I’m satisfied with what I did. In hindsight, some opportunities weren’t optimized, like one-time chances to buy something.
If the question is if I didn’t have a collection and was looking to build one now, there are certainly producers I’d buy more of, but don’t because I have too much wine, and similar enough in the same quality level. That goes for daily drinkers, too. I’d be perfectly happy never buying another bottle.
Not much. I needed to make the numerous mistakes, working through the process of trial and error. It’d be nice to have more champagne and a few more cherries (Burgs, Bordeaux, Barolo).
There will always be wines that you wished you bought more of. Overall I’m satisfied with the size and variety of the collection. It took 30+ years to get there.
RT
my thought is more the accessibility from a price standpoint of the touchstone wines. I have already come to accept that starting 4-5 years ago on the wine journey and with the disposable income that I have, some things are and will just always be unobtainable for me to try. things that would have been accessible (albeit still probably splurge-priced) if purchased in the 70s, 80s or 90s. (thinking things like first growths, top producer grand crus, very top baroli, etc. that, coupled with a love of old school California producers, I think would make up for the variation.
to be fair, I will maintain and concede that in general someone who is NOT buying first growths or grand crus, there has overall never been a better time for an average wine consumer than now. but I feel that hole in my experience of not getting to try and become familiar with benchmark wines that are now prohibitively expensive.
You just pretend you live in Texas, right?
Hey, never too late to start one!
No time like today to build the cellar. I think I was older than you when had ours built - when we decided we would stay in the house after retirement. You will never regret it.
First champagne, now Ladd? It just gets worse and worse.
Future 2 buck chuck(roast) purveyor.
Zoom in on that photo, that’s an ‘09-Ladd from back in the day
More Bordeaux to age and whites to drink in the near term.
I am pretty happy with what I have now, which is different than what I was buying when I started but the journey is part of the fun. Regrets, I have a few. While I have plenty of Champagne, I have sold a lot of Champagne. In hindsight that was a mistake. Also, I probably would have bought more Burgundy and less Bordeaux.
Perhaps a broader focus to start with, but I shouldn’t forget that with a narrow focus comes greater confidence in that space, and the world of wine is a scarily big (and occasionally pompous) place.
I’d definitely not change the initial focus on wines that will cellar well, though I would either temper that with some good early drinkers, or pursue the auction scene to get some pre-acquired age into the cellar
Whilst it takes a while to build up confidence in your own palate, trusting it sooner would always be better.
Not too many changes TBH
Spend more on high end wines and less on what I would call mid-tier wines.
This was my answer as well.
This is how I feel.
A normal mid-tier wine is as memorable as a good everyday bottle of wine. As in it’s not. Pay up for wines you’ll remember and drink normal/everyday* wines the rest of the time. *Everyone’s version of 'normal" is different.
My two cents n top of everything said already is I would have found a way to participate in the VDP auctions faster. Best bang for your buck to get “parting the clouds” wine, and I’ve always found getting a wide band of good German wines hard.
I also would have reloaded on things a lot faster when I knew they were great for me and would last/improve for a long time. They get harder and more expensive to get in quantity later. I went through a half case of '01 Prum in no time (or my wife did) and I should have seen that and bought cases while I could. Same goes for Beaucastel VV etc.
Dang, you and I sound a lot alike. I’m on my third cellar having started my first one in the early 80s, drank it down, another stint late 80s, drank it down, finally the current run back to 90s. Maybe it’ll stick finally. I also did the beer brewing thing along the ways as well.
I’ve rejiggered my cellar several times over the 40 years that I’ve been cellaring wine. With easy access to legal resale and the transparency that comes along with it due to competition among the resellers, it has become a simple matter to thin when appropriate or to make a big turn on occasion.
