What to Put Away Right Now

Some wines are made to be opened the week you buy them. Others are made to be forgotten for a while. The wines below fall firmly into the second group: bottles that are good now and will be considerably better in five, ten or more years, provided they are stored properly. Most come in small parcels, and several will not be back in the same vintage. If you have been meaning to build the long-term end of your cellar, this is where to start.

The Yarra Valley's old estates

Mount Mary and Yeringberg are two of the most important names in Australian wine, and both make Bordeaux-style reds that are built for the cellar rather than the release-day tasting. Mount Mary Quintet 2020 and Quintet 2022 are blends of Cabernet and its Bordeaux companions, made in a restrained, perfumed style that tightens up in youth and opens slowly over a decade or more. Yeringberg Cabernets 2021 and 2022 come from one of the oldest family-held vineyards in the valley and age on a similar arc.

The best way to buy these is in pairs of vintages. Two consecutive years from the same estate, opened side by side at intervals over the next decade, will teach you more about the place than any tasting note.

Tasmanian Pinot Noir

Tolpuddle's Coal River Valley vineyard has become one of the reference points for Australian Pinot Noir. Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 is already two years into its life and starting to show its depth; the 2024 is the one to bury. Good Pinot from a cool site often goes quiet for a few years after its youthful fruit fades — patience is rewarded on the other side.

Barossa Shiraz, the long way

The Standish 2022 is Barossa Shiraz made for the cellar: dense, structured and in no hurry. Wines of this weight can be opened young with a long decant, but their best years are well ahead of them.

Frankland River's allocation reds

Swinney's Farvie wines — Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre — come from their oldest bush vines and are among the most sought-after reds in Western Australia. The 2024s are young and will reward several years in a cool cellar. Quantities are very small; if you want to follow them, a bottle or two of each is the way to see how the three varieties age differently from the same site.

Riesling built for the long haul

Polish Hill River Riesling is famous for ageing, and Rieslingfreak No.2 2025 is one of the best-value ways into the style. Taut and austere in youth, it develops toast and depth over five to fifteen years while staying dry. Buy a case, open one a year.

Grower Champagne

Champagne from the best growers improves with time in bottle after release. Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru from Ambonnay and Pertois-Moriset PM.05 2018 will both gain complexity over the next few years. Keep them lying down, in the dark, at a steady temperature.

One that has already done the waiting

Marc Brédif Vouvray Grand Année 2016 is a museum release: held back at the estate and released with some age already on it. Loire Chenin Blanc is one of the longest-lived whites in the world, so this can be opened now for a taste of what age does to it, or put away for years more.

Storing them properly

Every wine above depends on storage. A steady temperature somewhere around 13–16°C, darkness and bottles lying on their side will do more for them than any amount of buying skill. For the full picture — composition, time horizons and the real cost of poor conditions — see Building a Cellar That Actually Gets Used Well. And for the bottles to open in the meantime, What to Drink Tonight.