There are too many wine cellars around the world where huge investments have
been made in storing large quantities of expensive wine in the correct
conditions and in racking of great beauty but which is not recorded. A poor wine
inventory will lead to a waste of wine as much as poor storage conditions. The
squandering of wine opened before its optimum or after its best is a
transgression to which no wines should be subjected.
Indexing your wines is vital.
- Establish a system to manage the wine in your cellar. There are a plethora of
good systems available, however we recommend you choose a product which is
compatible with Wine Botte tags, for reasons displayed below.
- Apply Barcoded Tags so every bottle is traceable. The unique number on each wine
bottle neck tag allows every bottle to be found with ease and every bottle
removed with accuracy.
- Record every bottle going in and out. It is essential that your inventory is
maintained accurately, however there is a dichotomy between drinking wine and
maintaining an accurate database. With a barcoded tag, you do not have to record
wine as you are opening it – you simply store the tag and relax knowing that any
time in the future you will soberly bring your database up to date.
- Keep track of the best time to drink each bottle. Most wines are produced to be
drunk at an early age, others will benefit from many years storage. Maintaining
a database of peak drinking dates ensures that you will open all your wines at
their optimum. More importantly you will no longer come across wines spoiled by
over aging, nor will you inadvertently prematurely open a good keeper before its
time.
Some other hints
- Plan for proper storage. If you are planning to use your cellar for aging your
wine, ensure that your cellar is going to store the wine under the appropriate
conditions. Wine stored inappropriately will age quicker and may well disappoint
you.
- Plan to store your wines at home. If this is not possible - make sure that you
can keep those wines, that are ready to drink, at home and store the rest in
appropriate storage elsewhere. Using The Uncorked Cellar will make finding these
wines easy.
- Sell when conditions are right. Our tastes change with time. If your cellar is
carrying too many wines, that you have grown out of or are about to over-age,
sell them now. This leaves you with wines you know you can enjoy and funds to
stock up on wines to suit your taste. If the market has a higher perception of a
wine than you do, why not sell it and replace it with something of better value
in your view.
- Don't automatically buy by the case. Often six bottles is enough to follow a
wine over a period of years to monitor its development and that leaves room for
6 bottles of another wine. Alternatively buy a case and be prepared to sell some
if you have made the wrong choice.
- Taste the wines you are going to cellar. Beware of storing wines for many years
on the advice of others. Your tastes may differ.
- Build up your wine collection slowly. Your taste will change with time. What a
shame to finish up with a cellar full of wine, which you no longer enjoy.
- Keep a balance in your cellar. Maintain space for wines ready for drinking,
wines to be stored for a short time and for aging wines. They all deserve
storage, inventory and selection. They each will be opened for an appropriate
occasion or meal providing the range is in your cellar and available to you.
* Adapted with permission from James Wilson
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