Idk, I’ll let you read what nick, mark and I wrote about the bottle we had last year. Whether things are worth it is a personal decision but I will tell you that I’ve spent 3k on many other things that gave much less pleasure than this particular bottle.
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A lot of what I was buying early on was cases and cases of Village stuff. Then I realized I’m never going to go through multiple cases of every vintage of low level stuff. Also I learned that there’s always another vintage. I might like one vintage enough and buy a bunch, but then the next vintage comes out and blows the last one away and I’m stuck with a bunch of wine that doesn’t excite me as much as the new bottles I just bought. So now I’m much more judicious about what I buy in average vintages and only load up in the best vintages for my palate.
These Burgundy conversations sort of repeat themselves in different iterations over the months & years. With Burgundy, in particular, it’s worth thinking about whether to use resources to ‘build a personal collection’ sooner or to use them to travel/taste/meetup. Particularly to sample wines well kept and showing full potential.
Andrew & Michael are expressing the benefits of looking for Horizons more than building one’s own structures as fast as one can with ‘solid’ resources.
The maze of Burgundy premier crus is very daunting to get a grip on. Even with unlimited resources, but especially with limited ones like most of us 
. It’s worth holding resources in reserve to see if there’s a vineyard or producer which makes your palate sing.
For the record, even with La Tache, not every vintage is going to make you feel the magic. The 1996 has been a strange experience, for instance. The 2001 tho… The Magic. Overwhelmingly beautiful wine.
Thanks, Brig,
And we agree on 2)!
Good to know, Rich,
And thanks!
Well, Andrew,
Back in the day I bought a lot of village also. Some, which still I like, Felletig or Burguet, are well priced and stilll available. But I was also lucky to buy village, Rousseau, Dujac, Barthod, Bachelet, Fourrier, and, perhaps most sublimely of all, the sisters. I wish I could restock any those at even double the price I paid back; it might be possible for Fourrier and Barthod, but not the rest. Of course, there were some losers, as @Rahsaan_M points out, but even the ones that might be a bit removed from my palate and don’t get a lot of love here, like Dugat-Py and Roty were still quite interesting and can make a nice change.
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Blue chips are always a good buy at every level and wonderful to drink. I was buying cases and cases of second or third tier Village wines and those are the ones I found little use for.
P.S. Somewhat tangential, but relevant to newer collectors & newer Wine Beserkers or long-time lurkers.
Those notes Michael linked to above are some of my very favorite I’ve posted on here and you’ll see that I got 11 engagements (two by people at the dinner) 
.
It’s worth taking the time to post on here. Even if you worry about Crickets. It’s a good muscle to use & you’ll love that the notes are up to remember special evenings together with friends.
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Sure, Andrew,
But my point was that none of ther were not really fully established “blue chips,” when I started buying them. Now that they are, I, at least, can’t afford them.
Cheers,
J
I’m mostly getting my cellar where I want it, but I still have a bunch of wines that I’ll rarely if ever drink such as a bunch of northern Rhône, some Italian, a bit of white burg, beaujolais, Napa, and bdx, although that’s probably only ~10% of the cellar. Eventually once I sell through some more wine I’ll end up with just red burg, champagne, and a bit of Sauternes with maybe just a few other wines.
Some mistakes I made early on were just buying a lot of varietals that I liked but didn’t really love that much. Since I’ve been drinking much less now it’s pretty much only red burg, champagne and Sauternes.
I think it’s the other way around, the really grand stuff is at its most exciting when one is not in any way accustomed to it. In wine as with everything else it isn’t really possible to keep repeating the same pleasure with the same results.
I don’t really think that’s true. I think you do need some level of experience with burgs to appreciate them. I had a bunch of DRC before I had much wine experience at all and didn’t really appreciate much of the nuance.
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Advice for the folks over 50- don’t stock up on cellar defenders.
I slowed down dramatically when I turned 70, and rarely need a defender- too many gems to drink.
You are never more than a year or two for a new great vintage of defenders, you don’t need 10 cases of defenders . (Unless they are gems as well),
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I did the same but look back at those purchases as part of the evolution of my preferences and a learning experience rather than mistakes. Other than maybe buying too much of any one wine. I made a few mistakes there.
There’s no way to know where the journey will take you when you’re just starting out.
I think for me this was actually a mistake. I don’t diversify anything else in my life, why would I diversify my cellar?
I’m content eating the same things and having nearly the same routine every day.
That’s fine, but how did you figure out what your preferences were?
I ask this as someone who, while still open to trying new things, also most often sticks to what I know I like. It took some experience to get there. I wasn’t born knowing I would end up liking Bordeaux, Champagne, German Riesling, and Sauternes. I started diverse and honed in on these over time.
As much as I enjoyed the journey to get here, it’s not one I want to devote a lot of time to repeating now that I know what I like. I also don’t rule out the possibility that my palate may change or that wine styles might change in the future. I’ll deal with that if/when it happens.
All my “cellar defenders” are gems to me. Even my beloved Brana, which costs all of $20 in the door. Often, there is nothing I’d rather drink.
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I’ve known for at least 10 years but have just kept buying a few things in hopes of liking them and haven’t.
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John
My guess is that I am around the same age as you are based on prior conversations. I think I am somewhat in the middle between you and your friends. I have gotten less interested in buying wines to age because (1) I have too much wine and (2) I am too old to buy wines that need to be aged for 20 years.
On the other hand, I have some curiosity still about wines that are less familiar to me. For example, I have enjoyed some really old Zins and bought a couple of bottles of 1979 Ridge Zins this year. I have never tried Joseph Swan Zin and would be interested in trying it. I would be interested in finding Brunello with some age as this is a wine that I have largely ignored over the years and now I like. Having tried and loved a 20 year old Mount Eden Cabernet and really liked it (sort of like Ridge MB without all the new oak), I am interested in trying one of their Pinots or Chardonnays with some age on them (not sure how much I will like the aged Chardonnay - I like Stony Hill Chardonnays, but not with as much age on them as with some others do). And, I sometimes have a hankering for a Bandol, like Chateau Pradeaux. And, while I have always loved German wines, in the last few years many of the German wines I have bought come from Falkenstein - which is relatively new to me (I think my first vintage from them was 2017).
So, I still have some curiosity about wines different from what I drink most, but I don’t really buy much inexpensive wines because I have a lot of wines to drink and I don’t drink wines on anything like a daily basis.
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Interesting you mention FOMO. That was big deal for me when I first started. I hate to admit I made more than a few silly purchases as a result of it. Occasionally get a twitch and feel like I need to jump on something but overall, it’s not an issue. I’ve been able to resist most urges and be patient.
At the end of the day, there will always be more wine and there’s no way to have it all. Haven’t we already had like 10 vintages of the century or something?
My only regret is not exploring some regions more thoroughly years ago, but I had less resources then. I’ve got sort of a barbell collection as a result, but that’s ok. I like the wines I have and there will always be something somewhere to drink.