Totally new, need storage information on these wines :)

hallooo everyone :)
I am totally new here and I am not a wine expert at all, therefore I would like your help, because I just recently got a hand on really many wines and I know really nothing about wines
Mostly I just want to know how long these particularly wines can be storage :) Because I know that only some wines can be storage long without ruining the taste or becoming unhealthy, but I don't know which ones. I am eager to learn ^^

Here are some very few wines of my new collection :D I will later post about all the others ^^

I have
- Moreson 2013: The window maker - Pinotage - South Africa redwine
- Irma top fussion - Gran Reserva 2006 - argentina - red wine
- Santa Rita Medalla real cabernet Sauvignon 2002 - red wine
- 2000 Château de cayx chahors vin du prince de Danemark - Red wine
-Ciclos Sauvignon blanc fume 2005 - White wine. This one I am unsure of because I know many white wines cannot be storaged for that long, but I can still see that some sells it, so maybe it is still good or??? :)

Thanks in advance!
yours
Liv Pedersen
 
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Hi Liv and welcome to the forum.

I'm a little confused by the scenario here - have you inherited these wines and are trying to decide which to drink first?

From that list, I think you've identified the trickiest one. Aged Sauvignon Blanc is a matter of taste. Some people here would hate it however old!

Depending on your taste for freshness vs "secondary" if "tertiary" flavours that develop with age, I think there's no particular rush with the reds. Certainly they won't be unhealthy!
 
I have inherited these wines (from my grandmom who was a wine-lady, often held wine parties and such, surely need her expertise right now XD) , I have like 20 more wines excluded those I have listed above. :) So I would like to know which one to drink first :D And also I wouldn't mind to keep them storage and drink them at good time where they become better, I just want to drink them at their best without ending up wasting wine :3

Isn't there something about some wines having a somewhat "copper winestopper" or something, which makes the wine less storageable? Or is it just something I have heard wrongly?
Like I said earlier, I am a noob, I am just as clever on wines as a baby would be XD


So what I am reading, then you are saying all the red wines are good for storage, but then for how long o.o? isn't there a difference on wines for how long they have be storaged, somewhat about how fruity, sugary and other factors/qualities the wine have. So some are better for storage and some aren´t good. That is just what I have heard :) And that some wines have a recommeded "drinking age"

And then what about the white wine one? Can I keep it for longer or should I find a time to drink in the nearest future? :)
 
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Hi Liv, and welcome to the forum

Aging wine is a tricky subject, and more wine is kept too long than consumed too young.

The taste of wine changes as it ages; some people like the taste of older wines, some don't.

What happens is that wine loses its bright fresh fruity flavours, and it loses tannins - the tart mouth-puckering flavours you get in some wines. The trick is to drink the wine in the window after the tannins soften and before the fruit fades. But not all wines start off with a lot of tannins and are ready to drink young. In fact most of the worlds wines are ready to drink on release

But the rate it happens depends on how wll the wine is stored; will it be in a dark cool place?

As you are newcomer two one, I would suggest that you don't deliberately keep these wines, they will be enjoyable drinking now. What order? start with the oldest and work back through the vintages.

Enjoy
 
Yes, with this kind of mass market wine, oldest first.

With finer wines, then different vintage characteristics come into play - eg. Burgundy from 2000 will be drinking best earlier than from 1999. Fortunately (or unfortunately!) this is not a problem you're likely to face if that list is representative!

If you're interested in learning more, then you should try to get to some wine tasting events where you can talk about wine while you're drinking it and get to know what styles you like.
 
The Cahors could be an interesting wine to open in the next year or two, giving some insight into what ageing can achieve and perhaps giving encouragement to start putting some bottles aside yourself. The website cellartracker can be useful for seeing what ordinary people think of the wines when they drink them. Thjink of it like TripAdvisor with generally better informed comments. Here's the tasting notes for that vintage, which suggest a wine with tight structure (acid & tannin) that with the most recent note has now opened up in maturity. Cahors is often a brilliant cellaring wine, relatively inexpensive, a bit tough on release, but a decade or more in the cellar can turn it into something much more charming.
2000 Château de Cayx Cahors Vin du Prince de Danemark, France, Southwest France, Cahors - CellarTracker

Some white wines do age brilliantly, but generally seek specific cellaring styles. Sauvignon Blanc in the new world style is typically best within 1-3 years of vintage, though the Fume Blanc style can be a little more interesting to age.

I've no experience with the other wines, but definitely worth opening them. I doubt any (except perhaps the Pinotage) will be too young/unready.

