Trump tweet from 2013 has aged better than a fine wine. For most of us, the idea of keeping a cellar full of wine is an aristocratic throwback or an investment banker's affectation. We buy wine for now, not later. Most estimates from retailers and market research suggest 80-90% of bottles are consumed within 24 hours, and 90-95% within a week. But cellaring a few bottles needn't be the preserve of the grand and loaded. All you need is a dark place where the temperature is consistent – light and fluctuations in temperature are the biggest enemies of ageing wine. Provided it's away from a radiator, a cupboard under the stairs, a space under the bed, even an old fridge in the garage set to a high setting will do just fine to begin with. I keep my few dozen special bottles stacked on a cool stone floor beneath a dresser in my draughty old house. I've even got a thermometer down there. If your collection gets more serious – or simply bigger – you might consider investing in a tailor-made wine fridge (a friend swears by her Samsung, which holds 33 bottles; £249 from John Lewis).

The question of what else to put there is rather more complex. Most wines – not far off 90% – are designed to be drunk within a year or two of the vintage. If a wine is to age, it will need to have high levels of fruit flavour, acidity and, if they're reds, plenty of tannin. Even with all of those elements, however, things may not pan out; red wine glass cakethe tannins may not soften, the fruit may fade out, it may never, in wine speak, come round.top red wine nz Many wines that will evolve beautifully taste gawky and awkward when young, and it can be hard to tell them apart from all the other gawky, awkward wines that are destined to remain that way forever. buy italian wine directEven experienced tasters can't say with certainty how a wine will age, and no two bottles, even from the same batch, age the same way.where can i buy ginger wine

So it's no wonder that wines from regions and producers with a long track record for ageing dominate most serious cellars. In reds, that tends to mean Bordeaux and Burgundy, followed by the Rhône Valley, Piedmont (barolo, barbaresco), Tuscany (chianti classico, Brunello di Montalcino), and Rioja; best place in paris for winefor whites it means riesling from Germany, Alsace and Austria, chenin blanc from the Loire, and chardonnay from Burgundy, with dessert wines from Sauternes, Germany and Tokaj, and champagne, port and madeira also featuring in the mix.where to buy mini wine glasses My ideal cellar would feature as many of these as I could afford (and cellar-worthy wines do tend to be anything from a little to a lot more expensive). But it would be wrong to assume that these classics are the only wines worth keeping.

We still tend to think of Australian and Californian reds as oaky fruit bombs, but our attitude would be very different if more of us tried their more serious wines with a bit more age. The same is true of the Australian whites, Hunter Valley semillon and Clare or Eden Valley riesling, and I've been impressed with how well some of the reds from Portugal's Douro Valley and France's Languedoc-Roussillon develop. Not everyone likes the taste of older wine. Youthful fruit and vibrancy often trump the more mellow and savoury qualities of age. But if you're curious about the ageing process my advice would be to buy a half-case of one of the wines featured above, drink a bottle now, and then stash the rest away. You may just find that sometimes, even in the frenzied Twittering world of now, patience can be rewarded. An unusual blend of pinot noir with the chianti grape variety sangiovese and a little of the unheralded alicante from a British expat winemaker, this beautiful Tuscan red is alive with cherry fruit and fresh herbs now, but it could mellow and soften still more over the next half a decade.

Château du Cèdre Cahors, France 2009 (from £15.95, Lea & Sandeman; Made from the local côt, aka malbec, a grape variety successfully appropriated by the Argentinians, this is an attractively fleshy and fresh red now, but with a certain gutsy power that will repay a decade or so in the cool and dark. Grosset Polish Hill Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia 2012 (from £23.95, slurp.co.uk; Haynes Hanson & Clark) With its searing, linear, directness, Jeffrey Grosset's crystal clear Aussie Riesling is quite formidable (but cold-water-on-the-face refreshing) when it's young, but will take on layers of toasty limey complexity for many years to come. Quinta do Noval Late-Bottled Vintage Port 2004 (From £15.60, Ocado; The LBV style of port is released when it's ready to drink, and this one has the purring power and chocolate-edged dark fruit to make it a joy right now, but my experience of older vintages suggests it's worth squirreling the odd bottle away for at least a decade.

Château Poujeaux, Moulis-en-Médoc, Bordeaux, France 2009 (from £25, as part of a case of six bottles, Tesco; The staple of the classic cellar and the serious collector, red Bordeaux is re-mortgage pricey at the very top end. Look beyond the bigger cru classé names, however, and plus it can be affordable if not cheap, and Poujeaux's lushly fruited 2009 will keep for more than a decade. Berrys Barolo, Italy 2008 (£24.95, Berry Bros & Rudd) Barolo is famously tough and tannic when it's young, but this example from posh merchant Berry Bros very superior own-label range was already quite silky when I tasted it in situ last year, although it has stuffing enough to add to its ethereal rose fragrance for five to ten years.Top 3 Most Outstanding New or Current Releases of the YearApologizes for the length, but there’s ten regions on which to report! Special Mentions: 2014 Booker The Ripper (Grenache), 2014 Daou Vineyard Patrimony, 2014 l’Aventure Estate Cuvée, 2014 Denner Vineyards The Ditch Digger, 2014 Epoch Block B.

