Randy Ullom on slopes
Randy Ullom, head winemaker at Jackson Family Red Wines has actually been a regular in WineInk for many years and is a seen here in his favorite area, Aspen Mountain. This November he was called an “American White Wine Legend” by White Wine Enthusiast.Courtesy This is the 800 th model of this column, and I thank
both you– and especially The Aspen Times– for your extravagance. Over the last 15-plus years, I have actually blogged about hundreds of white wines, practically as numerous wine makers, and have been fortunate enough to taste, oh, I don’t know, possibly 10,000 red wines. That final number is a conservative quote, however it comes out to about 12 white wines a week, which appears reasonable. Especially when you consider that Robert Parker, maybe the most accomplished wine writer/critic of contemporary times, declared to taste 10,000 white wines in a year. While there have actually been weeks in various white wine areas where I have had the opportunity to
sample well over 100 wines, I have constantly discovered the strength of those experiences to be overwhelming and a bit taste buds numbing. However, in each wine you taste, there is a brand-new possibility to discover something. Whether it has to do with a grape, an area, or a wine maker, to paraphrase Rod Stewart, “Every taste tells a story.” In fact, lots of stories. While my computer system holds the 800 digital WineInks
dating back to the summertime of’07, if I had it to do all over once again, I want I had started by saving something solid. That is to state, I want I would have chosen a single bottle of white wine each and every week and put it aside or in a cellar for conserving. A bottle a week and I ‘d have a cellar with 800 various bottles. That would be cool. But, alas, I was never ever very forward in my thinking.
For instance, I never ever believed that I would still be penning this column here in the fall of’22. The very first wine that was pointed out in WineInk was a wine with an Aspen connection. The Benziger household had long been visitors to the valley, and Kathy and Mike Benziger(brother and sis)were here for the Food & Wine Classic that year. The Benziger Household Winery had actually just recently been profiled in Wine Spectator, with a focus on the biodynamic principles they utilized at their fantastic vineyards near Glen Ellen in Sonoma County. I had tasted a bottle of their flagship Bordeaux mix titled”Homage”from the 2004 vintage and was motivated by
all the aspects of the experience. The manner in which the white wine was grown in the biodynamic vineyards, the selection of the grapes Mike Benziger used in the mix, the family backstory. It had all the characteristics that make for both an excellent story and a collectable wine. I wish I had a saved a bottle. The 800-pound elephant in the space is that I do not have a cellar that would
fit 800 bottles of wine. I have a couple of hundred bottles saved in numerous nooks and crannies around my modest casa but have never ever nailed down the cellar option. A Collection of White wine An 800-bottle cellar of fine wines will need at least 50 square feet of humidity-
and temperature-controlled area. Courtesy To gather and save 800 bottles of red wines, the first thing you need to have is a temperature-and humidity-controlled space that
allows you to stack, on their sides, the bottles with sufficient room to maneuver around those stacks. An 800-bottle cellar would require a minimum of 50 square feet of designated space for what is around 66 cases of red wine. Then you must make sure to have a system to organize those wines, be it by grape, by area, by maker, or by vintage– 800 red wines can leave control quite quick. If you have space and/or already have a well– organized cellar, the next question is: What should remain in it? What red wines should you collect? Wine experts and experts will inform you that you must base your collection around white wines that will either maintain or increase in worth as they age. The majority of will suggest that white wines thoroughly picked from Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne should form the basis of a solid cellar. Well, duh! Throw in some Barolo and a few Napa cult-Cabernet, and you can start to feel a little flush about your collection. Remember that age– worthy vintages ought to last a very long time for most of these wines, so you’ll want to get the right red wines from the best years. Oh, and unless you are buying from the wineries themselves, be sure to check the provenance of those pricey white wines. It is estimated that as much as 20%of the collectable wines for sale are counterfeits, representing as much as$3.5 billion in the market. So, do not forget to guarantee those age– deserving wines from the world’s premier regions. In this postal code alone, there are lots of first-rate cellars that meet these requirements. And, all were the products of a significant financial investment. Yes, it is pricey to construct a cellar and maintain it if the intent is to enhance value. However, my idea of a wine a week is based not just on the potential upside of the wines that are obtained, but rather on the psychic and emotional fulfillment of having a bottle that means something to you. And, you can do that one bottle at a time. If I had actually started gathering red wines based on WineInk stories, I would today have that biodynamic”Homage “from the Benzigers. I ‘d have a Mencia from Bierzo produced by Spanish superstar Alvaro Palacios. I may have invested the outrageous amount of $450 to buy a 2005 Harlan Estate proprietary red wine, which would now be worth well over$1,000 today. Oh, and I would have acquired a bottle of Charles Shaw, the well known”Two-Buck Chuck “made by Fred Franzia, the Bronco Wine Business owner who died this September. And, that’s simply from the very first 15 stories in the very first year of this column. The point is, collecting wines based upon things that imply something to you as a person may show to be better to you than the financial rewards that accumulate from collecting white wines for their name and history. It’s type of like having photographs of the things you love instead of images of well known places. I have, over the previous 15 years, been to some amazing wine areas and have actually skied here in Aspen with some great wine makers. I cherish the red wines made in those locations by those individuals. I just wish I had bought all the bottles. PlumpJack Cab.Courtesy