six for me
Months? Weeks!
2 Likes
As previously recommended, buy champagne. it is festive when needed, it goes with anything or nothing and slightly aged versions can be informative and scratch the geek itch. The sheer breadth of prices and options can become a full fledged lifetime “graduate course.”
I’m no expert, but i’m enjoying champagne more and more and I love reading the posts of others and the information shared.
2 Likes
Something that has been talked about, but I don’t think explicitly stated yet is that it can be better to open special bottles on regular days. On a special day, it can be impossible to make wine the focus of the day. While it is nice to celebrate an occasion with a wine, you rarely are able to focus on the wine as much as you would really want. A quiet unassuming day is a perfect time to spend alone or with a few others really studying a bottle without having anything else get in the way.
13 Likes
Great way to elevate a date night when grandma and grandpa have the kids!
2 Likes
I have had the same problem the OP has for the last few years as I’ve built up my collection and I also really like a wide variety of wines. Therefore, I now only buy current release, cellar worthy wines in at least threes - one to drink now “for science” (especially a new producer to me), one to drink in 7-10 years to check in on aging, then one to age for the longer term. Only in rare instances where I know I’ll love a wine in a given vintage do I buy in larger quantities. Of the usual three, one goes to my Vinotemp at home and the other two go to my offsite. This helps me keep my hands off the other bottles while also allowing me to justify popping the one at home when the right opportunity comes.
I have also started focusing on supporting local retailers with my ready-to-drink wines. Since I buy most of my cellar worthy stuff online, it’s a good way to support the local wine community. These aren’t necessarilly cheap wines but they are typically approachable now.
5 Likes
Thanks for all the great responses everyone! I’ve read through the comments with two basic take-aways. 1- Drink the nice bottles you’ve already got. 2- Pick up more daily drinkers.
So I decided to follow the WineBersker collective wisdom, and yesterday I opened a bottle I’ve been hanging onto for years for no reason other than it’s not common and on the expensive side; 1997 Rampolla Sammarco. Fantastic experience! My TN is here: TN: 1997 Rampolla Sammarco
I also picked up a big variety of daily drinkers: all less than $40 (most less than $30), but I think respectable to wine nerds and chosen to stretch my wine experience. Let me know what you think:
2020 Monastero Suore Cistercensi Lazio Coenobium (Lazio, Italy)
2019 Herrenhof Lamprecht Buchertberg Weiss (Südsteiermark, Austria)
2021 Ixsir Altitudes Rose (Lebanon)
2020 Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir (S Africa)
2020 Fratelli Alessandria Pelaverga (Piedmont)
2020 Devil’s Corner Pinot Noir (Tasmania)
2017 Cims de Porrera Priorat Garnatxa Blanca (Priorat)
2017 Briceland Vineyards “Ronda’s Vineyard” Pinot Noir (Humboldt County, CA)
2011 Clos Lunelles (Cotes de Castillon, Bordeaux)
2018 Ver Sacrum Monastrell (Uco Valley)
2018 Jardin Secreto Adobe (Baja California, Mexico)
4 Likes
If can’t find something you don’t find exciting to drink from this list, then I just don’t know how to help you! May want to throw in a Champagne, though.
1 Like
I wholeheartedly endorse this mindset. Will also say, learning patience with wines has become very enjoyable. Tasting the difference in a mature, evolved wine that I loved when it was young is an amazing feeling.
1 Like
Great group of wines! I probably wouldn’t enjoy drinking all of these, but I would definitely enjoy trying all of them if they were all new to me.
Great and fun list!
2 Likes
This. After the primary insanity of becoming a wine collector, the secondary insanity of opening a great bottle for a random Tuesday night dinner is a very minor thing. Just drink great wine all the time, it’s the payoff to being a collector
With that said, don’t open wines before their time! After a couple of years of smart backfilling and collecting you’ll have plenty of mature wines you like to drink.
