So I just made my last “Good as Gold” purchase. This is where I believe the wines to be such a solid choice that I’d rather buy into them and leave the gold to the launderers (and the higher price tags to the tech industry). These wines will age incredibly well – they have the structure, the weight, the acidity and the precision all in check – and I have no doubt that with 10-20 years of cellaring they’ll not only be drinking like liquid nirvana, but they’ll probably have appreciated three fold. The only problem is, I now have 14 cases stacked in my West Village apartment bathroom (gaining earthiness I assure you) as they await in limbo to be taken upstate for proper cellaring. If I don’t get them there soon, I think I’ll have to convince my wife to get rid of the sofa so we can start building furniture out of cases. My current golden fellas include:

2005 La Rioja Alta 904 Gran Reserva

This is just amazing stuff. It’s so much more closed than it’s year older brother. Huge potential here for a blockbuster down the road. While some will brag about their 01 890s, I’ll be drinking more of these over the long run, mainly, well because I’ll have more of them! Closed now, but wait 3-5 years and these will start singing.

2006 La Rioja Alta Vina Arana Reserva

If you haven’t tried a back vintage Arana, do so immediately. You can sometimes find them on a good wine list somewhere where the owner/director was smart about what wines could do down the road a bit. These are round and a tad tart while in youth, but give them 20 years and you’ll reap gigantic rewards. From El Palo and Las Monjas vineyards in Rodezno, where a little bit more robustness is obtained in their Tempranillo.

2008 La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi

Always an amazing value. Run, don’t walk, for this if you’ve never had it. It’ll open up so many possibilities. The 95s and 89s are smoking good right now. For the no brainer price tag these have, the ageability and drinkability just doesn’t seem fair.

2005 Vallana Gattinara
I recently sat down for a gigantic library tasting of these nebbiolos from Gattinara, one of Piedmonts smaller siblings. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. These don’t have the muscle of the Barolo/Barbarescos to the South, but what they lack in power they make up for in terroir, precision and complexity. In fact, I think the aging consistency of these is quite a bit higher than vastly more expensive Barolos which I feel tend to crap out more often around age 25.

2006 Cantalupo “Anno Primo” Ghemme

Again, from a region north of Barolo and Barbaresco (just east of Gattinara and sharing the other side of the Sesia River). Remarkable structure in these wines. Now, I’ve never had the chance to do a library tasting of any Ghemme, but given the year (especially phenomenal) and the focus now I think these will age forever. Black bramble fruit and dusty. Sauvage at it’s finest – where’s the boar sausage?!

2001 CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva Magnum

Because… duh. The last vintage before CVNE went to their multi-million dollar modern facility. Will the post-traditional house cuvees be as exciting as their predecessors? Only time will tell, but I have an inkling that considering they’ve opted for a more modern, opulent style across the board (one of the reasons the 04 Imperial picked up Wine Spectator’s #1 pick in their Top 100 of 2013) following this vintage, my guts tells me to pick up as much 01 as is feasibly possible. The 01s won’t be around at the prices we can get them now for much longer.

These are my don’t hesitate to cellar wines. Price is right, wine is definitely right and it’s like sitting on liquid gold.