All wines should be cellared so that the ‘drink now’ wines will be held until called upon and aging wines are held properly for the long hall.

For those being chosen to rest for some time longer in the cellar some simple rules apply.

1. Check out the winery and the wine maker for other vintages. If the winery is new to you, check out its credentials from reviewers and other wine drinkers tasting notes and comments.   Medals from wine competitions can give misleading signals especially as to how wines might age.
2. Taste the wine in a familiar setting. The ambience of where you are tasting can make a difference to your perception, as can the residual flavors of food or other wine. 
3. Mark down bitterness or greenness. These faults are unlikely to vanish with aging. 
4. Don’t mark down leanness or tightness. These will, in the right wines, improve with aging. 
5. Buy a wine that has the flavors and balance you are looking for. Go on, indulge yourself - this is what you are looking for! 
6. Buy enough to follow the wine’s aging. As the wine develops, you want to have enough stored to allow you to open the occasional bottle to test how it is aging. 
7. Maintain an accurate wine inventory, and know where to find every bottle.  The best of wine storage conditions are valueless without an accurate wine inventory, so that your recording of the development of aging wines can be recorded and their future opening dates displayed.

Cellaring wine greatly enhances the total wine experience.  Following these few simple rules guarantees happy cellaring.