Wine Cave

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In the December Issue of Martha Stewart Living, there was an article titled “Making the Case,” that focused on eight budget-friendly wines to buy for the holidays. A number of different blends were featured and that got me thinking – what are some different varieties of wine to have on hand that could please any guests taste? 

The Martha story mentions the flowing types of wine for a holiday stockpile:

·         White

·         Value house white

·         Value bubbly

·         Rose

·         Value house medium red

·         House rich red

·         Easy-drinking red

·         Organic red

Will Lyons wrote a November 2011 story for the Wall Street Journal on starting your own wine cellar. Will suggests that a good cellar will have three (or four pending on how you look at the story) categories of wine:

1.      Wines for a variety of drinking occasions and palates. These wines are to share with friends

2.      Wines for aging

3.      Wines for investment & to simply own

The wines for various drinking occasions should be light and easy to thrown down. Buy Sauvignon Blanc, white Bordeaux, Pinot Grigio and I say thrown in a Cab.

The batch of aging wines should include some medium-strength wines that can paired with meats at dinner parties. These can aging wines can be aged for five years or more with the goal of the wines to improve with time. Think Bordeaux, Burgundy, Australian and New Zealand Syrahs and Portuguese reds.

Finally, for investment wines, Lyons suggests high-end Bordeaux (vintages from 2005, 2009 and 2010). He says if you buy a few cases, you can always sell one – and it could pay off the cost of the other two!

(Sources: Martha Stewart Magazine – December 201, Wall Street Journal – November 2011)