One final note, storage can significantly affect how fast wines age, and really bad storage can kill even quite sturdy wines. Avoid leaving them exposed to bright lights/sunlight and aim for somewhere dark and quite cool. Whilst c. 12-14C is often considered ideal for ageing wines slowly, anything below 20C should be fine (and above freezing point, as that can force the corks out).

regards
Ian
 
I would agree that these wines should all be drinking now. The one I'd be most careful about is the Sauvignon Blanc. Some famous versions of this grape can age well, but I don't know the wine you have.

I also agree with Ian - storage conditions are important if you plan to keep wine, which is why a "wine cellar" is the dream of everyone here, and those who lack one but do not lack for a spare £800-or-so will buy a wine fridge, or three. The important elements of wine storage include humidity and vibrations, but perhaps the most important are darkness and temperature. Temperature fluctuations are worse than most peaks and troughs, but wine doesn't like to get close to freezing, and it prefers celcius temperatures in the early teens. As Ian says, up to approaching 20 degrees is not likely to do a lot of harm, except for long term storage over a decade, say, and (as I said), if the temp fluctuates a lot.

If you want to keep wine but don't have a cellar, an under stairs cupboard often works okay. You can always throw in a thermometer and monitor the temp for a while. Never put bottles in a wine rack in the kitchen. Some silly kitchen designers put bottle holes above or next to the oven. You might as well just cook the wine. Loft/attic spaces are often poor (as warm air rises). Garages and outhouses are also potential sources of temp fluctuation, although many here insulate them well, thus avoiding this problem.
 
Wow, so many comments, thanks everyone :)

The situation is, I am not really a wine drinker, I have only started to drink wine and I do not have big interest in wines. But I dont want to waste my dear grandmas wine (the about 27 which I have got) and me and my best friend tend to drink wine sometimes :)
but mostly I was planning to drink a few with my friend, give many of them out as presents, host gifts and such and then keep the best storage wines for my self to many years in the future.
I will put up the rest of my list of wines after my exam(in 2 weeks) then I will have the time to list them all up :p

The trick is to drink the wine in the window after the tannins soften and before the fruit fades.
Respond: what is the "window" of my listed wines, and maybe some details on how to see/know the window of a particulary wine

But the rate it happens depends on how wll the wine is stored; will it be in a dark cool place?
Respond to Peter May and the others mentioning this: I will keep them stored in a normal basement which is cool(never above 20 degress celsius)

If you're interested in learning more, then you should try to get to some wine tasting events where you can talk about wine while you're drinking it and get to know what styles you like.
Respons: yeah sadly I am really really busy with college(doctor studies) and I am low on money, so sadly I dont have the best opportunity to get to wine events, Therefore I resorted to ask you guys

The website cellartracker can be useful for seeing what ordinary people think of the wines when they drink them. Thjink of it like TripAdvisor with generally better informed comments. Here's the tasting notes for that vintage, which suggest a wine with tight structure (acid & tannin) that with the most recent note has now opened up in maturity. Cahors is often a brilliant cellaring wine, relatively inexpensive, a bit tough on release, but a decade or more in the cellar can turn it into something much more charming.
2000 Château de Cayx Cahors Vin du Prince de Danemark, France, Southwest France, Cahors - CellarTracker
Respons: Thank you for the advice Lan :3 Seems like a really good website to use as a somewhat guide or help :D


But the conclusion is from what you guys have said so far
- I should drink the Ciclos sauvignon blume fume 2005 in the nearst future
- I should keep the Pinotage 2013 storaged for a longer time even though it should still be very fine by now but compared to its youth it would be better to drink the others
- The 2000 chateau de cayx cahors vin du prince de Danemark bottle seems like it has somewhat reached its peak now and therefore should also be enjoyed very soonly :)

But I still feel unsure for how long the other red wines can be storaged without going beyond their "window" of their peak

Again big thanks to you all for helping me, you really seems like to have a nice community here, I look forward to put up the rest of my collection :D Me myself dont even know which kind of bottles they are, so there might be some surprises hidden between them

Yours
Liv Pedersen
 
You're a trainee doctor with 27 bottles of wine - surely they'll be gone by Christmas, if not earlier? ;-)

With the greatest of respect, none of these wines are particularly worthy of storage in that they're unlikely to improve with age (unless you have necrophiliac wine tendencies!). Enjoy them while raising a glass to your aunt.
 
