Several readers ask me to indicate, in my weekly reviews, whether wines should be drunk soon after purchase or whether they can be cellared.
It's a good question and, like so many good questions, there's no easy answer.
The main reason to cellar wines is to give them time to improve. Some wines are almost undrinkable when they're young, because the tannins are so dominant they smother the fruit and other components. Young Cabernet Sauvignons are often culprits here.
In other cases, wines need time to knit. When they're young, the components aren't well integrated, but over time they come together and make for more harmonious flavours and texture. Wines like these are almost always made for cellaring. They're called vins de garde, and winemakers design them for aging, rather than for drinking young.
In some cases, wines are what might be called "pre-cellared." Some wine laws, like Italy's and Spain's, have categories of wine called Riserva/Reserva. This means the wines must spend a minimum period in barrel and bottle before being sold.
But most wines throughout the world are made for consumption as soon as they're released for sale and during the following two or three years. That's the case with the wines in the LCBO General List. You can confidently buy a bottle on the way home from work and open it when you get home, and it will taste pretty much the way the winemaker intended.
You don't have to drink LCBO wines right away, of course. You can keep most of them a couple of years, and some even longer. But bear in mind that, in most cases, these wines won't change much over time — they won't improve, as vins de garde will.
So why would you cellar these wines? Well, you might come across a real bargain of an early-drinker in a Vintages release — a wine you love that costs $11.95, and that you know is going to sell out quickly. So why not buy a dozen and drink them over the next 12 months?
That said, there are some wines that are best not cellared. Beaujolais Nouveau is an obvious example; it's often recommended you drink it up within a month or two of its late-November arrival.
There's a tendency for winemakers everywhere to make their wines for earlier drinking, and it's often said that this reflects the fact that people just don't have wine cellars any more. I suspect that's absolutely wrong. Right now I know a lot of people with cellars. Moreover, sales of wine cabinets are strong and the commercial wine storage business is doing well.
It's just that many more people drink wine these days and, as in the past, the vast majority buy wine on a need-to-drink basis, not to cellar it. It's often wonderful to drink an aged wine, but it's great that so many more people now enjoy wine, whether it ages for years in their basements or for 30 minutes in the trunk on the way home from the store.
Next in the list of national wine shows is the German Wine Fair on April 6 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the National Arts Centre. It will feature more than 100 wines, a number of prominent owners and winemakers, jazz, and food inspired by the countries in this year's World Cup, which Germany is hosting. Tickets are $50 ($45 if you're a wine club member) and can be ordered by calling 1-866-892-3880 or online at www.germanwinecanada.org.
On April 7, the 2006 edition of the California Wine Fair hits Ottawa. This perennially popular sellout event showcases scores of wineries and hundreds of great wines. This year it's at the Westin Hotel from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $55 for invited guests, $50 for wine club members, but there are no sales at the door. To receive an invitation, call the California Wine Institute at 1-800-558-2675 or check the website www.calwine.ca.
Four wines from four countries on today's rack. The two Chardonnays make for an interesting comparison.