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Buying older wine

What a gamble buying older vintages of wine can be. And, what a reward when it pays off! I have a great customer who always likes to ask me what I have in with age. Being a retailer in Hawaii, I typically only have access to current releases. Sometimes I can get library released wine which means that the wine was held and then released late by the winery. Other times I can pick up some overlooked gems.

Just like in the art world, provenance is everything when looking at older bottles of wine. Provenance is essentially where something came from. Wine is a fragile product and if it hasn’t been handled properly or if it has jostled around the world a dozen times it’s value has been reduced.

I have heard several different statistics that point towards the far majority of wines being consumed within 24 hours of being purchased. This is a relatively recent phenomenon and wine-makers today are now purposefully crafting wines to taste better in their youth. That being said, most red wines will benefit from a couple of years in the bottle. I think it takes a very special wine to continue to improve past that. And, that is why certain wines are collectibles. Many top tier Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Napa wines can age for several decades.

Right now I am finding the sweet spot with wines that were overlooked in the 5 to 10 year old range. This is not an easy task. I usually can only find this stuff buried in my larger distributors warehouses, wines they forgot to sell. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but when it does they tend do be the best values in the store. I shied away from these wines in the past, but thanks to this customer I am discovering more and more overlooked gems.

 

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