Image: Flickr, The Ritz

Is it necessary to age wine, and can you ‘cellar’ wine in a condo?

There is a strong misconception that all wines need to be ‘laid down’ before they can be enjoyed. While this might have been true a half-century ago, when the small handful of fine wines in existence needed a period of ageing in bottle from a few years to a few decades, most wines today, even expensive wines, can be enjoyed on purchase. Out of the hundreds of wines released through LCBO-VINTAGES I review each month, barely 5% truly need ageing before opening. Of course, that’s also part of my personal preference. I like a balance of youthful fruity and more mature aromas; wines head from fruit to earth flavours as they age. I have frequently been disappointed by older wines from my own cellar: dull, fruitless, lifeless — I’ve waited too long for just the right occasion to open them. 

The reason why fewer wines demand cellaring today is mainly twofold: changing consumer demographics and technological advancements in grape growing and winemaking. The latter has allowed more consistent quality, higher levels of levels of ripeness, and general refinement of the things that make young wine less enjoyable in the first place (namely high tannins and acids). The proliferation of warm climate regions, mainly in the new world, has also contributed to this stylistic shift. As such, most wines are already delicious on release. Many, in fact, only decline with age. 

And producers are also well aware that the fastest-growing consumer segment, the younger, urban-dwelling types, don’t have the “cellars” in which to age these wines in the first place. They live in small apartments or condos where it’s tough enough to find space to store shoes, let alone cases of wine. Wines aimed at this demographic have to be tasty on release. A recent LCBO statistic pegged the average ‘cellaring’ period for wine purchased in Ontario at about 3 hours. So embrace the vibrant fruity flavours of young wines, or consider appellations where the ageing is done for you: Rioja Gran Reserva, Barolo and Brunello Riserva, for example, all require cellaring at the estate for fully five years before release.

If you do enjoy the flavours of mature wine, and there are still indeed some that need or deserve a little repose before cracking, than you can cellar wine in a condo. Once a very specific term used to refer to an underground storage area, cellar has come to mean any place that’s suitable for long-term (more than say 2-3 months) ageing of wine. Imagine a typical subterranean room in a northern-European castle and you’ll see what the ideal ‘cellar’ looks like: a cool — 10º-12ºC — dark, odorless, vibration-free, humid space. This does not describe the conditions in most condominiums, so if you have a valuable collection of wine that you’d like to keep for more than a few months, you’ll need to invest in proper storage. This could be as elaborate as a retrofitted closet complete with insulation, compressor, fan and racking, or as simple as a purpose-built wine storage cabinet. Price varies widely on the custom jobs, while commercial storage cabinets start at about $300 for a dozen bottles up to around $800 for a Vintage Keeper unit with 220 bottle capacity (and up from there, depending on the manufacturer). 

Considering the exorbitant cost of the cellar-worthy wines, such an investment makes sense. Otherwise, bottles will be fine for a few months in an air-conditioned condominium, preferably lying on their side to keep the cork moist (screwcapped and synthetic-corked wines can be left standing up). Another, and probably best, option for the serious collector with limited space at home is one of the Toronto-based professional wine storage facilities. For a small fee per case/month, these facilities offer ideal storage conditions, including high-level security. And safely stored away from home, there’s also a better chance that you collection will survive your weekend dinner parties, when you’re looking to open just one more bottle…

Useful contacts:

Custom cellars and wine cabinets:

http://thewineestablishment.com/

http://www.rosehillwinecellars.com

Professional Wine Storage in Toronto:

www.irongatewine.com/ 

www.finewinereserve.com/

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John Szabo is a master sommelier and wine writer for Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @johnszabo.

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