I’ve thought about making this post for some time. I am not trying to discourage anyone’s enthusiasm over wine or building a nice inventory of wines, but I don’t see very many threads dedicated to helping new collectors avoid getting overzealous or over-committed financially. So hopefully this will serve as a reminder to some. This hobby can become an obsession; especially when it goes past simply enjoying the taste to a point where one is curating a library with breadth and depth, by region. I did the same with my jazz collection long ago and have found myself starting to do the same with wine. I deeply appreciate and enjoy having both collections, don’t get me wrong, for me it’s a reminder of how I can start to acquire (too many) things for perhaps the wrong reasons.
There are too many caveats to make here and I don’t have time to make them all, so forgive my generalizations. To those of you who are just starting out, here are some things I’ve realized. Some are unique to me and may not apply to you, but I think a couple may apply to many of us. I’m not claiming any of these are great insights, but they may not be obvious to beginners. These are tips for those who plan to largely drink their wines, not just flip them later.
There are surprisingly few “magical” bottles of wine that will really move you. Periodically you will open something that is truly remarkable, but curating a cellar full of board darlings does not ensure that each pop of the cork will carry with it a memorable experience. I find that the longer I drink wine, the more likely it is I am looking to open something “interesting” than something that simply tastes good. Once you become accustomed to drinking carefully selected wines your standards and expectations will be high enough that your most impactful/memorable wine experiences may start to be the really bad wines you have at dinner parties rather than the consistently high quality wines you drink from your cellar. It is easy to get spoiled and desensitized. I recognize there are some people to whom this comment does not apply, and they drink only the finest wines in the world and always have amazing experiences, but that’s not most of us.
Not all wines will improve with time, and some may get worse. If you buy a bunch of wine and sit on it for a long time waiting for a payoff you may be disappointed. Don’t be afraid to drink your wines, and keep some records about where the wine is at if you have multiple bottles. Find out if you even like aged wines.
There are a lot of other ways to spend your money that are very satisfying, and you might begin to forget. When you start forgoing travel with family, or home improvement to sustain building a nice cellar, you might find that you actually get more joy spending the money on other things, or saving it and watching it grow. You might even start to feel some guilt about all you’ve spent. Try to set a budget and stick with it.
This has been discussed ad nauseam, but your tastes will change. Don’t focus too much on one variety or region. Buy a higher proportion of white wine and sparkling wine than you are probably inclined to buy.
Take a break from drinking wine periodically. Learn about cocktails or drink some new beer styles. Or go sober for a few weeks and drop a few pounds. I am overweight largely because of my alcohol consumption, and when I take time off the pounds fall off much easier.
I could probably keep going but I think I’ve said the main things I’d tell someone starting out. It’s wonderful being fortunate enough to participate in this hobby, but it’s also possible to lose perspective. Cheers.
Sage advice, especially on chasing the magical bottle. Tied to your second point, I find it curious how easy it is to pull the trigger on an expensive bottle of wine unlike anything else I buy.
Well Ron, I kind of agree with the first two but not with the last three. Why buy white and sparkling wines if you don’t like them? Because one day you might decide you like them? Applied to anything other than wine, that would be really weird advice.
And why would your tastes change? That has never happened to me in maybe thirty years of drinking wine. I’ve discovered a lot of wines I like that I didn’t know about, but I never stopped liking the ones I liked early on.
Those are arguable but why oh why would you take a break from drinking wine?
That’s so sad!
If you want to lose weight, don’t take up beer! I generally don’t care for it personally, but I’ve never known beer drinkers to be svelte. OTOH, one can run a few miles a day - works for me.
such an experience has much more to do with yourself than with the wine: you have to be in the right state of mind, relaxed, and ready to fully enjoy and appreciate whatever life throws at you. This is rare, I believe.
even if one were able to drink Romanee Conti every evening, I bet that the magic would quickly disappear.
Interesting thoughts Ron. Thanks for taking the time to share them. Some comments below.
Once you become accustomed to drinking carefully selected wines your standards and expectations will be high enough that your most impactful/memorable wine experiences may start to be the really bad wines you have at dinner parties rather than the consistently high quality wines you drink from your cellar.
The world is full of “bad wine” and some are hiding in my “carefully selected” cellar! I try to focus on the good. These days, that’s primarily everyday drinkers in the $15 - $35 range. Most are quite acceptable. I continue to get a kick out of the over-performers.
Not all wines will improve with time, and some may get worse. If you buy a bunch of wine and sit on it for a long time waiting for a payoff you may be disappointed. Don’t be afraid to drink your wines, and keep some records about where the wine is at if you have multiple bottles. Find out if you even like aged wines.
No argument there, except for the John Thomas rule…and a few Barolos, and most of my Bordeaux…and…
There are a lot of other ways to spend your money that are very satisfying, and you might begin to forget. When you start forgoing travel with family, or home improvement to sustain building a nice cellar, you might find that you actually get more joy spending the money on other things, or saving it and watching it grow. You might even start to feel some guilt about all you’ve spent. Try to set a budget and stick with it.
Agreed. Not too much guilt though. Sticking to a budget…for an avowed wine geek/collector, that’s sort of like Nancy Reagan’s “just say no to drugs”.
This has been discussed ad nauseam, but your tastes will change.
Yes, tastes can change. Some don’t (like Greg T). Your “look before you leap” advice for stocking up a wine cellar is solid. It can take several years to dial in your tastes.
