RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge

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RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/30/2023 9:19:23 PM

RedLoverJim

Posts: 271
Joined: 9/25/2008
From: Hurstville, Texas
Status: offline

Are there any professional wine storage facilities in your area? If so, you might consider storing your long term bottles there, and the ones you'd want ready access to in your home cellar. I know quite a few who do that. Most of mine is at home, but a few are in a storage facility, including a few cases for my daughters, now 3 & 5, which I'll add to over the years. Costs are based on storage locker size, a few hundred a year on up, but many include other services beyond storage with that.

For my suggestions, for what they're worth, I'll list some wines I have purchased and am planning to add for them, targeting 2040+ for drinking:
2018 & 2019 Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot in magnum (large formats age better). This is a right bank Bordeaux I've been a long time fan of, and having tasted most vintages back to 1970 it ages very well.
2018 & 2019 Domaine Huet, a variety of their styles. I love their older wines I've had, and how Chenin Blanc can evolve over time.
2018 Quinta da Romaneira Porto
2018 Quinta do Vallado Porto, and I'll add more ports for both years as time passes though 2019 is slim pickings
2018 Dunn Howell Mountain
I'll add Sauternes and vintage Champagne over time, along with some Riesling

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RLJ

(in reply to WineGuyCO)

Post #: 31

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/30/2024 12:46:46 PM

Claymonster

Posts: 67
Joined: 1/18/2023
From: Claymont, DE
Status: offline

It was just over a year ago when I created this thread (my first!) and wanted to provide an update. I said I wasn't going to buy anything until after the summer so I could ensure that my passive cellar wouldn't cook the wines. Well, I lied. I bought quite a few bottles in the winter and spring and crossed my fingers that the cellar temps would stay low enough. It was up to 70 degrees by July so knowing the hottest period was still ahead, I bought a 50-bottle fridge. In reality, the fridge will hold about 45 bottles. Here's what's in there right now. Many of these bottles were purchased off the recommendations in this thread.

REDS
1 x 2018 Leoville Barton
1 x 2019 Brane-Cantenac (thanks Ibetian!)
2 x 2019 Ferriere
1 x 2019 Durfort-Vivens
1 x 2020 Durfort-Vivens
1 x 2015 Latour Martillac
1 x 2010 Latour Martillac
2 x 2019 Lynch-Bages (thanks Ibetian!)
2 x 2019 Issan
1 x 2019 Haut-Bailly
3 x 2019 Poujeaux
2 x 2022 Les Carmes H-B (pending)
2 x 2019 Feytit Clinet
1 x 2021 Pierre-Marie Chermette Moulin-a-Vent Les Trois Roches
1 x 2019 Domaine Grand Veneur CdP VV (thanks jmcmchi!)
2 x 2010 LdH Reserva Tondonia
1 x 2010 Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 890 (thanks mclancy10006 and ROEL!)
1 x 2011 Terroir al Limit L'Arbossar
1 x 2018 Don Melchor (thanks jmcmchi!)
2 x 2011 Fonseca Vintage Port (thanks S1!)
1 x 2016 Giacomo Borgogno Barolo Cannubi
1 x 2016 Musar (thanks jmcmchi!)
1 x 2018 Voskevaz Areni VV
1 x 2018 Delmas Syrah
1 x 2018 Scarlett Petite Sirah
2 x 2019 Chris Pratt Ingrid (thanks KPB!)
1 x 2019 Misc. Wines Rutherford (thanks KPB!)

WHITES
1 x 2019 Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulee de Serrant
1 x 2021 Kumeu River Mate's Vineyard
1 x 2013 Pazo de Senorans Seleccion de Anada
1 x 2021 Gunther Steinmetz Dhroner Grosser Hengelberg Monopollage Reserve
1 x 2022 Gunther Steinmetz Neumagener Rosengartchen Von den Terrassen (pending)

Looking back on this it is clear that I'm oversupplied with 2019 Left Bank. I chalk that up to it being newest and cheapest BDX available when I started buying. Not all of them will be held long term. In the short term (next couple of years) I'll probably drink one bottle of whatever BDX I'm holding multiples of with the exception of the Lynch-Bages and LCHB. Do I really need to age three bottles of Poujeaux with such limited space? No, I don't. Just a note on the 2022 LCHB - that is my only child's birth year and one of those two bottles will be given to her when she turns drinking age. Probably one bottle of the Fonseca too.

Looking at it again, there's some other bottles that could be drank and replaced if something better comes along. You might be able to speculate on which bottles are expendable.

So..... with 45 bottle capacity, I probably have room for 12-13 more. I'll ask the same question I asked this time last year but now with the benefit of the inventory above. What would you put in there (or take out!)? Whites? Maybe Champagne, or Austrian GV? Alsatian PG? Something from Australia? South America? More Italians? Recommendations welcome!

(in reply to RedLoverJim)

Post #: 32

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/30/2024 1:03:05 PM

Wine Grove

Posts: 709
Joined: 11/9/2017
From: San Clemente, CA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Claymonster

Hello Everyone. I'm new here and new-ish to the world of wine so I'm seeking the collective advice of this community to build a small collection. My wife and I are expecting about $3000 back in taxes this year and we don't immediately need the money, so we decided to have some fun and spend it on wine that we can drink over the next 30+ years. I'm 42, she's 38. In preparation, I built a tiny little "cellar" in our concrete-floored unfinished basement for storage, put a temperature/hygrometer gauge in there to ensure the conditions are right (they're near perfect right now and hope it stays that way this summer), and now we're thinking about what to fill it with. The catch is that the cellar's internal dimensions are about 28"W x 16"D x 10"H so the thing might only fit a couple cases. Let's conservatively say 20 bottles. Here's the question: If you had $3000 to spend on 20 bottles, with drinking spread out over the next 30+ years (starting drinking maybe 5 years from now), what would you buy (including vintages)? You can be specific rather than just say something like "2018 Bordeaux".

