Wines to age for 20+ years
1I’m pondering a project to put some bottles away to give to or enjoy with my daughters many years down the road. Looking for bottles that are ideally somewhat affordable now (~$50 or less), but with a high probability of being special in 20 years. Also, would love to focus on wines from their birth years (2015 and 2017).
Anyone have any suggestions for varietals and specific bottles? I know to focus on cabs, nebbiolo, barolo, maybe champagne, but would welcome any suggestions on this.
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From California, the only varietals that will consistently age 20+ years, which you are likely to be able to find are Cabernet Sauvignon (and Cabernet blends which include Merlot, Cab Franc and the other Bordeaux varieties), Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel. Others can age 20+ years, but you really have to know what you’re doing… Picking PS and Zin for long aging is tricky and might even require specialist knowledge. At your price point, I’d stick with Cabernet and try to get as much 2015 as possible - there’s still some around now, but it won’t be in the distribution chain much longer… There some Casemates favorites to consider, such as Pedroncelli. It’s reasonable now, and has a history of aging 20+ years. In fact, a bit like Louis Martini in the old days, it consistently outperforms the initial expectation in very good to great years. Old reliable (sigh) Beaulieu Vineyards ‘second line’ Cabernet, the ‘Rutherford’ bottling, is really quite good Rutherford bench Cabernet; in a great year (e.g. 1968 and 1970) it may approach the Georges de la Tour at 20, though it’s unlikely to go 50 years like the Georges de la Tour will. Stay away from anyone who hasn’t been making Cab for at least 25 years. Cathy Corison’s Cabs are more, but if you really want to put special wines away, that will be among the best in the vintages, break down and buy Corison. The 2017 is still available, and you can probably find 2015.
@rpm Thanks for the thoughtful post. Could definitely up the price point. Still figuring out what this might look like.
2016 and 17 Vintage Ports are thought to be excellent, and are made to age for decades. Wine.com has the $49 off $150 (check deals), I was seriously looking at a 2017 Quinta do Vesuvio for $89.99 and Parker gives it 99 points. 2015 is only 95 points, but it’s $10 less expensive.
Age-worthy Zinfandel - you can probably find some Once & Future and maybe Bedrock from those vintages still. They’ll run in the neighbourhood of $50. I’ve been drinking a fair bit of old Ravenswood of late, and Joel knows how to make them. He started O+F when he left Ravenswood, and his son runs Bedrock.
I’ve also had a lot of well aged Harvest Moon Zinfandel - particularly the Home Ranch/Estate bottling.
You may also want to look in to icewine, whether the real stuff from Niagara or Germany or the cryoextracted stuff like Scott Harvey’s Angel Eis.
@klezman
AFA Zin, I’ll throw in Ridge. For Cab, Ardente. For PS, Foppiano. All 3 should be in the $35 range.
@chipgreen yeah, an obvious oversight on my part. Thanks!
@klezman
Yeah, I had to look twice to make sure it wasn’t on your list, haha. I was also going to add Cakebread but discovered that they haven’t produced a Zin since 2013. So instead, I threw in a Cab and a PS.
You can’t get it anymore, but I like many in the Casemates/Wine.Woot family are sitting on a LOT of Wellington that won’t be opened for a while. Victory, Cab, PS, Denier-Handle PS, not sure about the D-H zin though, not sure I would sit on it.
@WebDev511 ^^^ this for sure, holding on to so much of my Wellington fearing when I need to drink it, knowing as I enjoy it won’t ever be available again.
@bunnymasseuse @WebDev511 But it’s not available for 2015 or 2017 vintage, so in this case it’s moot.
I don’t think Wellington was built to go 20 years. That’s not to say it can’t get there, but I don’t think that was the intention of the winemaker. In those situations it becomes more of a crapshoot.
My pick: Halcon Alturas Syrah. Delicious in its youth, but should go 20 years easily. On a recent WB post, the winemaker thought it could go 40! And it’s well under $50. Was seen here recently for around $20, and with Berserkerday coming up should see deals there also.
@hscottk Yeah, those should last a really long time. And while we’re at it, I’ve had some 12+ year old Cabot Syrah and Cabernet blends which were tasting very young and ought to very easily go for 20 years. Another Berserker Day possibility.
@hscottk Peter may correct me, but my recollection of discussions with him about the differences in our palates in the context of blending wines before bottling was that he had something like an 5-10 year vision for the reds (i.e. enjoyable when released and enjoyable through the next 5-8 years) , where I’m looking for reds rigged for at least 10 years, but really whatever the vintage will support. This in the context of where my blend differed from what he had chosen for one of the Victory vintages and what the consensus chose for Revelry.
I would say based on experience with Peter’s reds is that they will always improve through at least 15 years, and through at least 20 in good vintages, more in larger bottles.
@hscottk @rpm Good point: Magnums will age longer than 750ml bottles. But then, they are more expensive >2x.
Thanks for the comments thus far. I’m in Portland, OR if it matters. Price point could go up, but was hoping to optimize quality and quantity to hedge against any potential disasters, natural and man made.
@jfuruno
In that case, maybe some Willamette Valley Pinot. I would speculate that Patricia Green, Franny Beck and Ponzi would have some good candidates for aging. Based on my admittedly somewhat limited personal experience.
@jfuruno go to division wines, Will will have great recommendations
@CruelMelody Thanks for the heads up. Will definitely check out.
@chipgreen Thanks. I hadn’t thought pinot would give me that much time, but will investigate for sure. Thanks again.
@jfuruno
Mostly speculation on my part based on quality juice. Good luck and have fun building your stash!
@chipgreen @jfuruno I will 2nd Chip re: OR pinot and suggest Bethel Heights in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA.
@chipgreen @davirom @jfuruno Cameron’s Clos Electrique is my favorite local Pinot His style is more age worthy too
This is 100.00 but sounds cool https://www.cameronwines.com/wine/2017-massale/