Take a break from drinking wine periodically. Learn about cocktails or drink some new beer styles. Or go sober for a few weeks and drop a few pounds. I am overweight largely because of my alcohol consumption, and when I take time off the pounds fall off much easier.
It’s hard to generalize here. Overindulging in any alcoholic beverage is not a great idea. Interest in wine, for most geeks, will probably ebb and flow. I’ve never been a hard liquor or cocktail guy, not that I’d turn down an interesting one. I do enjoy beer…considering we’re in the middle of the microbrew explosion. It’s a lot cheaper than fine wine! It also goes well with a considerable amount of everyday fare. Health-wise, I can’t see much wrong with dropping alcoholic beverages for weeks or months on a periodic basis. Weight loss is as good a reason as any. Then again, it’s entirely possible to stay fit and enjoy wine/beer pretty much every day.
Great post Ron. Every single one of your points applies to me.
I went overboard on California Cabs thinking they would turn into Bordeaux in 20-30 years. Most didn’t.
My palate did change over time. In particular I lost my love for very ripe Grenache.
The auction market helped me correct my mistakes, but I didn’t make a significant profit on most of it. So one point I would add is that most do not make a killing by auctioning off their excess.
Collecting wine for profit is likely to be more successful than collecting cocaine for profit, but you run into the same issue: neither is likely to stick around long enough to make any real money. Sure your few cases of Bordeaux may quadruple in value, but you probably drank away four times the profit in other wines during the time. Not to mention energy bills for coolers and cellar construction costs and the profits one might have made had one invested the money properly in the first place.
I think you are a little unusual in this respect. My tastes have most definitely changed, and I think that’s true of most people, at least those who get involved in fine wine. Though if you were lucky enough to start with the right wines, I can see not having to change.
A really good post Ron, well worth all of us reading and pondering.
Your first point reminds me of the wine shop within Peck (Milano). A stunning selection of pretty much every well-respected wine. If it’s prestigious, it will be here. So it’s brilliant? No, in my opinion it’s dull and predictable. It shows no passion or opinions, just a soulless temple to prestige.
Linked to this, a great new discovery (recent ones for me include Vinho Verde, Bierzo/Mencia, Baga) can be incredibly exciting, as a whole new avenue opens up. My personal challenge though, is to never forget the stuff I always seem to like, and ensure the cellar gets refilled with them after I’ve drunk some of them.
Taking the prestige thing further, it’s good not to label worship, to hold that revered bottle of Roumier or Gaja and think of it as brilliance waiting to be opened. If you do this, you may:
Be disappointed after building it up too much (and it might be corked etc.)
You might be seen as a little unhinged by normal friends
You may find you never open it, as you can’t accept that once opened it’s gone forever
When I first started laying wine down, it was when I had the space / conditions to do so. I’d wanted to for a while, but warm modern apartments weren’t ideal and I hadn’t got the space for a wine fridge (in truth I suspect that I didn’t know they existed back then). My reasoning / aim for cellaring was twofold:
To have a nice varied selection of wines that I could choose for the dining table at a minute’s notice
To enjoy the process and the end result of cellaring
These two guiding principle have never left me, though like many others my tastes have changed, plus I’d learnt that accepted wisdom of what styles are good, doesn’t always match my preferences.
That ship has probably sailed for most of us here. It doesn’t even require a reverent attitude towards a label. Once they see the number of bottles in your cellar, you get filed in the unhinged folder.
Ron, I appreciate your sincere and genuine concern in offering advice especially to those just getting started. Thanks for the positive intent and comments to the point.
As to palate changes, I definitely went through one moving from bigger and bolder to more charm, elegance and finesse. As a result, I have many wines in the cellar that I`ll most likely just share with others who will enjoy them more than I will.
Also, I like the idea of abstaining from wine [all alcohol] for a period of time if for no other reason to allow for our body to rest and recuperate. I probably would not have done this had it not been for a health issue earlier this year. Although not mandated by health care providers, I made the conscious choice to abstain for 3 months and it not only aided in reaching a full recovery faster, it provided a humbling opportunity to even more appreciate the passion I have for wine and the joy of sharing it with others.
Some sage advice I can offer to those newbies to collecting is to buy a few bottles as opposed to cases of wines preferred in the event preferences change.
Most importantly, cellar wines that you like to drink. Some of us on this board can be very emphatic about wines we like, but it is just that, our preference which may not be the way it is for others.
As Ian said explore…there’s so much to discover. Just as in life, learning in wine is a never-ending process.
As Blake mentioned, if you like a wine enjoy it, if you really like it buy a few bottles. As sane advice I received years, which truly helped me.
I would also encourage to attend as many tasting events this is the best way to learn about a region, current trends, producer styles and your own palate.
Finally share your knowledge and wines with friends and family. If magic happens it happens unexpectedly at the dinner table when someone you know has the “ah” moment!
and that is indeed one of the most rewarding experiences, where a spark of interest is ignited, sometimes surprising in which wines make that impression.
I forgot to mention in my OP that when we do experience magic, it’s often due to the company with whom we share the wine or the particular occasion. I have heard people say that life is too short to save great wines for special occasions, and that one should open great wine and create special occasions. I don’t know that such an approach will always create an amazing tasting experience, but it cannot hurt to try.
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