1 Like
Whenever anyone comes across this dilemma, I love retelling the story that Bill Redemeier, the owner and founder of Southbrook Vineyards here in Niagara, Ontario, loves to tell. Bill is a Sauternes fanatic and spreads the love around. He had a friend who had just started collecting wine and managed to score a very expensive Yquem from an elderly wine merchant while in Europe. His friend told the merchant that he only lamented that he had to wait for the appropriate special occasion to open it and drink it. The merchant smiled at him and told him, “My friend, every day is a special occasion for wine.” Bill’s friend took the bottle back with him to Canada and wasted no time opening it up and sharing it with his friends and family.
The solution to your dilemma is quite simple. Open up your bottles and enjoy them. Now. By yourself, with friends, and with family. There is simply no better time than the present.
3 Likes
I’m in a similar position. Loaded with wines I need at least 10 years before they start entering their drinking window. I have to split the collection into four camps to survive. I think the first two are the categories we both have (speaking as someone who has also only been seriously collecting wine for the last 5 years).
Long-term holds: This can be highly prized, rare, expensive wines or just good bottles that have to sit (I have a ton of 2016 barolo and rioja that are decent producers, but not top tier, that just have to sit). These we don’t touch obviously.
Special occasion: Can be some of the bottles above that are hitting their stride, maybe a lucky vintage purchase you found with some bottle age, or just a couple you have to be prepared to just say screw it and open. Save these for birthdays, anniversaries, or the holidays. You have to enjoy yourself.
Cellar defenders: Open when you just need a good bottle. The Saturday night with friends bottle. The dinner party bottle. Get a rosso instead or a brunello from a top producer (cannot recommend Stella di Campalto enough). Really love Ben Glazier’s australian clarets (Anaparena will scratch the itch for a wine you know you shouldn’t open at a steak house). Nervi-Conterno gattinara. GD Varja barbaresco in a hot vintage. Cru Beaujolais or Haute Cote de Nuits village. Usually something between $50 to $150.
Daily Drinkers: All about preference here but I’ve seen a lot of great options in comments above. Current QPR fav (or just recent discovery): Kirkland Rioja Reserva 2015. This is legitimately held 3 years prior to release (30 months in neutral oak). Still don’t know how they make this for under $10. Decant this for 3 hours before serving and tell your guests this is a $50 argentinian tempranilo.
2 Likes
This has been a super helpful thread that had me rethinking my entire buying/drinking philosophy. Thank you everyone! In addition to the recently purchased daily drinker bottles that I listed above, I wanted to let you all know that I’ve taken your “drink your good bottles” advice as well. The holidays helped, but I want to keep up the practice as best I can. Here are my cherries that I opened, inspired by this thread:
1997 Rampolla Sammarco- initially kind of dead but blossomed overnight
Krug 168- Good, though I wasn’t blown away. Too young I guess.
2010 Catena Zapata White Bones Chardonnay- as good as any white Burgundy I’ve ever had
2001 Haut Brion- my first proper 1st growth, a beautiful bottle
2011 Le Pergole Torte- an absolute stunner. Might be wine of the year of me.
Thanks again everyone!!!
9 Likes
I really think this is true. Or at least I hope it is!
1 Like
I had this a month or two ago, it was great. That’s kind of an underrated Tuscan wine, prices are pretty fair, not hard to find, can drink younger but ages well too.
Thanks for this, Wes.
Recommended on Wine Berserkers, it’s like being on the Cover of the Rolling Stone.
Great thread! Somehow I missed it in December…
A contrarian thought: There can be such a thing as too many cellar defenders.
When I have asked friends with collections in the 1000s if they had any advice/wisdom to share form their years of accumulating, a common refrain I heard was, “I wish I’d bought fewer of the cheaper daily-drinkers”. I’ve had that experience some too.
Its an uptown problem to be sure, but something to consider.
2 Likes
I have a tad less than 700 bottles (just did inventory yesterday) and I have a total of 12 bottles of white wine (outside of some older German Rieslings). We have a built in wine rack in the kitchen, that I keep full of white wines that I purchase monthly. Since I have a wholesale license, I am always mixing up a case of whites with every regular purchase I make for our establishment. That takes care of the purchase itch, and makes it easier for my better half to just grab a bottle or two when she’s going over to a girlfriend’s house (and not have to call me with that “what can I grab out of the cellar” question).