyone else's. I wouldn't "stock up" on anything I personally hadn't tasted and enjoyed.
POD's suggestion has a lot of merit!
Here's how to start: Go to a reputable wine merchant. Buy several mixed cases of wine at the average price per bottle you have set as a budget. Get pricier wine. Get cheaper wine. Now work your way through it. Each bottle - make a note of how much you liked it, how much it cost etc.
For a start - the process is FUN! Secondly you will find wine you like - buy in a few bottle of it. Voila - one cellar.
BTW: if you are keeping wine in a cupboard (e.g. under the stairs) and the temperature will vary? Don't plan on keeping the wine overlong. Aim to drink within a couple of years...keep your stock turning over...that way you won't open something and be dissappointed with it being over the hill.
You could spend thousands or hundreds.
And your taste in wine will be different to anyone else's. I wouldn't "stock up" on anything I personally hadn't tasted and enjoyed.
POD's suggestion has a lot of merit!
Here's how to start: Go to a reputable wine merchant. Buy several mixed cases of wine at the average price per bottle you have set as a budget. Get pricier wine. Get cheaper wine. Now work your way through it. Each bottle - make a note of how much you liked it, how much it cost etc.
For a start - the process is FUN! Secondly you will find wine you like - buy in a few bottle of it. Voila - one cellar.
BTW: if you are keeping wine in a cupboard (e.g. under the stairs) and the temperature will vary? Don't plan on keeping the wine overlong. Aim to drink within a couple of years...keep your stock turning over...that way you won't open something and be dissappointed with it being over the hill.
Difficult one this. You need to think why you want to collect wine in the first place. Often you buy wine that will be drunk within the following weeks to a year, I wouldn't be too concerned with being too systematic. Just buy, drink, enjoy!
However, if you start buying more wine than you can drink in a reasonable time (i.e. by the case), buying vintage releases & en primeur that will benefit from cellaring a few years, buying wine that you want to keep for a very special occasion, or even as an investment, then you have to plan your "cellar" more carefully.
To start, I'd say that drinking lots of wine, and enjoying it is probably the most important thing! Then making notes of what you have drunk, or what you know you like is the the next thing you need to do - so you know what you like and can find some more in future.
Talking to a local independent wine shop is useful too. They will talk you through what you like and what you want to spend and often suggest alternatives that you might not have normally tried. They and even larger suppliers like Laithwaites and Majestic shops will also let you taste some of the wines so you know what you are getting before you get them home.
If you are thinking of buying and storing a lot of expensive wine (and good reds can last for 20 years or more in the right conditions), you might find that professional storage (i.e. in a warehouse where you "order up" the wine you want as you drink it), is the best - if not essential place for your collection. A good alternative if if you are storing a moderate anmount of expensive wine for a long time is a decent twine that runs at cellar temp of c11-13C. I recently bought a 70 bottle Liebherr fridge on eBay for £100 to keep my "premier collection" in! If you store wine in a too-warm or hot/cold place then it will not last any time at all and your expensive 2005 vintage will never reach its full potential.
I can also recommend looking at Decanter magazine. It is a bit Bordeaux focussed and somewhat up itself, but it's still pretty accessible and a great start as an intro to the business. They also organise big tasting events if you want to broaden your drinking experience.
If you are seriously into wine, then I recommend doing the industry recognised Wine & Spirits Trust qualifications. My wife did the intermediate course at college last year and the advanced this year - which has opened up a whole world of wine (I get the benefit of her knowledge too!). Even the basic courses give are great for teaching you how to taste and grade wine properly, introduces you to the whole wine producing process and the worldwide industry.
However, if you start buying more wine than you can drink in a reasonable time (i.e. by the case), buying vintage releases & en primeur that will benefit from cellaring a few years, buying wine that you want to keep for a very special occasion, or even as an investment, then you have to plan your "cellar" more carefully.
To start, I'd say that drinking lots of wine, and enjoying it is probably the most important thing! Then making notes of what you have drunk, or what you know you like is the the next thing you need to do - so you know what you like and can find some more in future.
Talking to a local independent wine shop is useful too. They will talk you through what you like and what you want to spend and often suggest alternatives that you might not have normally tried. They and even larger suppliers like Laithwaites and Majestic shops will also let you taste some of the wines so you know what you are getting before you get them home.
