Share your anniversary wine!

WINE TALK
1

My wife and I are coming up on our one year anniversary this April. In the last year I had tried to convince her we should put away some Brunellos from the wineries we visited during our honeymoon (an excuse to buy more wine) last April from the 2010 vintage and future 2015 vintage since its the year we got married. She wasn’t too excited about the idea. She isn’t the biggest fan of dry red wines, neither was she crazy about the Brunellos on our trip other than Poggio Di Soto (they were nice but no F*way I’m throwing down $200 a bottle for it). So instead she recommended Champagne (she loves champ.) which got me super excited since I’m not cellaring any of it yet. So today I finally made my first purchase for some future anniversary wines (wife finally gave me the green light)…

I purchased the following, three bottles of each:
Bollinger Brut Rose: 3 bottles will be used for our one year, 11th, and 21st anniversary.
2008 Andre Coulet Brut Millesime: 3 bottles for 2nd, 12th, and 22nd anniversary.
Andre Coulet Brut Rose: 3 bottles for 3rd, 13th, 23rd " "
Bollinger special cuvee: 3 bottles for you get the hint…
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th - not a clue yet… will add 3 new 3-bottle sets to the list next year…

and why 3 bottles? I have no clue how long champagne can cellar for before it goes plonk… no idea… figured 3 bottles is a safe bet stored for no more than 20+ years?

anyways maybe in a few years i’ll add some 2015 vintage champagnes to the list when they’re released… or even some Krug if we can afford it… And I still don’t know what will be our 10 year anniversary champagne… I’m thinking the 2006 J. Schram Brut we had a few days after our wedding but its dam pricey and would have to be a purchase sometime soon since someday it wont be easy to find… some shops still have it available… and as a side note, I knew Bollinger would be on the list (I love those champagnes) but absolutely have no experience with Andre Coulet. I just thought they had beautiful labels and had some good feedback on cellar tracker… crossing our fingers we like em!

Anyways, does anybody have anything set aside for that special someone for that special date? flirtysmile I’d love to hear them… I’m sure some of you have petrus or moutons or DRC’s put away for those occasions… [wow.gif]

2

Every year we open a '96 Calon Segur. We drank it once before we were married. It has the structure to last for what I hope will be decades of marital bliss. In addition to it being a beautiful wine from our anniversary year, it has a heart on the label.

That said, with our 20th coming up, we plan to open a '96 Dom Pérignon and a '96 de Venoge Brut Louis XV with that 20 year old Calon.

3

We are waiting for a well sealed Greek or Roman amphorae to be brought up from the depths of the Aegean Sea that will approximate our anniversary.

4

I like your idea of aging Champagne over time. I would think many NV will start to decline after 10+ years…I wonder what Brad would reccomend?

5

We don’t have the same thing every year. But our 11th anniversary was yesterday, and tonight we opened a 2005 DeLille Cellars Grand Ciel. DeLille was one of the first wineries we went to together, and it helped us fall in love with wine, so their wines will always have a special place in our hearts.

6

And, how was it?

7

Married in 2006, and plan on having same year Pontet Canet. Dont know what to expect since we drink mostly younger Cali cabs.

8

I’m horrible at tasting notes, but it was great. Seems to be in a good place right now, with plenty of life ahead. Unfortunately, that was the only bottle I had (upon release, I believe it was the most expensive bottle of wine I’d ever purchased; buying more than one seemed insane!).

9

Amoureuses, almost any producer, would be a good choice. Has worked for us, and we’re coming up on #34.

10

We were married in 1990. I bought some wines that were stretching my limits at the time, like three bottles each of Ch. Margaux, Cheval Blanc and Chave Hermitage. We have two of each left, as well as some La Conseillante, LLC, Pape Clement, Beaucastel, Pegau and Trimbach CFE. Many lesser 1990s that we drank over the years. Had some Dom Perignon but we drank the last one for our 25th.

Edit: CT says there are 56 bottles of 1990 in the cellar, so we can live for a while yet.

11

1989 Lynch Bages and Krug. Great year in wine to get married.I have over three cases of various 1989 vintage wines.

12

We will be celebrating our big 50 this year with 3 bottles of 1966 C.V.N.E. Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva. It will be a small event with our children and grandchildren.

13

NV wines can cellar. I’m going to make very broad generalizations in this post, but how long depends on a few things, namely:

  • producer (for style and village/vineyard source of grapes)
  • base vintage/years in blend
  • grapes used in blend

In addition to the above, you should be sure that you like the way aged Champagne tastes. Many prefer a more bright, citrus, tart profile and don’t like creamy, nutty, spicy, toasty/biscuity, caramelized, maturing fruit flavors.

I’ve had plenty of NV Champagne that has seen 10-30 years of cellaring and been delicious; I’ve also had a few wonderful bottles that had seen over 60 years. Stick with top producers who use a majority of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. That isn’t to say that Pinot Meunier heavy blends cannot age, but you need to be more careful and selective with this as quality of this grape is much more variable. If the Pinot Meunier is coming from the Cote sud d’Epernay area, Cuisles and its surrounding villages, or a classified village then you are likely to have good luck. If you can find out the blend of years in the wine then you will probably want to tilt towards wines that are heavy with vintage quality years, but this information is usually very hard to find and confirm for most producers.

Old bottles of Krug Grande Cuvee are glorious, but a few examples of NVs that are in the $30-$60 range, not too hard to find and age well too are Louis Roederer, Pol Roger, Charles Heidsieck, Delamotte BdB, Pierre Peters, Lilbert, Deutz, Alfred Gratien, Rene Geoffroy, Taittinger, and yes Clicquot too.

As a final tip, magnums usually age better than bottles so you should consider that route too.

14

50th anniversary - wow, congratulations, Jim.

We were married in '78, and over the years have consumed Latour, Domaine de Chevalier and Borgogno Barolo. Unfortunately, we’ve consumed all the Bordeaux and I’m down to my last couple of bottles on the Borgogno :frowning:

15

Also married in 2006, been adding champagnes from that vintage.

16

Married in 1988 on Valentine’s Day. I’m an idiot for not buying cases of Calon Segur.

Our big purchases were 1988 Krug (vintage brut and Clos du Mesnil) and Yquem. We open one or both every year. Also still holding a few first growths, some Dal Forno Recioto and a double magnum of Beaucastel.

17

and can be used for the next marriage!

18

Clearly Alan’s wife does not read this board!

19

Brandon - as Brad said, Champagne can age really well. Ask guys like Ray Tuppatsch, who knows a lot about it. You lose most of the bubbles but you get some really interesting new flavors that are unlike anything in younger stuff. I’d try some first though, just to be sure you like it.

But more importantly - permission from the wife? Dude, it’s one year and you’re already not acting w/out permission? The first year is when you should be establishing the rules and that’s not a good one! Danger Will Robinson!

20

it was her idea!