Cellaring

At Yalumba, we cellar our wines within the range of 17 – 19 degrees Celsius for both red and white wines. However, consistent temperature and humidity is more important that the actual temperature.

We are extremely fortunate to have an underground Museum Cellar with ideal cellaring conditions all year round. If you do not have access to an underground cellar, then investing in a wine fridge is a great way to maintain cellaring temperatures at home. Another option is to store the wine in the centre of your house, such as in a linen cupboard, away from external walls where the temperature change is the greatest. To further insulate your wines, you can also use a recycled styrofoam box to store your finest bottles, which will help to further insulate against temperature changes.

There are also custom wine storage facilities in some cities that will cellar and manage your wines for you in perfect conditions.

When cellaring a wine with a cork closure, we always store the bottle lying down. This will help keep the cork wet and avoid this natural product from drying out. When a cork dries out, it may crumble on opening. Visit our decanting rituals to learn what to do if this happens to you.

Exposure to light can cause some wine to develop in the bottle prematurely. For longevity, it’s best to keep your wine in the dark.

We recommend, if possible, to store more than one bottle of a wine of the same vintage. This will allow you to open a bottle and taste how it’s ageing. This may increase your chances of tasting the wine at its optimum drinking window.

Keeping a record of your ageing wines will mean you are less likely to miss an optimal drinking window. Information on a wines ageing potential can be obtained from a number of sources, including speaking to the person selling you the wine or contacting the winery directly. If your bottle is a specific and renowned wine, you may find websites that discuss how a particularly vintage is drinking. You can learn more about the cellaring potential of specific Yalumba Rare & Fine wines on our back vintage resource.

We believe the best time to drink a wine is a personal decision. If you enjoy primary fruit flavours such as red berries and cherries, as well as brightness and tannins, then you may wish to open a bottle of wine in its earlier years of ageing. If you prefer secondary characters like cigar box and leather, a smoother palate and softer tannins, then you may enjoy wines with more bottle age.

Our Rare & Fine wines are made from the very best fruit using the best wine making techniques. By having patience and allowing them time to ferment, we can ensure our wines have time to settle into the best version of themselves. Under our watchful eye, we usually store them two years in barrel followed by a further two years in bottle before releasing for sale.

Some wines are made to be enjoyed soon after release, whilst others may reward the drinker with a few years of age. In all instances, we do our best to match our wines to the moment. An everyday wine needs to reward the wine lover with consistency and readily available enjoyment, so we craft these wines to provide immediate gratification.

We don’t like to pigeon hole wines but as a general rule of thumb, less expensive wines are made to be enjoyed while they are young and vibrant. Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, bright Rose and delicate reds such as Grenache, Pinot Noir and lighter styles of Shiraz are all great young.

White varieties like Riesling, Chardonnay and Viognier will usually be well suited for cellaring 2 ‑5 years. This is also the case for medium bodies reds like Pinot Noir, Grenache, Merlot and Grenache Shiraz Mataro blends.

Fine Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Cabernet Shiraz blends have a great track record for long term cellaring. When cellared well, wines like The Caley Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz, The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz, The Octavius Shiraz and The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon will deliver great structure, balance and finesse 10 to 50 years after release.