NW
Wines to Cellar
What to Expect
after aging NW Wines
Bottle Size and Cellaring
"Cellaring" defined
Cellaring temperature Chart
Timeline for Aging
Chardonnay/Cabernet
Oregon Vintage Recommendations
Washington Vintage Recommendations
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Cellaring
Northwest wines can reward the patient with unique and rare opportunities
to experience
the sometimes spectacular results of careful aging. The
wineries of Oregon and Washington are quite young. It takes many
years for wineries to make wine, cellar it, wait for time to pass,
and
for the aged wines to then prove themselves as excellent.
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The
reason wine lovers worldwide clamor for Bordeaux futures to
lay down for years is that
they
have
had hundreds of years to build a proven track record. In contrast,
only a few Oregon and Washington wineries have a proven history
of successful
aging of their wines for more than a few years. However, even
considering the Northwest's "youth", several top wineries
make their wines to be cellared, some for quite long periods
of time, and a few
have 20 year plus records of success. Not all NW wines are made for cellaring, however. Many are specifically
made to be at their best soon after bottling, and with aging will lose
their fresh flavor, leaving not much interesting behind. And even if
the correct wines are selected for aging, specific conditions of temperature,
humidity, light levels, and bottle positioning must be met if the wine
is to age well. NW Wines to Cellar Wines that taste harsh and/or
closed when first released may be intended to be that way, and cellaring
as
per the winemakers' specifications can lead to some spectacular results.
| Wine Serving and Cellaring
Temperatures |
| Temp Farenheit |
|
| 212 |
Boling water |
| 77 |
Max temperature acceptable for wine |
| 66 |
Port, red dessert wines, Cab Franc
|
| 64 |
Meritage blends, Syrah |
| 63 |
Cabernet Sauvignon |
| 61 |
Pinot noir |
| 59 |
Zinfandel, Sangiovese |
| 55 |
Ideal wine storage temperature |
| 54 |
Dry rose, Gamay noir, Viognier |
| 50 |
Lowest cellar temperature recommended |
| 48 |
Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc |
| 47 |
Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muller Thurgau |
| 45 |
Champagne style wines |
| 43 |
Ice wine and late harvest wine |
| 41 |
Semi Sparkling muscat |
Typical Timeline for Wine Aging
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Chardonnay
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Cabernet Sauvignon
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Year
One
|
Not
bottled.
|
Not
bottled |
|
Year
Two
|
Fresh
peach, grapefruit, butter, obvious oak.
|
Not
bottled |
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Year
Three
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Flavours
integrated slightly, small gain in colour.
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Deep
purple, strong ripe berry-fruit, grippy tannins, stong
oak. |
|
Year
Four
|
Enters
a slightly dull patch as fruit fades and bottle development
begins to appear.
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Deep
ruby with hings of purple. Strong berry-fruit flavours
now more accessible. Firm tannins. |
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Year
Five
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Fruit
less obvious, more toasty flavours emerging.
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Beginning
of toasty, forest floor bottle development. |
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Year
Six
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Strong
toasty, nutty, mealy bottle development with background
of peach and grapefruit.
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Strong
development starts to compete with ripe berry flavours.
Colour ruby/red. |
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Year
Seven
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Acidity
mellows slightly, colour deepens.
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Red
colour with savoury earth flavours and the beginning
of a beef tea complexity. |
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Year
Eight
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Still
has a vestige of fruit but strong toast, nuts etc.
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A
slight brick edge to colour, more beef tea, mellow flavours.
Sometimes tannins can appear stronger at this stage.
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Year
Nine
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Fruit
begins to "dry up" and the texture starts to become coarse.
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Fruit
fading but still evident. Stong bottle development. Tannins
may begin to mellow.
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Year
Ten
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Bitterness
may begin to emerge.
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Strongly
developed composty flavours. Very integrated. Strong
brick edge to red colour. Still has a few years potential
for further development.
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| Name |
Size |
| Split |
375 ml |
| Bottle |
750 ml |
| Magnum |
2 bottles |
| Marie-Jeanne |
3 bottles |
| Double Magnum |
4 bottles |
| Jeroboam |
4 bottles |
| Jeroboam |
6 bottles |
| Reboboam |
6 bottles |
| Imperial |
8 bottles |
| Methuselah |
8 bottles |
| Salmanazar |
12 bottles |
| Balthazar |
16 bottles |
| Nebuchadnezzar |
20 bottles |
| Solomon |
28 bottles
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| Primat |
36 bottles |
What do the Names mean?
Jeroboam
(Founder and first king of Israel, 931-910 BC)
Rehoboam, son of Solomon
(King of Judah, 922-908 BC)
Methuselah
(Biblical patriarch who lived
to the age of 969)
Salmanazar
(King of Assyria, 859-824 BC)
Balthazar
(Regent of Babylon, son of Nabonide, 539 BC)
Nebuchadnezzar
(King of Babylon, 605-562 BC) |
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