Rest assured that I am not going to buy anything until this fall because I need to know that our makeshift cellar isn't going to cook the bottles during peak summer temps.

Thanks!

My suggestion, if your cellar storage is only 20 bottles or so, you would probably be better served for your wine journey to buy and cellar long term 10 or so bottles (ie. blue chip bordeaux or burgundy, etc), and with the other 10 bottle space use for continually changing inventory on wines you are drinking and short-term cellaring, that you can replenish when you pull a couple bottles from there. Have a range of wines for drinking both now and cellaring long-term. Ultimately you will probably find yourself wanting more cellar/wine storage space.

(in reply to Claymonster)

Post #: 33

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/30/2024 1:34:51 PM

jmcmchi

Posts: 3208
Joined: 8/6/2013
Status: offline

If you want Australia, Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay and/or Cab S are both good, and reasonably sized bottles so not hogging space

An alternative, from the other side of the country/continent would be Yarra Yering No. 1 or 2 blend

I’ve only had one aged petite syrah, before my time on cellar tracker, so I’ve no idea how your Scarlett will keep

< Message edited by jmcmchi -- 1/30/2024 1:35:16 PM >

(in reply to Wine Grove)

Post #: 34

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/30/2024 1:44:48 PM

DoubleD1969

Posts: 3594
Joined: 8/19/2008
From: New Jersey
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What’s the over/under that Claymonster will buy another wine fridge? 7 months? 😂

(in reply to jmcmchi)

Post #: 35

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/30/2024 1:46:42 PM

fingers

Posts: 8242
Joined: 8/26/2006
From: Santa Ana, CA
Status: offline

Like moths to a flame... it's instinct

(in reply to DoubleD1969)

Post #: 36

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/30/2024 4:53:49 PM

jmcmchi

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Joined: 8/6/2013
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quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

What’s the over/under that Claymonster will buy another wine fridge? 7 months? 😂

He seems the disciplined type….6

months

(in reply to DoubleD1969)

Post #: 37

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/31/2024 1:32:04 PM

Claymonster

Posts: 67
Joined: 1/18/2023
From: Claymont, DE
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: jmcmchi

If you want Australia, Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay and/or Cab S are both good, and reasonably sized bottles so not hogging space

An alternative, from the other side of the country/continent would be Yarra Yering No. 1 or 2 blend

I’ve only had one aged petite syrah, before my time on cellar tracker, so I’ve no idea how your Scarlett will keep

Thanks for these recommendations. Any thoughts on St. Henri? A localish wine store has some in stock.

Regarding the Petite Sirah, I'll likely be drinking that short term, say next couple of years.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

What’s the over/under that Claymonster will buy another wine fridge? 7 months? 😂

Under.

(in reply to DoubleD1969)

Post #: 38

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/31/2024 2:50:03 PM

DoubleD1969

Posts: 3594
Joined: 8/19/2008
From: New Jersey
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I haven’t had St. Henri in a long time and only tasted once, but it was a wine I wish I had. Timing and buying opportunities just didn’t intersect.

(in reply to Claymonster)

Post #: 39

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 1/31/2024 6:16:44 PM

jmcmchi

Posts: 3208
Joined: 8/6/2013
Status: offline

Yes to St Henri…much better value than Grange

(in reply to DoubleD1969)

Post #: 40

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 2/1/2024 5:07:52 AM

penguinoid

Posts: 1054
Joined: 1/10/2013
From: Australia via the UK, now in Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Claymonster
Something from Australia?

I'd agree that St Henri is a good bet, and is known to age well. I've only ever had the chance to try the most recent vintages, unfortunately.

I'm not sure about availability in the US, but Greenock Creek's wines age well, especially their Roennfeldt Road wines. Also not sure about availability, but Bass Phillip's Estate, Premium, and Reserve wines should age very well too.

Yangarra definitely is available in the US, and I'd guess that some of their top wines should age nicely over maybe 10-15 years -- especially the Ironheart Shiraz and (maybe?) the High Sands Grenache.

EDIT: and Tyrrell's Vat 1 Sémillon. Quite a few of their higher end wines should age well, but good Hunter Valley sémillon with 10+ years bottle age is something special.

< Message edited by penguinoid -- 2/1/2024 5:09:05 AM >

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(in reply to Claymonster)

Post #: 41

RE: Teeny Tiny Cellar Challenge - 2/1/2024 6:10:04 AM

DoubleD1969

Posts: 3594
Joined: 8/19/2008
From: New Jersey
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: jmcmchi
Yes to St Henri…much better value than Grange

Maybe 😬 Grange is expensive, no doubt.

I’m just thinking a 25- to 30-yr old Grange (good storage) will more likely knock your socks off than a St. Henri. The former seems to have moved to screw cap (not sure when), and I wonder if it will inhibit the development of the wine.

(in reply to jmcmchi)

Post #: 42