I guess I’m not a true wine geek, since I skipped most of the stages and went from stage 2 to stage 8 almost overnight.
Still there, no hurry to reach stage 9. Basically because I’ve already gone through 10 and 11.
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G2. Wisdom there.
Please though replace Burgundy with Champagne.
Thank You,
The Management
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Fail…Go back to stage 2.
Implies you have any $ left in the kitty.
Well, aren’t you exceptional…
But it’s all Burgundy and German Riesling!
My friend and wine consultant extraordinaire, Jeff Smith, says “The fully evolved collector only drinks red Burgundy and Champagne, that’s it.”
Jeff is partially correct; the fully evolved collector only drinks Northern Rhone reds, Italian Nebbiolo, Riesling, and Champagne.
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That’s exactly what my mum has told me as well!
Is this him?
Not to take something which is humorous and treat it too seriously, but I think the typical journey depends some on your age or the time in which you got really into wine.
If it was the 90s and 00s, major critics probably had much more of your attention for a period of time than they would if you got into it in the last decade. And the more recently-minted wine enthusiast might be less likely to end up at Burgundy and Champagne because of how crazy the prices are now, versus if someone got the Burgundy bug 20+ years ago. And so forth.
FIFY
The fully-evolved collector doesn’t GAF about what snobs say is the right and wrong wine to drink, he just enjoys exploring the world of wine, and buying and drinking the wines that make him happy.
Apparently all fully evolved collectors are male?
I think your friend is spot on
This is just me, but I don’t use they to refer to singulars and having to say he or she all the time is clumsy sounding. Just in my opinion.
So I vary it, sometimes use he, sometimes she. Nothing is meant in either case.
Follow-up question is… how many of us have a fairly generous size collection of wines at home already or have access to?
Does having very interesting wine make you more likely want to share those bottles? / open them on a random Tuesday? instead of the classic “I want to wait for a special occasion before I open this wine.”
After hosting a holiday party a customer said “when should I open a bottle like this?”
I responded: If you’re having a great time, then the wine almost doesn’t matter. You’ll remember how much fun you had and the people you were with. If you’ve had a long day or terrible week… a nice bottle of wine is going to be more appreciated in that moment then lost at NYE party among 30 other bottles of wine.
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This is only a fractional answer to your good question, but (1) while I’m still susceptible to the pull of holding onto bottles for special occasions and, more, for the right tastings with my wine friends, (2) the more my collection becomes overlarge in size and in (what I consider) high quality wines, the easier it is to open something very good on a random weeknight alone or with my wife.
Also, as the years grind forward, a higher and higher percentage of my collection consist of bottles that are into a reasonable drinking age. So that, combined with just the sheer number of good bottles, helps me overcome the impulse to think I should only open an inexpensive bottle on a “non-special” occasion.
Basically, I’m no better than anyone else, but I’ve just spent my way into forcing better decisions some of the time.
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I mean that’s all relative to the size and quality of your cellar. If you’re Bill Koch, then 61 Lafite or RC might be a Tuesday night wine, not so much for most people. As I recall, he opened up 61 lafite when the writer came to interview him about the rodenstock bottles.
I’ll open up grand crus from good producers like Rousseau on random weeknights if I feel like it, but I’m still not going to open my most treasured bottles Willy nilly.
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I do throw a couple of “guest” wines into the wine fridge… around the $30 because we do have some moments when people just want something to drink for the sake of drinking.
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I do the same. Most of my friends and guests don’t care as long as it is easy to drink.
On a note about “for the sake of drinking”…I am scaling back my wine consumption because it became apparent to me that I was cracking open bottles more frequently under the guise of “exploring new wines” or a similar wine-lover reason, when I actually think I wanted an excuse to drink.
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