Home Wine Collection Discussion Thread

Just catching this. Will jump in tomorrow to participate.

This is where I parked my car

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How many bottles are you keeping in house? How many are you currently laying down?

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I started with a wine fridge in my house that held 10 cases and kept most of my wine in an offsite storage facility, but ultimately built a cellar in my home. It's not fancy, just a room in my basement with racking and a cooling unit that holds about 1500 bottles. I suggest buying double the capacity of whatever you think you'll need. Probably three quarters of my cellar consists of wines that will be left alone for 10-20 years (Bdx, Northern Rhones, Champagnes).

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Which of those are you most excited about?

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Bdx, No. Rhones, Champagnes I like older wines made in traditional styles. I seem to be an outlier among my fellow wine lovers in that I don't care for red Burgundy.

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Where do you do your wine shopping?

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I buy a lot of wine at auction, both live and online. I have had the good fortune to attend wine auctions regularly with friends who are in the business. As a wine lover, these events are difficult to surpass in terms of having the opportunity to drink epic wines in one setting. They are absolutely surreal. I highly suggest checking out Acker Merril's live auction feeds, they can be highly entertaining. If you think they are stuffy events attended by a bunch of blue haired stiffs, they are not. I also buy a fair amount from various regional online retailers. I'm fortunate to have good retailers locally where I can pick up high quality quaffing wines like rose's, Cote du Rhones, etc.

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What have you opened recently and enjoyed?

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I've been drinking a lot of 89 Bdx, they are in the sweet spot for me right now. The 89 Angelus a few weeks ago was lights out.

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Where was you last wine trip and where is your next one?

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I lived in the bay area for about ten years and spent a lot of time in the wine country. Eventually, I quit visiting wineries as I enjoyed just going up there to hike and eat more than doing tastings and tours. I also drifted away from the style currently in favor in CA, so there wasn't a whole lot I liked. When we travel to France or Italy, we do drink a lot of wine, but rarely go out of our way to do wine stuff. We might have lunch at a winery (in Italy), but almost never do tastings and never do tours. That is most likely a function of having been drinking and collecting wine for a long time. Winery tours for the most part are the same everywhere. Having said that one of the best experiences I have had was finding myself wandering around outside Chateau Beaucastel because a Candian tourist told me they had a tasting room and were open to the public(they don't and they aren't or werent' at the time) only to happen upon the head of distribution for the Perrin family, who took my wife and me inside and spent about three hours with us tasting through various vintages of Beaucastel back to the late seventies. That was an awesome experience, but also atypical. If you do visit wineries, I'd guess you'll have som experiences like that, and you'll learn more from that one experience than from the next dozen.

If I can offer one piece of advice: as you're learning and discovering what you like and don't like, I suggest not buying large amounts of any one wine, unless it's something you're going to drink relatively soon. I found that over the course of half a decade or so, my tastes changed and in a few instances found myself with wines in my cellar that I no longer cared for. I think it takes a while to establish a palate, specifically determining the styles, etc that you like. It is simliar to when we start drinking alcohol. Most teenagers don't start with single malt scotch, they start with Boone's farm and stuff that is easy to drink, then gradually that stuff gets tiresome and we develop an appreciation for different things. Wine was the same way for me.

Make sure you report back on your Italy trip! I've developed a love for nebbiolo in the last ten years or so and will likely visit Piemonte next time I'm in Italy.

My cellar is pretty depleted right now, but at one point it was cranking with about 50 bottles laid down and another 25 in a steady "Tuesday night wine" rotation.

But two kids in two years has pretty much robbed me. But I am moving soon and new house has a real basement that I plan on turning into a wine cellar.

Best advice I ever received was to buy white wines in late fall and red wines in summer. Let them sit for about (6 months whites 18 months reds)and you will always have a nice stock of aged wines. Figure 18 months since harvest, plus another 6 or 18.

ETA: I've actually gotten into cocktails more in last two years. They are easier to do on a weeknight

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coolpapaboze

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For the OP, I like this thread. I am only now really starting to get into wine, so my "collection" is very small (and let's be honest, it's really a rotation, as I go through the few that I have relatively quickly). However, I am still learning and can see myself beginning to collect more seriously.

Same. Definetely will resort to this thread for advise.

Holy cow!

I really want to get into wine auctions...we have almost gone to a couple. I guess it can be intimidating the first time.

We are Chappellet wine club members too.

I have a connection with a guy that could get wine at cost. I just sent in my first order...we shall see if that works out...but it truly is shocking how cheap restaurants get wine. That is all I will say since I am not allowed to price share.

Very excited about piedmont. Still planning that part.

Hitting osteria francescana in modena on thanksgiving night.

I make almost every Foundation Room wine dinner.

We almost did one at Le Foret, but my business trip was moved so we couldn't. I had a freebie to the Silver Oak one because I go there so much with clients, but I had a prior engagement.

You?

I don't have much, but most excited about 4 bottles of 2000 Chateau Haut-Brion that will probably hang out another 10-20 years.