to budding collectors: wine is not magic

[Anthony_Iezzi]

There is way more to be said for great bottles then for great wines. I would prefer to have average wine with great company then a great bottle by myself. If I can pull off a great bottle with great company & food then that’s magical.

[Blake_Brown]

@Subu Ramachandran

Well said Ron, Ian and Blake.

As Ian said explore…there’s so much to discover. Just as in life, learning in wine is a never-ending process.

As Blake mentioned, if you like a wine enjoy it, if you really like it buy a few bottles. As sane advice I received years, which truly helped me.

I would also encourage to attend as many tasting events this is the best way to learn about a region, current trends, producer styles and your own palate.

Finally share your knowledge and wines with friends and family. If magic happens it happens unexpectedly at the dinner table when someone you know has the “ah” moment!

I like Subu`s 2 additional add ons re doing tastings and sharing the love. Good advice from first hand experience.

[Scott_G_r_u_n_e_r]

I think I said this before, being a wine lover (berserker, aficionado, collector, oenofile, Whine-o-file, etc) is akin to being the pigeon in a prototypical skinner box. We keep pecking the button to get the reward, but the magical wines come sparsely and intermittently which keeps us pecking in the hopes that the next one might be THE one.

Slot machines work similarly. As do most video games, etc.

[Victor_Hong]

Wine is a reflection of human life, with alcohol added.
So, along with joy, one would find envy, deceit, wealth, power, impoverishment, health, and overindulgence. For reference, use the Search function.

[rfelthoven]

@Victor Hong

Wine is a reflection of human life, with alcohol added.
So, along with joy, one would find envy, deceit, wealth, power, impoverishment, health, and overindulgence. For reference, use the Search function.

That’s some deep shit…

"Scanners" Head Explosion

[Robert.A.Jr]

@Alan Rath

@GregT

And why would your tastes change? That has never happened to me in maybe thirty years of drinking wine. I’ve discovered a lot of wines I like that I didn’t know about, but I never stopped liking the ones I liked early on.

I think you are a little unusual in this respect. My tastes have most definitely changed, and I think that’s true of most people, at least those who get involved in fine wine. Though if you were lucky enough to start with the right wines, I can see not having to change.

I see what Greg is saying. My core tastes have not really changed since I went down this path in 1992. The only wine that I have stopped buying is Southern Rhone, but I look at that region as having left me, not the other way around. I think once you start building your cellar, you have some sense of what you really like, otherwise you are just buying stuff to buy it. Perhaps that is the point, don’t start amassing a collection until you have some true sense of what you love.

[David_Bu3ker]

I was thinking about this thread last night while I was sipping on a basic Bourgogne. The wine was wholly satisfying. I wondered what else I was supposed to be looking for. I finally decided the answer was nothing. The Bourgogne was doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

The magic is in us. We just have to be willing to let it breathe.

[Blake_Brown]

@D@vid Bu3ker

I was thinking about this thread last night while I was sipping on a basic Bourgogne. The wine was wholly satisfying. I wondered what else I was supposed to be looking for. I finally decided the answer was nothing. The Bourgogne was doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

The magic is in us. We just have to be willing to let it breathe.

Nicely stated and so true.

[S_Stevenson]

@rfelthoven

2. Not all wines will improve with time, and some may get worse. If you buy a bunch of wine and sit on it for a long time waiting for a payoff you may be disappointed. Don’t be afraid to drink your wines, and keep some records about where the wine is at if you have multiple bottles. Find out if you even like aged wines.

This. And it applies to a lot more fine wine than you might think. When I see the threads on having to put this or that wine for many, many years I shutter. Even great wines that do improve with aging often are wonderful to taste young, abet a different experience, but one not one to necessarily miss.

[Robert.A.Jr]

@D@vid Bu3ker

I was thinking about this thread last night while I was sipping on a basic Bourgogne. The wine was wholly satisfying. I wondered what else I was supposed to be looking for. I finally decided the answer was nothing. The Bourgogne was doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

The magic is in us. We just have to be willing to let it breathe.

.

A bit romaticized but true in many respects. Perhaps existential, but I love enjoying a simple wine for what it is, what it was intended to be. Not every wine needs to be magical. I derive great pleasure out of daily wines.

[GregT]

@Robert Alfert

@Alan Rath

@GregT

And why would your tastes change? That has never happened to me in maybe thirty years of drinking wine. I’ve discovered a lot of wines I like that I didn’t know about, but I never stopped liking the ones I liked early on.

I think you are a little unusual in this respect. My tastes have most definitely changed, and I think that’s true of most people, at least those who get involved in fine wine. Though if you were lucky enough to start with the right wines, I can see not having to change.

I see what Greg is saying. My core tastes have not really changed since I went down this path in 1992. The only wine that I have stopped buying is Southern Rhone, but I look at that region as having left me, not the other way around. I think once you start building your cellar, you have some sense of what you really like, otherwise you are just buying stuff to buy it. Perhaps that is the point, don’t start amassing a collection until you have some true sense of what you love.

