Rizzo's Wine Cellar

At Rizzo Winery, we handcraft every bottle of wine with the utmost care. Many of our current vintages, don’t seem so current, since they’re often over 5 years old. Many of you must wonder, why age them for so long?

A little wine library, full of books and wines of age & potential

Of course, there are many opinions and advice on how long wines can age, but we have a deep understanding of our wines (we did make them, after all). What we have found, is that the main factor for a wine’s ability to age is the harmony between the different flavor components right off the bat. If there’s a good tannic structure, high acidity, and budding flavors when they’re young, then leaving the wine to age in the bottle allows for the marriage of these components. Over time the tannins will soften and the high acidity will mellow but will still allow the wine to taste fresh and filled with youth when you pull out the cork many years later. One of the main reasons we allow our wines to age is their flavors mature, gaining complexity and depth. Ripe and juicy fruit flavors can become earthy, opulent, and taste sweeter with time in the bottle.

The simple answer to why we age them before we offer them to you all is that we prefer them this way. We are experts in temptation and we think you deserve cellar wines without the hassle of aging them yourself.