a wine cellar update

primitive, but effective

The wine cellar has sat all winter at a temperature of 55-60 degrees. The fluctuation has not been wild, and most of the time it has been at 56. It's been a cold winter, of course. But as of mid-March, we are still holding steady at 58 degrees.

I have several age worthy pinots and two promising cabernet franc's in the cellar. I'm still setting on a 2004 Pomerol which, someday soon I should probably open. It has not been kept at an ideal temperature for most of its shelf life, so I'm sure it has not aged ... properly. Otherwise, the wine rack I built (at left) has not fallen apart, the rack gets no direct light, and is otherwise stable and undisturbed.

Some facts I had not been aware of when I took inventory the other day.

1) I have a tremendous surplus of whites, particularly Chardonnays. Everything from Mersault to Russian River Valley (or further east--Sonoma Coast).

2) I'm sitting on nearly a case of fine Pinot Noirs, most from Gary Farrell.

3) I have a large number of age-worthy cabernets that I bought at table wine prices. Peters', an Alexander Valley winery, chief among them.

4) After my next shipment, I will be close to running out of space. Time to build another wine rack, and try to push a 100 bottle reserve. At present, I really only have about 30 age worthy wines in the cellar.