Beer is just a beverage, but wine is an experience. There's an aura of romance, a hint of the sublime, to bringing a bottle up from your own cellar, carefully drawing out the cork, pouring the wine into a goblet, and taking the first delectable sip.
Now Jeff Cox, author of From Vines to Wines and a connoisseur well respected in wine circles, shows you how easy it is to have a wine cellar of your own.
But Cellaring Wine is not a home-building project book. In some cases, the would-be wine collector doesn't have to do much building at all. Rather, Cellaring Wine teaches anyone who loves wine how to create a working system of selecting wines that will age well, know how to lay them down properly, and recognize when they have matured to their full glory and are ready to be savored.
Cox pinpoints the optimum conditions of temperature, light, and humidity for a wine cellar. He walks you through possible locations for your wine cellar, whether in the basement, an old root cellar, the back of your garage, or even a closet or room in your house, and what each location requires. He explains when you'll need a climate-control device (and how much they cost). And he discusses the pros and cons of buying a freestanding unit that is much like a refrigerator.
Then Cox tackles the question that most troubles wine lovers: Which wines will improve with age, and which won't? This chapter alone is worth the price of the book, since nothing is more disappointing to a wine lover than waiting years to open a bottle of wine only to discover that it was at its peak when it was laid down.
Cox shows you how to keep accurate records so you know at a glance without having to hunt through the wine racks what you have, where it's located, and how much to buy so the cellar doesn't become depleted. And he gives you a crash course in appreciating the fragrance and flavor of a fine wine. Perhaps best of all, Cox gets readers excited about the possibilities of having their own wine cellar. After all, a cellar is not just a storage room, it's a university where good young wines become great.