Collecting without a cellar

Is it worthwhile to really start a legitimate wine collection without a cellar or should I wait until I own my own place and can really invest in a good temperature controlled space. I have somewhat of a collection of every day drinking wines, but would like to start doing more. But is it worth doing now? [scratch.gif]

Until we built a cellar in our SoCal home we kept several cases (15-20) in a closet at the bottom of the stairs to the garage. The closet, especially with the cases of wine inside, never rose above the high 60sF.

You could also buy a Vinotheque or other wine cooler and use that for storage. We had a 550 bottle Vinotheque in our Santa Fe home. We stored wine in it until we moved to Santa Fe full time in 2003-2004, and had a 3500-bottle wine cellar built in half our garage. We still used it for wine storage until we sold it last year.

Before I bought a house and built a cellar, I used off site wine storage rental. First it was one locker. Then 2 lockers. Then I shared another locker with a friend. Then I got a locker at another storage facility.

Now I have a cellar. And a locker at another facility.

I have a problem.

That’s a nice problem to have!

There’s got to be a decent offsite solution for you, and since you are in MD, do you have a basement?

Get an offsite locker, bet MD has plenty of options.

If you have the desire to lay down wines to mature and the means, don’t wait - offsite is a good option if available. Although there are always new vintages, may as well start on the aging train now. Looks like you have plenty of future, but no one gets any younger

You might consider building a collection slowly, because your tastes may change over time (sort of like dollar cost averaging).

-Al

No basement, but we live in an old farm house that generally stays pretty cool. I will check out the offsite solution for sure. I’m also interested in getting a vinotheque. I’d love to have easy access!! And THEN I can start building my collection…

Another option if you are cost conscious like I am, is to build one yourself.

I had a small 30 bottle wine fridge, (cheap kind). when I needed more room, i went to costco and bought a vinotemp (160 bottle).

Now I have both of those full, and I am going to frame out a storage area in my garage and buy a cellar cooler. If you are not looking for furniture quality, building a sizable storage area is not terribly expensive.

If you built it on a wooden frame (think fancy pallet) you could even move it with you to your new garage.

I believe (i have not dont this yet, but planning it now) that I can build a completely temp and humidity controlled space in my garage with racking and store somewhere in the 800 bottle range for about 3500…and thats the same price as a vinotemp that stores 300 or so bottles.

You just need a few basic construction and electrical skills

Per usual, Al provides good advice here. Were I to have a do over, I’d be less Bordeaux-centric. One pays to play and one’s preferences often do become different than wherever yours curently are. Have fun !

Ally,

One thing to consider is whether you can store the wines at or below 65F. If not, then no, don’t start laying down wines. Several people mentioned offsite storage above which is a good idea. So are cabinets in your home. Some people combine them with several cases in a cabinet at home and more offsite. My advice would be to:

  1. Don’t get into the collecting for collecting’s sake mode where you buy just because. Buy a lot of stuff to try. Buy sparingly to collect. If you think you love a new region and want to age some, buy some older wines from that region and try them to see if you like them older.

  2. Don’t lay down wines if you can’t store them properly. I’m not a fanatic about 55F all the time, but the temps should generally be there and if they do float up during summer they shouldn’t go above about 65F and shouldn’t be at 65F for more than 2-3 months of the year. No, 75F isn’t OK even for just a couple of months.

  3. DO lay down things you LOVE. Not like. LOVE. If I were to redo my collecting I’d split my money more severely into two piles… Everyday and Near Term (under 5 year) wines for $30 or less and Wines I Love for $75 and over. If you can get Wines You Love for under that, do it. Some things just aren’t pricey (Muscadet, etc), but in general I’d rather have one really amazing bottle than 3 nice bottles after 10 years.

Rick,
This seems like sound advice. I currently have a couple wine racks of just day to day wines. I have not even TRIED investing in anything expensive or rare… but I’d like to eventually. Perhaps I’ll wait until I’ve had a couple years to really try more things.

Yeah, it’ll have to be slow. I gotta budget to think about. Girl’s gotta eat too…

Been seriously interested in wine for about 2 + years now, and have lived by this strategy that Rick explains here.
Buy old and new bottles, taste, taste, taste, and then buy for further cellaring.
Is doesn’t matter if Mosel Rieslings are exceptionally great wines to age, if you don’t appreciate them after years in the cellar.

This reminds me, I need to drink more of my cellar to find out what to buy in the future.

Andres,
I guess its all about that higher education again. I gotta get my phD one bottle at a time. Well here goes nothing…

Best education there is!
What kind of wines are you buying/drinking these days?

My favorites right now are south african Pinotage. I also like a lot of the spanish wines. A lot of Riojas are definitely in my budget. I’m still trying to interpret/decipher some of the french wines so that has been a little intimidating.

Ally – Taste, taste, taste, but also read, read, read. I’d start with the Johnson-Robinson World Atlas of Wine (and not just for the maps, but the text, too), and there are several threads on this board that you can search for that discuss recommended reading.

Cool, I’ll check that out. Reading has been my priority as of late. I feel like I have a good basis, but its hard until you have the companion bottle to go along with the description. Right now I’m reading Karen MacNeils “Wine Bible”. I also read Kevin Zraly’s wine course. I think now I need to start reading more detailed specifics. I have a few other books on the shelf to crack open.

Cracking open books and popping open corks. Sounds like a good night.