Cellaring and serving your wine

How long should I cellar my wine?

All our wines can be consumed as soon as they are released, however you may prefer to cellar the wines if you prefer to do so. Good cellars are cool without being cold, and have stable year-round temperature, ideally about 10-16℃. The cellaring times listed here are a general guide, and will vary with the storage conditions and the vintage of the wine.

 

 Vermentino to 2 years Serve cool.
Petit Manseng to 7 years Serve cool.
Chardonnay to 7 years Serve cool.
Sangiovese to 3 years Serve chilled or below 20℃
Touring Nacional & TNT to 10 years Serve below 20℃
Shiraz 10-15 years Serve chilled or below 20℃
Tempranillo 8-15 years Serve below 20℃
Durif 8-20 years Serve below 20℃
Sparkling Durif to 2 years Serve chilled
Pale Dry Apera Not recommended Serve ice cold
Lambada fortified Not recommended Serve below 20℃
Ruby fortified to 5 years Serve below 20℃
Vintage fortified to 20 years Decant, serve below 20℃
Classic Tawny Not recommended Serve below 20℃
Classic Topaque Not recommended Serve below 20℃
Classic Muscat Not recommended Serve below 20℃

 

Serving wine

Chilled and cool wine can be lovely and refreshing, and will bring out the crispness of a wine. We recommend that all white and sparkling wines are chilled then allowed to come to a cool temperature to allow the aromas and textures to delight you. Red wines can be served at ambient temperature in winter, however we recommend chilling red wine in the summer and placing the bottle into a wine cooler to prevent it warming too much.

Tip: You can freeze left-over wine (we know, what's that?) into ice blocks and use them to rapidly chill a warm glass of wine. Alternatively, freeze grapes or purchase some stainless steel "ice cubes". Avoid adding ice as melting water will change the flavour balance of your wine.

Fun party game: Try serving the same wine at two different temperatures and see how the temperature affects the wine flavour.

Aged wines may throw a deposit in the bottle. This is harmless (its the pigment from the grape skins), and can be removed by decanting or using a wine strainer. White wines that have been in the fridge for a long time may have a deposit that looks a little like sand. This is cream of tartar caused by the natural fruit acids un-dissolving. Careful decanting will leave this behind in the bottle.