Understood that each is different. Was just looking for a general trend on age?
Semi-OT, but has anyone compared the Arnot Roberts Fellom Ranch cabs? Grown one ridge over, they sell for about $100. French Oak and less of it new.
An occasional vintage may come around as early as 10 years. Other outliers, like the '05 may take 40. The norm might be 20-25, but some do well at 15. Some specific examples are the '01 showed great early on and still does. “Weaker” vintages like '00 do well young (it’s drinking great right now) and stay at that plateau for decades. I loved the '04 a year ago, and that was from mag. IMO the '07 (a lighter vintage that was one of my faves of the decade) wasn’t ready last year, but getting close.
Take the Wayback Machine 20 years and the highest rated vintages were the '84 and '85. Too young and not particularly enjoyable for me until recently. Excellent now. So, it is important to be careful which vintages to drink and which to hold.
Awesome. Thanks for the intel
Thinking of joining futures of Monte Bello, about how long would I need to wait to drink them upon arriving.
Ideally, 10 years or more.
1996 just beginning to come around. 1998 and 2000 are ready to go. Everything else from 2000’s was too young for my tastes.
Agree.
I’ve had 3 bottles of the ‘06 in the past 2yrs. I found them quite enjoyable, but certainly still on the upswing.
For tertiary characters I’d say 20 years minimum unless a very weak vintage. Good to great vintages will take a good deal longer.
Certainly for secondary type of expression you are usually safe around 15-20. But as others have stated it can be very vintage dependent.
It’s probably one of the very very few bottlings from California that is most similar to classic styled Bordeaux in this regard.
Question about MB futures and really futures in general where the wine is not expected to be consumed for 15+ years.
Does the price savings of buying futures get eroded by the storage costs of holding a wine vs the cost of storing that wine for the duration? Based on today’s pricing it’s approx $100 to store a bottle for 20 years.
According to CellarTracker/WMJ a 1998 Ridge Monte Bello auction value is $133. Not sure what release price in 99-00 was but it had to be more than $35.
Anyone else run that math and decide futures or long term storage aren’t worth it?
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Known provenance has a high value in my mind.
Also, my off site storage (in today’s dollar) costs me $2 per bottle per year. So 20 years = $40.
$0.16 a bottle? How many bottles? Mine is $0.33 per bottle. I’ve seen up to $0.50/bottle.
I get provenance and totally understand the intangible value of drinking something you’ve owned all that time.
I’m not advocating to not store long term. I’m doing it myself. I’m just curious what conclusions others have come to and why.
Yes, your logic is probably correct, but provenance comes into play as well.
Wow. Wait 10 years till drinking so if I got a future offer this year which ships in 2021. Most would wait till 2031 to drink them. Not sure I have the patience for that.
There’s tons of comparably priced Cabs out of Napa that drink their best within a few years of release. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Yes and no. Money expended to build a climate controlled cellar is a sunk cost. Adding a few bottles of MB doesn’t incrementally increase that cost, and forgoing MB doesn’t lower it. So while on a balance sheet basis there is some truth to what you say, in a practical sense it is a meaningless inquiry.
I think most who buy and cellar wines for this length of time have made the investment in a cellar because they want to drink aged wine, and want to ensure that the bottles they drink have been properly cared for throughout the aging process. Although I suspect that one comes out ahead in a strictly economic sense too, that really is irrelevant (or at least a very minor consideration)
It’s pretty clear we are all engaged in a pretty silly pursuit. Most hobbies are.
Seems to be the case. Credit card just got charged for estate wines. No news on Montebello yet.
I don’t know what the current program is, but as of a year or so ago, there was no “maybe” about it. You had to buy a number of the estate wines, but if you did you could but MB. This may have changed.
But Ridge has outstanding customer service. An email or a phone call will set you straight
The email with my futures allocation information said my credit card would be charged on 13 March. Any changes (reductions only this year) to my allocation needs to be done by 10 March. I’ve been a MB buyer since long before there was futures program, so I’m fairly certain there isn’t an earlier date. I suggest you check your account on the 14th or 15th …