Special Mentions: 2014 Peake Ranch Pinot Noir John Sebastiano Vineyard, 2014 Paul Lato Chardonnay Belle de Jour Duvarita Vineyard, 2014 Clos Solene Cuvée Jean. Special Mentions: 2014 Paul Lato Pinot Noir Lancelot Pisoni Vineyard, 2014 Walt Wines Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard, 2014 Testarossa Pinot Noir Garys’ Vineyard. Special Mentions: 2014 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Horseshoe Hillside Vineyard, 2014 Varner Chardonnay Bee Block Spring Ridge Vineyard, 2014 Thomas Fogarty Pinot Noir Mindego Ridge Vineyard, 2014 Mindego Ridge Chardonnay.Châteauneuf du Pape While there’s plenty of good 2014s from Châteauneuf du Pape out there, they pale in comparison to the 2015s—hence I’ve opted to highlight the most recent vintage. All the below reds were tasted as barrel samples. The quality of the whites from the southern Rhône has sky rocketed over the past decade as well, so I’ve split the whites out as well to highlight some gems. Aside from the Saint Prefert, all the whites were tasted from bottle.

And since I break the region up into two parts, one focused on Châteauneuf du Pape and one for the other appellations, I’ve included a “Best of” list for each of the reports. The more the merrier!Special mention to the sweet wines from the region (the VDN wines), with the 1948 and 1965 Rivesaltes Ambre from Domaine Rancy being two of the most incredible fortified wines I was able to taste this year. Special Mentions: 2014 Chateau Puech Haut Languedoc Pic Saint Loup Closerie Saint Mathieu Blanc, 2014 La Peira Terrasses du Larzac la Peira, 2014 La Peira Terrasses du Larzac La Peira Blanc, 2014 Maxime Magnon Corbières Campagnes, 2014 Domaine Anne Gros Minervois les Carretals.Southern Rhône – (Reviewed in Issue 228)These notes will be published Friday, December 30th. Northern Rhône Reds – (Reviewed in Issue 228)These notes will be published Friday, December 30th. Northern Rhône Whites – (Reviewed in Issue 228)These notes will be published Friday, December 30th. Greatest Value Wines of the Year Special Mentions: 2015 Chateau de l’Ou Côtes Catalanes Infiniment de l’Ou, 2015 Domaine de Bila Haut Occultum Lapidem, 2015 Chateau Pesquié Ventoux Terrasses, 2015 Daou Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, 2015 Tensley Syrah Tensley Vineyard, 2014 Chateau Puech-Haut Pic Saint Loup Closerie du Pic, 2014 Domaine Vindemio Ventoux Amadeus, 
2014 Beau Mistral Rasteau.

I’m feeling indecisive, so here’s a list of wines I’ve had this year that made a serious impression.Best Dinner of the Year My waistline (and pathetic cycling times…I’m embarrassed to turn on Strava) are ample evidence I’ve had way too many ‘Best Dinner’ meals this year. If judging on a tip-top dining experience, a dinner with a friend at Celler de Can Roca in Girona easily takes the top spot for the year. However, I’m a bistro type of guy at heart, and I’d take a meal at l’Ami Louis in Paris (which I do about 4-5 times a year) any day—and twice on Sunday. Other notable restaurants/dinners this year include: Le Mangevins (Tain l’Hermitage, France), L’Oustalet (Gigondas, France), les Florets (Gigondas, France), La Table de Sorgues (Sorgues, France), Villa Madie (Cassis, France), Le Petit Nice (Marseille, France), Bistro Paul Bert (Paris, France), le Dôme (Paris, France), Le Train Bleu (Paris, France), Blackberry Farm (Walland, Tennessee), Wild Ginger (Seattle, Washington), Le Divil (Perpignan, France), La Tupin (Bordeaux

, France), Laredo (Madrid, France), Flagstaff House (Boulder, CO), Frasca (Boulder, CO), Press (Napa, CA), Jade Palace (Singapore), The China Club (Hong Kong).Best Vertical/Retrospective Tasting of the Year I continue to spend a lot of time on retrospectives and older wines/vintages from my regions. These are just as much about the history of an estate as they are about the wine, and it’s always an honor and privilege to take part. Some of the standouts include:Best ‘Get-a-Life Outside of Wine’ Things of the Year We lost our sweet girl, Abby (pictured above), earlier this year to cancer. And while it made the entire year difficult, one highlight was going back through all the photos and videos, remembering the hikes, camping trips, long road trips, and wet-tongue wake up calls, as well as all the daily small - and large - things she did to brighten our lives over the past 12 years. If you have pets, give them a squeeze for me. And take lots of videos and photos - you’ll thank me later.