The place for all things wine, focused on serious wine discussions.

Looking to purchase wines for aging

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

kenneth.singh

Rank

Just got here

Posts

1

Joined

Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:48 am

Looking to purchase wines for aging

by kenneth.singh » Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:53 am

Hi I was looking to purchase wines from 2014 and 2017 to age for 20 years as a gift. Was hoping to get a white, a red and a champagne or sparkling. I was looking for advice on best value for dollar spent as I would like to be price conscious in the overall purchase.

My initial thoughts as I am located in Canada was to get in touch with US vineyards (California). If anyone can offer any advice or direction on particular wines/vineyards they recommend.

If anyone has been through this process and can share their experience it would be helpful.
no avatar
User

Brian K Miller

Rank

Passionate Arboisphile

Posts

9340

Joined

Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:05 am

Location

Northern California

Re: Looking to purchase wines for aging

by Brian K Miller » Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:22 pm

For whites, I would look to white Rioja. Or, if you can find it, Musar Blanc from Lebanon.

For reds, obviously Bordeaux and Burgundy. More so than American reds?
...(Humans) are unique in our capacity to construct realities at utter odds with reality. Dogs dream and dolphins imagine, but only humans are deluded. –Jacob Bacharach
no avatar
User

David M. Bueker

Rank

Riesling Guru

Posts

34220

Joined

Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:52 am

Location

Connecticut

Re: Looking to purchase wines for aging

by David M. Bueker » Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:45 pm

White: J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese or Auslese

The 2015 and 2016 vintages are excellent and very ageworthy.
Decisions are made by those who show up
no avatar
User

Jason Hagen

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

813

Joined

Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:03 pm

Location

SoCal

Re: Looking to purchase wines for aging

by Jason Hagen » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:26 pm

David M. Bueker wrote:White: J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese or Auslese

The 2015 and 2016 vintages are excellent and very ageworthy.


Are you asking for 2014 & 2017 ... those 2 vintages specifically? For the white, I would think a German Riesling would be a slam dunk but, and David can correct me, I don't think 2014 was great.

Champagne. You are probably going to have to wait 4 - 8 years to find the wines.

California reds. I have no idea of the quality of the vintages but I would look to Montelena (Estate), Mayacamas, Ridge (Montebello).

If the purchase can wait, then of course Lopez de Heredia but I think the current release is 2005.

Jason
no avatar
User

Jenise

Rank

FLDG Dishwasher

Posts

42509

Joined

Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:45 pm

Location

The Pacific Northest Westest

Re: Looking to purchase wines for aging

by Jenise » Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:47 pm

Everyone's given you good advice, Kenneth, without actually explaining why it's not so easy to give you the advice you're seeking. Can't tell from your post what your wine experience is, so we don't know if you realize how expensive high end (any wine that ages for 20 years is high-end) California wines are relative to your threshhold for "value conscious" (mine and yours might not be the same). The red part is the easiest, as there are a number of California wines that have proven track records for the kind of life span you seek, and some of those have already been mentioned, like Ridge Montebello. Thing is, those wines are around $200/bottle. Whites and sparklers are a much much bigger problem. California's getting warmer every year and it has never been a California goal to make chardonnays that can cellar for 20 years. Even if they could, it's just not profitable. Ditto bubblies.

And that's why people are mentioning German rieslings. Riesling is a proven ageable white grape and the Germans do it better than anyone. For sparkling, you need France's champagne region, not California. But again, 20 year lifespans? It would have to be a vintage bottling--that's why '14-'17s won't be out for awhile as someone said--and a top producer from a great vintage (if any of the current vintages are going to be considered 'great') is going to cost you.

You may have thought that if you concentrate just on California that would give you something like one-stop shopping that would ease your burden in buying out of Canada or getting around the usual LCB issues. Unfortunately, not really. What you can get will depend a lot on who you buy it from and each of us sitting here naming brands won't really help because your options will be limited to what's available to whoever your seller is.

Are you in BC, Ontario or somewhere in between? And will the wines be shipped to Canada? If you're in B.C., you may know that import duty is pretty steep.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: AhrefsBot, ClaudeBot and 2 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign