Let me begin by saying that I know little to nothing about wine. I have been collecting (and drinking) wine from Stag's Leap Winery for several years now. I recently shared a bottle of my 1988 SLV Cabernet Sauvignon with friends and it was excellent. So,I must be storing it properly. Of my Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, are there any of these types of wine that are not suitable for collecting?

Sauvignon Blanc is a wine best drank within 2-3 years of the vintage date. Cali Chardonnay is another wine that I would drink sooner than later, but if stored properly will last several years.

We assume you are talking about Cali or New World wines. Some if not many white Burgs (Chardonnay) can age gracefully.

Yes, they are all Stag's Leap or Hawk Crest from Napa Valley. So, a 1990 Reserve Chardonnay is probably no good?

There's only one way to find out if the '90 Chard is any good. What I would do is find the same wine from a recent vintage, invite some friends over and try them side by side. Have some cheese and crackers. Take notes of your impressions of the wines. Start with the younger wine and make sure they're both chilled.

Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by DoubleD:
There's only one way to find out if the '90 Chard is any good. What I would do is find the same wine from a recent vintage, invite some friends over and try them side by side. Have some cheese and crackers. Take notes of your impressions of the wines. Start with the younger wine and make sure they're both chilled.

....and post tasting notes!

I've had chardonnay from California with 20+ years on it and it was fine. So don't jump to too many conclusions about whether or not your wines are good or bad until you try a few. If you've stored them well, then at worst you'll have wines that are past peak. At best you'll have some interesting experiences.

I opened a bottle of a 1987 Columbia Crest Merlot about an month ago, expecting nothing. It was stunningly good.

Remember that your older wine will not taste like it did when it was young - in fact that is the entire point of aging any wine. If you like the way they taste young, then drink them that way. It's neither right nor wrong. But if you like what happens with some age, then you'll at least know about the Stag's Leap wines.

I'd do it in reverse order though, and start with the older wine, then go to younger. With red wines, the younger ones typically have more tannin than the older ones and they kind of destroy your palate for the older wines. With whites, tannins aren't the issue, but I'd expect the younger ones to be more opulent, to have more apparent acidity, and more ripe fruit flavors. In older whites, the acidity gets muted and since chardonnay doesn't really have much flavor anyhow, you'll likely get something very subtle, maybe with flavors of toasted nuts or something like that.