If you are thinking of buying and storing a lot of expensive wine (and good reds can last for 20 years or more in the right conditions), you might find that professional storage (i.e. in a warehouse where you "order up" the wine you want as you drink it), is the best - if not essential place for your collection. A good alternative if if you are storing a moderate anmount of expensive wine for a long time is a decent twine that runs at cellar temp of c11-13C. I recently bought a 70 bottle Liebherr fridge on eBay for £100 to keep my "premier collection" in! If you store wine in a too-warm or hot/cold place then it will not last any time at all and your expensive 2005 vintage will never reach its full potential.
I can also recommend looking at Decanter magazine. It is a bit Bordeaux focussed and somewhat up itself, but it's still pretty accessible and a great start as an intro to the business. They also organise big tasting events if you want to broaden your drinking experience.
If you are seriously into wine, then I recommend doing the industry recognised Wine & Spirits Trust qualifications. My wife did the intermediate course at college last year and the advanced this year - which has opened up a whole world of wine (I get the benefit of her knowledge too!). Even the basic courses give are great for teaching you how to taste and grade wine properly, introduces you to the whole wine producing process and the worldwide industry.
Edited by prand on Monday 1st September 11:44
Well
Firstly you need to think about how long you will be storing your wines before drinking them. Will it be just a short term storage for general purpose drinking or for wines to mature and become better over time?
Normally cellars contain a mixture .
Then you need to do some research and find out which wines will keep and mature well over time and those that wont. Not all wines will keep well for over 3-4 years.
It can be a costly and time consuming mistake storing wines for a few years only to find they havnt stored so well and were better drunk shortly after buying them.
Obviously good vintages are only known for sure a few years after they have been produced, but in general terms talking to a Vintner would be a useful step in deciding the inventory.
hope this helps
Firstly you need to think about how long you will be storing your wines before drinking them. Will it be just a short term storage for general purpose drinking or for wines to mature and become better over time?
Normally cellars contain a mixture .
Then you need to do some research and find out which wines will keep and mature well over time and those that wont. Not all wines will keep well for over 3-4 years.
It can be a costly and time consuming mistake storing wines for a few years only to find they havnt stored so well and were better drunk shortly after buying them.
Obviously good vintages are only known for sure a few years after they have been produced, but in general terms talking to a Vintner would be a useful step in deciding the inventory.
hope this helps
Edited by Watch-Collector on Monday 1st September 11:51
I bought myself a little Samsung wine fridge which keeps red at 13ish degrees for a few hundred quid. I think it holds about 50 bottles I then buy a few decent bottles when ever I travel and have now a nice little celler for those special occasions like weekends. 3/4 of the bottles will benefit from a little storage but I keep a shelf free for my regular drinking plonk.
go to Calais or Boulogne (sp?) and look up some of the wine traders that keep a tasting stock on hand...the one i went to keeps about thirty bottles open for tasting at any one time.
If you like it, buy a dozen!
As others have said, plotting when you want to drink it is important - work out your average monthly drinking rate, and judge whether you are buying wines to lay down, or wines to drink this year (or a mix of the two...)
If you like it, buy a dozen!
As others have said, plotting when you want to drink it is important - work out your average monthly drinking rate, and judge whether you are buying wines to lay down, or wines to drink this year (or a mix of the two...)
dbroughton said:
I bought myself a little Samsung wine fridge which keeps red at 13ish degrees for a few hundred quid. I think it holds about 50 bottles I then buy a few decent bottles when ever I travel and have now a nice little celler for those special occasions like weekends. 3/4 of the bottles will benefit from a little storage but I keep a shelf free for my regular drinking plonk.
Thanks for all the comments, basically theres the day to day "plonk", but as above I'd like to have a supply of wine (and for that matter a bottle or two of whiskey, port etc.) to keep for high days and holidays.Regards
Iain
Go roundyour local wine merchants, find some that have tastings...
Go to the tasting, try to understand what you like, why you like it etc.
Don't be afraid to try new stuff.
www.nywines.co.uk is where we got started.
Good luck
D
(with a real cellar, alas not much wine in it at the moment
)
Go to the tasting, try to understand what you like, why you like it etc.
Don't be afraid to try new stuff.
www.nywines.co.uk is where we got started.
Good luck
D
(with a real cellar, alas not much wine in it at the moment
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