Questions Uncorked

Dec 16, 2008

Hi Michael,

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog. It sounds like you have been treating your La Grande Dame very nicely – keeping your storage temperature at 55 degrees is excellent. Vintage Champagne is like any other very fine, well-made wine, which means that it is wine that is typically very age-worthy. Vintage Champagnes are only made in exceptional years, and so it is almost like a quality guarantee. Now, some vintages are better than others and there are some variations between Champagne houses, but generally speaking, the Champagnes from 1988, 1989 and 1990 are considered to be excellent. A high quality wine such as the La Grande Dame 1989, especially one kept in ideal storage conditions, should be capable of aging anywhere from 20-40 years.

In terms of your bottle though, you mention that it has been stored that way for the past 8 years – do you know where it was before that? As your wine is just about 20 years old now, I think I would lean towards telling you that you should probably start thinking about picking the perfect opportunity to open it. You can continue to store it, but my guess is that you will get the maximum enjoyment from it sometime in the next year to 8 years rather than waiting another 20. If you open it soon, be sure to let me know what you think!