WHAT’S ULLAGE GOT TO DO WITH IT? – THE CURIOUS CASE OF 1928 LA GAFFELIÉRE NAUDES

This case is all about provenance and storage. (To read Dennis Foley’s article on proper wine storage click here)   But, despite the long standing belief that the history of the wine (provenance) is the most important thing in evaluating an old wine, it is the thing that most new wine buyers have ignored. This is […]

STORAGE, STORAGE, STORAGE!

In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In wine it’s storage, storage, storage. You see in real estate, for no matter how bad the building, location wins over development because a better building can always be built. Whereas, a poor location will not support a great building, and may not support a building at all. In wine it’s storage where even mediocre wine will be better if stored properly. And, even great wine will be ruined by poor storage.

Retrospective Review Volume I, Number 3 (December-January 1979-1980)

In this our third issue, Edward Lazarus kicked off with “Woes of a Burgundy Drinker” speaking to the fact that back then a lot of wine was spoiled by excessive heat either in transit or after arrival when many wines were stored in unrefrigerated warehouses. In Southern California, there are many weeks each year when temperatures range between 80-100 degrees. Northern California is generally cooler, but even so, temperatures can reach the same highs. This is disaster for wine storage – particularly Burgundy. Burgundies, both red and white, are among the wines most sensitive to excessive heat.

And, 30-40 years ago, many, if not most, wine storage facilities used by wholesalers and distributors were not refrigerated. So true to our mission we were straightforward with our call “must consumers deal with spoiled wines as well?” Today things have changed as now wines are transported in a temperature-controlled environment to their destination , which is temperature-controlled as well. We’ve made progress and today, thankfully, spoiled wines are a rarity.

The Cellaring of Fine Wines

Wine collectors of a generation ago were perhaps not so aware of the necessity to store wines at constant temperatures and that a cellar should not, under any circumstances, have a temperature over 60 degrees Fahrenheit. In my capacity first with Christie’s, with Butterfield & Butterfield and finally with Zachys Auctions, I have had many opportu­nities to visit private cellars all over America and Europe.