Haha well I am not that big of a drinker, and not that big of a partyer :D probably because i am too busy with studies and I am a parttime bartender, so I get my fair share of parties and enjoy seeing other drunk than the other way around :p
Also so far in my life I have only been drinking like 4 bottles of wine only shared with one other XD so wines isnt the first thing whiich would be gone/drinken of my own private alcohol selection. :p

Well maybe some of the others, which I have, are somewhat storage worth :) they were in the basement of my grandmas while the others listed were in the kitchen(not near the oven or anything heat related XD ) so they were packed in different boxes :)

Still I dont mind that they wont improve, I rather want to know if they wont turn "bad", go beyond the best drinking window of their lifetime :) again I really dont wanna waste any wine!
 
Hi Liv
One of the great joys of wine, is bringing friends together, but in this case it can also be a great way to remember your grandma. I do think you should drink these bottles with people who knew her, and they may be much more special because of their origin.
regards
Ian
 
Well this chat wasnt meant at all for me to tell about my grandma, it only mentioned it because one asked about inheritance ;) I wasnt close at all with my grandma, I have only seen her like tops 10 times in my life. My famlity is very unfunctional, so enjoying these bottles with someone who knew her isnt really an option for me nor do I want to meet her friends which I have never seen in my life :) Besides I didnt get all the bottles, her eldest daugther got the most of the collection, so her bottles arent really going to waste anyway :)

that is the reason why I am only focused on knowing when to drink the invidual bottle, there isnt reall any affection value to them :).I did just get all those because my grandma other daugther (my mom) do not like wine at all and her brother doesnt too. And there wasnt any familymember to give them to besides the elder daughter (who didnt need like 50+ bottles of wine XD) and me :)

So I just wanna know when to enjoy the other bottles before it is too late :)
 
Enjoy them soon would be my advice, Liv. Remember that wine is part of Western Culture and some people place a lot of cultural significance on it. But at the end of the day it is just a drink as well. When consumed in moderation it has the capacity to bring joy. Drink too much and it brings misery (and a messy carpet). So get yourself a glass and a bottle stopper (I'm sure you're not going to drink a whole bottle at once), and enjoy them for what they are.
 
Many thanks again for all your comment, and you too David Crossley :)

I will enjoy them indeed!

And if anyone was curious, I have just talked to the people who made the Moreson 2013: the window maker - pinotage. They said that even though it would taste great now but it can be storaged up to 20 years before loosing too much of its flavor:

So I can also conclude then it seems somewhat hard to determine the best "storage" age for a wine :)

I am looking forward to post again with my whole selection and hear all you lovely people´s opinions :)
 
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And if anyone was curious, I have just talked to the people who made the Moreson 2013: the window maker - pinotage. They said that even though it would taste great now but it can be storaged up to 20 years before loosing too much of its flavor.

Well, that is a surprise about the longevity of the Moreson Pinotage. I've had many a bottle of the '06 and found it exceedingly drinkable, the tannins ripe and fleshy if you will. I did know that Moreson's Pinotage has been highly rated and that it had made a top 10 list of pinotages on several occasions - and the '06 bore that out. However, I wonder if the 20 year longevity applies to the '13 in particular or to their previous ones as well.

Cheers.........................Mahmoud.
 
Is the Widow Maker at a higher level than the estate wine? Everything a bit more dialled up? Certainly I agree with Mahmoud, the "regular" pinotage has got legs, and, along with Kanonkop's, has been pretty much the only version of this grape I can actively enjoy. They used to sell it in Young's pubs (certainly at the Ship in Wandsworth, for a long time my local) - but not seen it for years.

The café/restaurant at the winery isn't bad either!

Looking forward in a geeky way to see what else is in the cupboard...
 
Well, that is a surprise about the longevity of the Moreson Pinotage. I've had many a bottle of the '06 and found it exceedingly drinkable, the tannins ripe and fleshy if you will. I did know that Moreson's Pinotage has been highly rated and that it had made a top 10 list of pinotages on several occasions - and the '06 bore that out. However, I wonder if the 20 year longevity applies to the '13 in particular or to their previous ones as well.
That is indeed a good question. I asked them directly about the ´13. Moreson has a facebook page there you can ask them about it the previous ones. They were very politely answering my question on their page ^^ :)
 
Andrew, I too wondered about the 'Widow Maker' being a special wine but on looking at their website I see that it is the only Pinotage wine. Also, under the heading of this wine they refer to it having made the top 10 list as far back as 2000 so I think it is the same wine only with a new moniker. In fact they have a number of wines with these monikers, the most disturbing being "Miss Molly in My Bed", a red wine described as being "comfortable and easy going".

Mahmoud.
 
[QUOTE="Mahmoud Ali, post: 23201] the most disturbing being "Miss Molly in My Bed", a red wine described as being "comfortable and easy going".[/QUOTE]
Sounds like a wine that should be tried out ;):D I think they had a fun time naming that wine
 
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