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Vintage Wines Over $500
“Ah,” says the dignified old man, leaning back after a particularly good glass of port wine and a great meal. “1990. A particularly good year.”
We’ve all heard lines like that, whether in person, in books, in movies, or on television. But how many of us know what that even means? How many of us could assume, for instance, that a bottle of wine from the north of the Rhone region in France in the year of 1989 would likely be particularly good, while a bottle from Spanish Catalonia in 1992 might not be up to snuff? How could we even tell?
The answer is, quite simply, self-education. Thanks to the Internet, anyone can find out about fine vintage wines with a little bit of online research. For instance, if you’d like to find out what regions produced great wines in what years, you can find a number of online vintage charts which allow you to see, for instance, which years produced the best vintage port wines and in which regions. There are a number of these online – you can see one for yourself at www.winesquire.com.
Keep in mind, however, that these charts are based off a particular tester or group of testers’ personal tastes, which may not match your own perfectly. Also, these are averages – a year’s production quality depends on things like the weather and climate and conditions of that particular year in that area and what effect these things have had on the fruit harvest of that year. The fruit harvest, in turn, affects the quality of the vintage wines and vintage port wines produced that year in that region.
What this means is that if a particular part of a region got, say, more sun than another, the vintage wine in that region would be better than the vintage wine in another part of that same region. Regardless of what the wine charts say, nearly every region in every year has some great vintage wines or vintage port wines, and some have not so great harvests.
One obvious indicator of just how good a vintage wine label is to simply look at the price tag. Vintage wines from vintage wine cellars and vintage wine bars around the world are priced as high as their owners think they can get away with – and the higher the quality of the vintage wine, the higher the price attached. A one and a half liter bottle from Ausone St. Emilion, Vintage 2002, for example, could go for as much as six hundred and fifty United States dollars, while a bottle of vintage port wine from the year 1945, from Portugal, could run as much as a thousand dollars.
But, where would one go to spend that kind of money? They obviously don’t sell that quality of wine at the local supermarket or liquor store. No, in order to buy vintage wines like that, you’d have to look elsewhere. One place one might not immediately think to look is on the Internet. These days, you can buy almost anything online, from car insurance to clothes to furniture to yachts or plane tickets. The same goes for vintage wine – you can buy vintage wine from vintage wine labels or vintage wine cellars who operate from a website. Find the vintage wine of your choice, pay the tab, and have the bottle shipped to your house. Many web sites offer a sort of nexus for vintage wine cellars to work from – www.vintagewines.co.nz, for example, specializes in Australian and New Zealand vintage wine labels, but also offers vintage wines and vintage port wines from other regions around the world.
With an investment like this, it’s good to know what you’re getting into. For example, some vintage wines are still in the process of maturing. These will be clearly indicated when you go to look for an expensive vintage wine label – something along the lines of “drinkable, but still young. Should reach optimum drinkability in a few years.” Buy now – you’ll get a better price, and there’s no better way to start a vintage wine cellar of your own.
Whether you’re looking to buy vintage wines yourself or are simply interested in the trade, there’s no better educational tool than the Internet. You can see what’s out there – which years have been the best, which vintage wine cellars sell which types of wine, even recipes and serving suggestions for various types of vintage wines – and learn a little more about a fascinating trade that’s been around since mankind first discovered the grape’s ability to ferment.
So get online today. Vintage wine cellars around the world have opened their doors to the brand new world of the Internet and are using it to their full advantage, building a customer base that ranges the world over.
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