Are you a wine connoisseur looking for a new experience for your palette? Then try a library release wine. What is a library wine, and what makes them so special? Here’s a short guide to get you started on this fascinating new aspect of wine collecting.
What Are Library Wines?
While their name might conjure up images of stacks of stuffy books, library wines are anything but that. They are vintages that are held back by the wineries that produce them. Stored for years on end, the wines end up in a large library where they age in protected environments. The result is an older wine that hasn’t been on the market and has an established provenance. The winemakers generally keep an eye on their library to ensure that it’s released to clients at the right time.
Some wine producers keep more libraries of vintages on hand due to their normal process. Champagne makers, for instance, are more likely to age wines in storage on a regular basis. Winemakers may also use a library of wines from earlier years to keep tabs on how their wines are changing or how certain years’ vintages are doing as a whole.
Why Are They Rare?
Keeping a library of wines on hand comes with a lot of logistical challenges. First of all, the winery won’t make any money off those bottles until they’re sold, so they are forgoing a fair amount of money even after going to all the effort and expense of producing the bottles. The wine inventory must be also be insured and regularly cataloged once it goes into cold storage as well.
In addition to the cost and delay of their return on investment, wineries must have a place to store a lot of bottles from multiple seasons for several years or more. This means they need to have plenty of climate-controlled storage that’s safe, doesn’t interfere with daily operations, and can be checked or maintained by staff. For obvious reasons, this can limit their ability to keep a library even if they want to do more.
What Do They Offer You?
Why should you care about these releases? Because the winery does the aging process for collectors. You don’t have to have a large storage cellar in order to enjoy aged and rare vintages. Because professional winemakers have monitored the bottles in the library, they choose when to bring them out of storage for peak perfection.
The winemakers have essentially done much of the hard work for the buyer. Buying from a library is an excellent way for newer collectors to learn about wines without committing to big expenses or a vast education.
Library wines — either sold on the market or provided by the winery itself — are also perfect for special occasions. Are you planning a meeting of a club of oenophiles who will appreciate the winery’s efforts? A charity sale or event? Want to attend a private tasting at your favorite winery? Need a gift for that special someone? A rare library wine will give you confidence that you’re getting a great vintage selected by the makers themselves and with special meaning.
Where Should You Start?
Are you ready to try your first library wines? Talk to your favorite winery about their library and how they release vintages. You may be able to attend a special evening or dinner for this purpose.
You can also find library releases at retailers who specialize in quality wine. Take a look through the inventory of library vintages at Holiday Wine Cellar, for example. Once you taste this special breed of wine, you may never go back to lesser-aged bottles again.
