It's a question that we are asked often on our Cave Tours.  The answer is not a simple one, because it really depends on four main factors (and there are plenty of exceptions to the rules!):

  1. The grape variety used to make the wine - some varieties will, as a rule, cellar longer than others.  Sauvignon blancs are generally designed to be enjoyed young, for example, while a a top quality pinot noir may need many years to reach maturity.
  2. The quality of the fruit - to make a top quality wine with the ability to develop in the bottle, requires top quality fruit, and top quality winemaking.  That bargain bin wine from the supermarket is undoubtedly intended to be drunk now!
  3. What the winemaker intended when they made the wine.  Some wines are deliberately made to be drunk young, and some are designed to improve with a certain amount of bottle aging.
  4. Your own personal tastes.  Some people prefer to drink wines at an earlier stage in their development, whilst others enjoy the more mature flavours of a well-aged wine.  As a rule, younger wines will tend to be fresher and crisper, with more obvious fruit character.  Aged wines will be softer, more complex and have more 'bottle developed' secondary characters.  A young pinot noir, for example will exhibit more cherry and strawberry fruit characters, whilst an older one will have more 'forest floor' flavours - mushrooms and savoury characters.

Bearing the above in mind, we have created the chart below to help you know when the different Gibbston Valley wine labels are ready to enjoy.  These are our own opinions.  Individual mileage may vary...

Please also remember that wines need to be cellared with respect.  Out of the sunlight and at a constant, cool temperature are the keys to letting your wine mature gracefully.  More detailed cellaring information is available here.

 

Blanc de Pinot Noir (Rosé)

Drink the youngest available.  This wine is designed to be enjoyed while it is young and fresh.  It will start to fade after two or three years of age.
Greenstone Chardonnay

A light, crisp white wine.  Enjoy young - within three years of vintage.
Reserve Chardonnay

Although this wine is enjoyable as a young wine, its real delights can only be savoured after three to five years of cellar development.  It will continue to develop up to eight years.
Pinot Blanc

This lesser-known member of the pinot family produces a dry white wine that will develop over two to four years.
Pinot Gris

This wine is fabulous as a young wine, and utterly magnificent as an older one.  It can be enjoyed straight away, or it can be left to develop depth and complexity for up to six or seven years.
Riesling

Another white wine wine with tremendous cellaring ability.  This wine opens out quite beautifully after two or three years in the bottle, and continues to mature for up to ten years in the bottle - or even more.  Beautifully aged rieslings are worth their weight in gold!
Gold River Pinot Noir

Our lighter style of pinot noir - intended as a soft, easily approachable wine to be enjoyed within one to three years of harvest.
Pinot Noir

Our signature wine - very drinkable when released, but the real charms of this wine will become evident to the patient who can cellar it for four to eight years.
Reserve Pinot Noir

The Gibbston Valley Flagship.  Our first vintage was 1995 - this wine is only produced in years when we have the ability to produce a truly outstanding wine.  Our experience shows that this wine takes about five years to really start to demonstrate the character that this region is capable of, and will go on developing for a further ten years (15 years in total from vintage).