Collecting without a cellar

[Ally_O]

Is joining an online monthly wine club a good way to go about collecting for the sake of tasting?

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

@Rick Gregory

2)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.

I have a lot of early 90’s Zin that did very well for 15 years and these bottles saw many days of sustained mid-70s temps. I have been back filling Ridge and Ravenswood for the past 5 years and rarely have these wines been quite as good as those I stored poorly.

For every rule…

[Jim_Sawitzke]

@Ally O.

Is joining an online monthly wine club a good way to go about collecting for the sake of tasting?

Love the Wine Bible - good choice.

I suspect most people would discourage you from joining a wine club. In my experience they offer lesser-quality wines that are otherwise difficult to move, plus I like having a little control over what I try. My advice if you just want to try some random wines is to just randomly pick a view bottles up from your wine shop and see what you like.

[Les_Huisman]

@Ally O.

Is joining an online monthly wine club a good way to go about collecting for the sake of tasting?

I would say no. Most of them are overpriced and not that impressive. There are a few decent ones out there, or so I’ve heard, but you would be better served finding a local wine shop that does tastings (free and paid) You can pick up a lot from this. In addition, the more time you spend around a shop, tasting and talking, a good merchant will figure out your palate preferences and recommend things that may be up your alley. It’s also a good place to meet other wine dorks.

There are some folks on the board in the DC/Baltimore area that could probably give you recommendations.

[Dan_Hammer]

@Ally O.

Is joining an online monthly wine club a good way to go about collecting for the sake of tasting?

I agree with the above poster. Those clubs are a waste. There was a time I knew diddlysquat about wine. I read Wine Spectator. My best source of information is this board. Read read read the threads. That’s how I got on to some decent mailing list. Will I like the wines I receive from those lists? Well, based on the popularity of some of them, I’ll go with YES. FYI, I’ve never been disappointed by one of those wines.

Going to tastings at your local wine shop is valuable. I keep going to Zachy’s (local) to taste white burg… and I still don’t like them. I never knew how good CdP was until I tried one at a tasting. The best advice, ask the retailer. Tell them what you like. They want to please you. They want you to become a customer.

Now for the good advice. Attend a local offline. For the price of a bottle of wine (don’t cheap out), you’ll drink well with others in attendance. I brought a ACV (Anderson Conn Valley) 1999 Cab Sauv Reserve to my first NYC offline. It was pretty dam good, but it was dwarfed by the other bottles. Someone brought a Saxum. That was a blow-a-way wine. It seems that board members sometimes overdo it at these events. As a matter of fact, I’m re-thinking what I’m bringing to the NYC offline. Care to taste a Maybach?

[paul_hanna]

@Adam Noble

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.

Yep,

Don’t we all…


I started with a cellar under the stairs, then bought a small wine fridge, then bought a large eurocave, then another, then another…ended up with 5 fridges, divided between home and work…

When we moved into our new house (that we built), I put in a 1000 bottle cellar…I though this would be enough.

2 years down the track…I also have 1500++ bottles in long term storage…


Beware,

“Once you go down this path, forever it will dominate your destiny…”

[Rick_Gregory]

@Glenn L e v i n e

@Rick Gregory

2)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.

I have a lot of early 90’s Zin that did very well for 15 years and these bottles saw many days of sustained mid-70s temps. I have been back filling Ridge and Ravenswood for the past 5 years and rarely have these wines been quite as good as those I stored poorly.

For every rule…

Sure… but we’re talking about wine in general, not the odd exception. SOME wines will be OK under those conditions, but no one would recommend storing a wine for 15 years and having it spend 2 months a year at 75F. While it might be OK, you’re taking a risk that you don’t need to.

[Cris_Whetstone]

@Ally O.

Is joining an online monthly wine club a good way to go about collecting for the sake of tasting?

Just to pile on simply finding this forum puts you way past the point of getting any utility out of a wine club. Just get out there and taste as often and as much as possible.

[Ally_O]

@Cris Whetstone

Just to pile on simply finding this forum puts you way past the point of getting any utility out of a wine club. Just get out there and taste as often and as much as possible.

There are a couple of decent wine shops near me. I’m going to see about signing up for their newsletters so I can be made aware when tastings are being offered. I do have a good variety of random wines I was interested in at home (100 or so). So I’m whittling away at it. I even have a CdP waiting. I am going to look into joining a local offline…or starting one of my own. Thanks everyone for all your help. I know you probably have better things to do than give advice to newbie wine geeks like me, so I seriously appreciate it!

[Andres_S_k_o_j_e]

@Ally O.

I also like a lot of the spanish wines. A lot of Riojas are definitely in my budget.

The wines from C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) are some of my favorites from Spain.
The Imperial Reserva and Gran Reserva are excellent IMO.

