That was a great reference !
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Buy more high end bottles. Skip mailing lists. Stock up on Champagne, Chablis, and 1er Red and White Burgundy. Use Cru Bojo as cellar defender.
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Depends on whether you entertain, etc., etc. are your friends guests into wine. Big difference if you live in Cali and entertain a lot versus a flyover backwater where you only have smaller dinners.
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More high end rather than value burgundy.
Less daily drinkers - I donāt drink daily.
More halves.
Halves are great til you hit that one that is drinking so well and youāre wishing the whole time that it was a 750
Iām quite sure this belongs in a different thread but here are my initial thoughts since you asked. (And I wish I would have gone big into Riesling from the start)
Donāt be scared off yet from burgundy because you canāt afford DRC or Rousseau ect.
There are still producers making affordable quality wine and most likely some that will become your generations superstars!
Donāt worry about grand cru (and hey those declarations were made how many years ago anyways) and find the new producers who are figuring it out in different places. Those are the people that are trying to figure out the same equation we are too.
Donāt buy the wine of the newcomer that bought Napa Dirt at an inflated price and must now charge $175 to break even. Well ok, buy it if your interested I guess, but absolutely do not buy to cellar. Donāt cellar these for your children on their 21st. The hedge fund manager who created a hot brand will most likely not be around or cool when the kids are 21.
On to current eventsā¦
Be wary of chasing the the VERY new bump in champagne. There are many many many growers doing very very similar things in the region. Yes, some were trailblazers and they deserve the recognition and monies, but the folks on their footsteps are not THAT far behind. There isnāt anybody that attempts to blind grower champagneā¦there is a reason why.
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So who is the up and coming Bouchard?
OK I have to come clean. 67 and had a seizure last year. They found a brain tumor- GBM. Surgery and radiation/chemo. Lost my taste buds for a whileā¦
The tastebuds are mostly back and tumor is in stasis. The Oral Chemo and Optune TTFields have done their job. So i Have 300 bottles no need to buy more except to fill holes (Pinot Noir) I am a CAB Sauv loverā¦
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Iām so sorry to hear, GBM is a bitch.
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Thanks, I know I did a lot of research. I am lucky that the Oral Chemo has knocked down the tumor. No recuurance.
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I posted largely the same thing a couple of years ago and pretty much have stuck to it. At the time, I acknowledged that I would continue buying some champagne (and have) to backfill and maintain, not grow, my stocks, and also left myself an out for buying more .375s, which I anticipated at the time (and still do) using more and more as I age.
My situation may be different from many of you: I feel no particular urge to have a ādiverse cellarā; I know what I like and the wines I own are flexible enough to accompany the food we eat. I am not at all enticed by searching for perfect-food-and-wine-pairings.
I have backslid (or given myself permission to buy) when something with age on it becomes available at a price I find too good to pass up, but I am too old (66) to be buying recent vintage bdx or burgs or nebbiolo or the other reds I love. I have what I have and they will last until my palate or I am dead.
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[quote=āRobert_M_yers, post:206, topic:291331, full:trueā]On to current eventsā¦
Be wary of chasing the the VERY new bump in champagne. There are many many many growers doing very very similar things in the region. Yes, some were trailblazers and they deserve the recognition and monies, but the folks on their footsteps are not THAT far behind. There isnāt anybody that attempts to blind grower champagneā¦there is a reason why.
[/quote]
Would you mind expanding on this? People I drink with (myself included) blind grower and big house champagne all the time. While I agree about not chasing the ānew bumpā just because itās the new big thing, I donāt really agree that people in champagne are doing similar things. Because the grower movement is so diverse and the region is so big, Iād actually say the differences are actually fairly large.
Imo:
Marguet[quote=āGreg_K, post:212, topic:291331, full:trueā]
[quote=āRobert_M_yers, post:206, topic:291331, full:trueā]On to current eventsā¦
Be wary of chasing the the VERY new bump in champagne. There are many many many growers doing very very similar things in the region. Yes, some were trailblazers and they deserve the recognition and monies, but the folks on their footsteps are not THAT far behind. There isnāt anybody that attempts to blind grower champagneā¦there is a reason why.
[/quote]
Would you mind expanding on this? People I drink with (myself included) blind grower and big house champagne all the time. While I agree about not chasing the ānew bumpā just because itās the new big thing, I donāt really agree that people in champagne are doing similar things. Because the grower movement is so diverse and the region is so big, Iād actually say the differences are actually fairly large.
[/quote]
Laherte
Marguet
are at the top for me (and im getting priced out)
But there are many many others that folks can find their favs.
Did I hear
Vouette
Dufour
Courtin
Savart
Ect ect ectā¦.
Iām just naming a few obvious there are literally dozens to exploreā¦I canāt keep up to be quite honest in the amount of new names (not these) I am looking forward to tasting!
Iām really sad to lose my āallocationā of Bouchard (see my post) but there are so so many champagnes of interest these days that it just doesnāt sting that much when I see that others are now trailblazers themselves.
Great times in champagneā¦
Forget the $200 cuvee and buy the lower middle and you will be rewarded.
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Neg
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Would you mind expanding on this? People I drink with (myself included) blind grower and big house champagne all the time. While I agree about not chasing the ānew bumpā just because itās the new big thing, I donāt really agree that people in champagne are doing similar things. Because the grower movement is so diverse and the region is so big, Iād actually say the differences are actually fairly large.
[/quote]
Laherte
Marguet
are at the top for me (and im getting priced out)
But there are many many others that folks can find their favs.
Did I hear
Vouette
Dufour
Courtin
Savart
Ect ect ectā¦.
Iām just naming a few obvious there are literally dozens to exploreā¦I canāt keep up to be quite honest in the amount of new names (not these) I am looking forward to tasting!
[/quote]
To me these producers are very different, making wines in very different ways and of different quality. If anything, all the more reason to drink them blind to see what one likes.
That list doesnāt include most of my favorite growers, incidentally, which just goes to show how diverse the field is.
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Just naming a few upcoming or recently established growers. (These are not unknown growers here) Iām Not talking my favorites after the first two as those are the only ones I buy.
There are many many many one could name. You can tell me all the reasons why you think are similar or not but I donāt buy mostly that in the bottle between similar grapes ect. I love the nuance and story as much as anybody but when it comes down to itā¦ I think naming a champagne blind is extremely tough to do
Thatās an awfully good question, Brian. Mostly, I have managed to continue to enjoy wines I bought a long time ago. I bought some 2001 Sauternes and no 2001 Riesling ā I wasnāt in the Riesling world. Also came to Champagne late. If I could go back 15 years and be a different person, I would change that patterning.
To me, drinking blind is about removing bias, education and fun. I enjoy the process, the reasoning and discussing the wine. āCalling the wineā isnāt really the point, even if thatās the end product. And the only consequence of being good at blinds is being good at blinds. That said, Iāve seen people correctly call champagnes blind, so I donāt understand why itās ābullshitā.
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Nah. I am pretty happy with the cellar I have. If I had it to do all over again, I might have a few more pinnacle wines and fewer ādaily drinkers,ā mainly because I donāt drink daily and never really have. But I have to say many (though not all by any means) of those supposedly inconsequential wines have turned out to be pretty pretty nice.
Also, as I said above, I would probably have bought a few more 375s earlier, as most of the ones I now own are younger than the cellar as a whole.
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My apologies, itās only for the best of the best tasters of course.
I can see trying to calli Pinot burgundy v new world. Or even burgundy appellations. I have yet to be convinced of champagne imaging regionally yet alone by vineyards.
Certaiin Producers certainly have an imprint that could be detected at times imo.