How to Stock a Wine Cellar

Wines can be collected like rare books and enjoyed after they've acquired some age, or enjoyed immediately. If you're starting a wine collection, formulate a strategy based on how much you drink, what type of wine you enjoy and how much you're prepared to spend.

Instructions

1. Start with a small inventory of 50 to 100 bottles, including two cases (12 bottles each) of wine for aging and a case of your favorite drinking wine, either white or red.

2. Taste, taste, taste! Tasting wines will help you discover your personal preference. Avoid buying wines just because they received a high rating from professionals or friends. See if you like them before you make an investment.

3. Balance your inventory. Indulge in one or two wines you particularly enjoy, and mix in bottles of other varietals and regions to suit guests' palates.

4. Save by stocking up on aging wines in their youth when prices are lower. Talk to someone at a reputable wine shop and get suggestions on particular wines that would benefit from aging. Bordeaux, Barolo and Brunello usually take up to 10 years of aging and can be purchased for a song ($15 to $20 a bottle) in their infancy. Some whites, such as grand cru and premier cru white Burgundy, high-quality white Bordeaux, German Riesling, Sauternes and Gewu"rztraminer, can benefit from aging as well.

5. Add several bottles of aperitifs and dessert wines. Dry sherry, champagne and sparkling wine suit late-afternoon sipping. Sauternes, vintage port and late-harvest Rieslings offer an after-dinner treat. See How to Select Good Champagne.

6. Draw the line on buying more than a case of wine if it's a new vintage or blend with no proven track record for aging; the merchant won't be able to give you an accurate estimate of how long to hold onto it before drinking.

7. Know what you own and be able to find it quickly. Make a database of your cellar's inventory. Give each wine a location number and listing, and include the wine's name, vintage, producer, appellation, vineyard name, region, country, type (red, white, rose', sparkling and so forth), quantity owned, price paid per bottle, value (latest estimated worth), and size of bottle (half-bottle, magnum and so on).

8. Keep the temperature of your wine closet, refrigerator or cellar between 50 and 65 degrees F (10 and 18 C) for reds, and 45 to 60 degrees F (7 to 15 C) for whites, or as directed by the vintner or wine merchant.

Tips & Warnings

• Buy quarter- or half-bottles of champagne and dessert wine if you're not likely to finish them off in one sitting-- they don't keep well.

• Nice, everyday white wines include Sauvignon Blanc, simple white Burgundy, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris; everyday reds include Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, and Barbera, Beaujolais, Merlot and simple Bordeaux.

• Red wines particularly benefit from a few years of aging: Bordeaux, grand cru or premier cru Burgundy, big Italian reds like Barbaresco and Brunello di Montalcino, Rioja, Cabernet Sauvignon and Co^te Ro^tie.

• Wines left to age for too long can go rancid, causing the wine to slowly turn to vinegar and the cork to dry out. That's what is meant by the term "corked."