If I buy my favorite Merlot, Columbia Crest, (it's only $10-11 per bottle but
is my absolute favorite) will it stay for 10-20 years? If I buy a hundred
bottles will it keep for this many years? Will it get better? Worse?
Are there Merlots similar to this, in softness, body, texture, flavor, etc?
I've yet to find the right one, other than this one....
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.....

Some Merlots can age well for many decades. In fact the extremely
expensive Bordeaux, Chateau Petrus, is a Merlot.

Most wines in the lower price range are made to be drinkable fairly soon
after release. Some may improve a bit for a few years, but most will
start to fade if you age them for many years. I would not buy the
mentioned Columbia Crest Merlot, or most others in that price range, for
long aging. Every now and then you can be fooled and an inexpensive,
early-drinkable wine will last quite a few years and improve, but more
often not. On the other hand, many wines built for long aging can be a
bit harsh in their youth and difficult to evaluate. However a harsh wine
in youth may not age well either. It takes considerable experience over
many years to be able to taste a young wine and predict how it will age.
Even the experts sometimes miss.

In article >,
(Cwdjrx _) writes:

>Most wines in the lower price range are made to be drinkable fairly soon
>after release. Some may improve a bit for a few years, but most will
>start to fade if you age them for many years. I would not buy the
>mentioned Columbia Crest Merlot, or most others in that price range, for
>long aging. Every now and then you can be fooled and an inexpensive,
>early-drinkable wine will last quite a few years and improve, but more
>often not. On the other hand, many wines built for long aging can be a
>bit harsh in their youth and difficult to evaluate. However a harsh wine
>in youth may not age well either. It takes considerable experience over
>many years to be able to taste a young wine and predict how it will age.
>Even the experts sometimes miss.

Excellent points all around. Might I also point out to the OP that while you'd
probably be safe holding a Columbia Crest Merlot for a couple of years if you
had reasonably cool storage (I can't think of a red outside Beaujolais Nouveau
that goes that quickly), even if it lasted longer you might not like it. As
wines age fruit lessens, secondary and tertiary aromas emerge, tannins
integrate, etc. So even if a so-called expert or an opinionated amateur like
myself declared that it had aged well, you might find that all the things you
found appealing about it were gone!


Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

In ,
Dale Williams > typed:

> In article >,
> (Cwdjrx _) writes:
>
>>Most wines in the lower price range are made to be drinkable
fairly
>>soon after release. Some may improve a bit for a few years, but
most
>>will start to fade if you age them for many years. I would not
buy the
>>mentioned Columbia Crest Merlot, or most others in that price
range,
>>for long aging. Every now and then you can be fooled and an
>>inexpensive, early-drinkable wine will last quite a few years
and
>>improve, but more often not. On the other hand, many wines
built for
>>long aging can be a bit harsh in their youth and difficult to
>>evaluate. However a harsh wine in youth may not age well
either. It
>>takes considerable experience over many years to be able to
taste a
>>young wine and predict how it will age. Even the experts
sometimes
>>miss.
>
> Excellent points all around. Might I also point out to the OP
that
> while you'd probably be safe holding a Columbia Crest Merlot
for a
> couple of years if you had reasonably cool storage (I can't
think of
> a red outside Beaujolais Nouveau that goes that quickly), even
if it
> lasted longer you might not like it. As wines age fruit
lessens,
> secondary and tertiary aromas emerge, tannins integrate, etc.
So even
> if a so-called expert or an opinionated amateur like myself
declared
> that it had aged well, you might find that all the things you
found
> appealing about it were gone!


And over and above all of that, even if the wine didn't change at
all, after ten years he might well find that his taste had
changed and grown, so that this particular wine was no longer as
appealing.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

In article >,
Ken Blake > wrote:
>
>And over and above all of that, even if the wine didn't change at
>all, after ten years he might well find that his taste had
>changed and grown, so that this particular wine was no longer as
>appealing.


Most importantly, the wine is cheap. I say go ahead and save half a case for
10 years, drinking a bottle every 2 years. Report back to us with the results.


Another idea is to talk to the folks at Columbia Crest. I am sure they
have old wines in their library. Ask them what they think.


Dimitri