Alejandro Fernández Tinto Pesquera from Ribera del Duero is worth seeking out.

and if you’re considering buying Spanish wines for long-therm cellaring, try finding an older vintage of the
Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial and see if you like it. They can age for a looooooong time.

For lover priced suggestions, you could try Muga Reserva or Cune Reserva (C.V.N.E) which is also fairly low priced

[Rick_Gregory]

@Cris Whetstone

@Ally O.

Is joining an online monthly wine club a good way to go about collecting for the sake of tasting?

Just to pile on simply finding this forum puts you way past the point of getting any utility out of a wine club. Just get out there and taste as often and as much as possible.

Agreed re wine clubs. I do remember the frustration of tasting a bottle at a time when I was starting out… if you’re having some wine solo or on a date, you only get one wine to taste (and if you’re on a date, the wine’s probably not front and center…) What I did was find a tasting group in the area that met monthly. If you have some friends who are interested, start your own. Doesn’t have to be all uber-serious… do a monthly wine tasting. If that’s too geeky, make it a dinner party with wine. Either rotate the dinner and hosting part or have everyone bring a dish. For wine, either have everyone chip in some money and one person buys the wines or give people a price range and themes (‘Spanish reds in the $20-$30 range’). Either way, you’ll have several wines in a night and so you can do the old compare and contrast thing.

[K_John_Joseph]

Dang Rick, I think that’s right on the money. Ally, you might be wise to listen to Rick…this time

@Rick Gregory

Ally,
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. .

I couldn’t agree with this more. Early collectors have a tendency to buy first and try later. That can lead to chasing points, instead of wines with styles that really meet your preferences. I will readily admit that I bought stuff at first simply because it was super highly rated, only to realize years later that the 100 pointer didn’t sit well with my preferences. I should have allocated that money differently. So, try try try, pay attention to Critics’ style preferences, and learn who to trust. You can’t try everything, but you can trust some people that do. Pay attention to style and allocate accordingly. The same is true for wines as they age. Try try try.

@Rick Gregory

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. .

Wine Spectator published an article suggesting that stable temp is more important than actual temp, so long as you kept wines at 72 or lower (or around that), but scientifically speaking, Rick’s point is a good one. Wine decomposes over time…simple as that. It decomposes faster at higher temps. Keep it cool and humid, or drink it up. Avoid the fridge. Generally fridges are super dry, will shrink corks, and cost you money (even for whites that you store for more than a month or so.

@Rick Gregory

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.

The more you drink and collect the more you will gravitate to elite level performers (I think). You will want every day stuff, but when you go to pull something special, it’s a let down when it’s just good. You want it to be GREAT. So I agree with Rick, set aside the stuff that will blow your mind down the road, and drink the stuff that will make you smile, but not cry for joy.

[Ally_O]

I really like the idea of something a little older and then letting it sit for a shorter period, try it, and determine if I like that kind of wine aged. I think it would be tragic to open something pricey up years down the road to find that its just so-so.

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

@Rick Gregory

@Glenn L e v i n e

@Rick Gregory

2)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.

I have a lot of early 90’s Zin that did very well for 15 years and these bottles saw many days of sustained mid-70s temps. I have been back filling Ridge and Ravenswood for the past 5 years and rarely have these wines been quite as good as those I stored poorly.

For every rule…

Sure… but we’re talking about wine in general, not the odd exception. SOME wines will be OK under those conditions, but no one would recommend storing a wine for 15 years and having it spend 2 months a year at 75F. While it might be OK, you’re taking a risk that you don’t need to.

Oh I agree. I outgrew my home capacity this summer and have a few cases in styro waiting to get properly stored once I drink the bottles out of my 56* wine closets. I am mildly concerned about this wine.

[SteveC]

Started by sticking it in the basement.

Bought more …

Then on the advice of a friend bought a 500 bottle storage unit.

Bought more…

Filled it up, bought a smaller storage unit.

Bought more …

Got a locker offsite … filled it up.

Built a home cellar, filled it up too.

Bought more…

Got divorced

Lost half my wine …

Moved wine to offsite storage.

Bought more, and more and more …

Now auctioning off wine because I have too much and tastes have changed.

Still buying more.

Be careful, be very careful!

[Enzo_Ruffalo]

[Rick_Gregory]

You stay classy Enzo…

[ToddFrench]

@Rick Gregory

You stay classy Enzo…

No kidding

[JoeD]

Ally - welcome! There is a pretty good group of DC area folks who do offlines semi-regularly, keep an eye on the “offline” forum. Some of us drag along our wives/girlfriends so it’s a little more “approachable”. PM me if you want more details.

[Ally_O]

@Enzo Ruffalo

There are 4 basic requirements to build a serious collection.

1. A very cold cellar
2. A real passion for wine
3. Some very great bottles
4. A nice rack

You’re further ahead than most here.

I can excuse that since your avatar suggests you might be an Ayn Rand fan.