And that’s it. When I first got interested in wine seriously, it was Rioja that gave me that “aha” moment. I still love it and drink it as often as I can. Even before that, my mother used to drink Riesling and I love that sweet/tart balance that good Kabinett offers. Don’t think I’ll ever stop loving it. Then I discovered CdP and loved the lush fruit - that lead to Australian wine and big CA Cabs. I still like those. But along the way somehow I spent time in Hungary and Austria and developed a love for intensely acidic whites - that was cemented by a few trips to the Loire valley, and encountering some reds from Saumur that were unlike any I’d had before made me eager to explore the region further.

And so it goes. Today I tasted a wine I’d never had before - Albarossa, and in addition had a few delicious wines made from Schioppettino. It’s not like there’s necessarily a progression in one’s tastes, more like there’s an ever-expanding appreciation of new and different things, while a soft spot remains for one’s earliest loves. (Except my first crush in high school - she’s better left as an unfulfilled fantasy.)

For that reason only I would agree that it’s a good idea not to load up on a lot of wine you like today. You may like them tomorrow as well. But leave yourself time to explore and discover other stuff. And whatever you do, don’t buy stuff that you think you’re supposed to like, or that you’ll “grow into”. Some people like things that leave others mystified.

Don’t forget, there’s some stuff in life that’s just inexplicable and not for the likes of ordinary humans to understand - the principle of zippers, the no-boundary proposal, the Khardashians, Pinot Noir, Minkowski space, etc. But for whoever’s starting out - bon voyage!

[Ralph_George]

Wine is not magic? Well, chocolate ain’t magic either, but that ain’t gonna stop me from enjoying it or wine.

[Subu_Ramachandran]

@Robert Alfert

I think once you start building your cellar, you have some sense of what you really like, otherwise you are just buying stuff to buy it. Perhaps that is the point, don’t start amassing a collection until you have some true sense of what you love.

Well said!

[alan_weinberg]

have to disagree. Wine is magic. No other hobby has held my fascination, interest, and passion for so long—now more than 3 decades. It makes me think, dream, and grow. The people I have met—other wine lovers and vignerons—have left indelible marks on me. The intellectual aspects, the hedonistic aspects, all heighten my love of life. I owe this to wine. Not every bottle, for sure, but to the hobby itself. Wine is magic.

[Ian_Sutton]

@Robert Alfert

@D@vid Bu3ker

I was thinking about this thread last night while I was sipping on a basic Bourgogne. The wine was wholly satisfying. I wondered what else I was supposed to be looking for. I finally decided the answer was nothing. The Bourgogne was doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

The magic is in us. We just have to be willing to let it breathe.

.

A bit romaticized but true in many respects. Perhaps existential, but I love enjoying a simple wine for what it is, what it was intended to be. Not every wine needs to be magical. I derive great pleasure out of daily wines.

Indeed that’s probably been one of my more important (wine related) realisations in the last couple of years, that a good solid & straightforward wine is often just what’s needed over a more ambitious (or worse - a ‘worked’) wine.

[Robert_Grenley]

I have found that the more salivating the review and the harder I have to work to find the wine and the more I pay and the longer it ages it my cellar, the more I expect an ethereal experience. And ethereal experiences are not that common. So don’t overpay because you may expect too much and be disappointed. But when you hit it right, it keeps you trying to replicate the experience. And like it baseball, if you are batting .300 you are doing really well.

[Howard_Cooper]

@GregT

Why buy white and sparkling wines if you don’t like them? Because one day you might decide you like them? Applied to anything other than wine, that would be really weird advice.

Certainly no reason to buy whites because someday you might like them because most are drunk young (contrast with say Barolo). If you really don’t like them, don’t buy them.

But, do you really not like any white wines? There are a whole bunch I really love starting with white Burgundy, German wines and Champagne? How much have you experimented with these wines? For years, I did not really like Champagne, then over time I realized that what I did not like was the Champagnes I was drinking. Through friends, I got to taste better (although not necessarily more expensive) Champagnes and now I have found a lot that I really love, including wines from small producers like Cedric Bouchard and Bereche (whose basic wines are a steal).

I don’t eat that much beef anymore. Don’t you need whites for fish, etc. What are you drinking with such dishes.

And, my favorite meals with friends feature a progression of wines over the evening - maybe start with a Champagne, move to a white Burgundy, then some reds and finish with a sweet wine. Need a bunch of whites in such a progression. Are you drinking reds in such an occasion from the beginning or are you drinking wines more alone and not with food?

[Howard_Cooper]

@alan weinberg

have to disagree. Wine is magic. No other hobby has held my fascination, interest, and passion for so long—now more than 3 decades. It makes me think, dream, and grow. The people I have met—other wine lovers and vignerons—have left indelible marks on me. The intellectual aspects, the hedonistic aspects, all heighten my love of life. I owe this to wine. Not every bottle, for sure, but to the hobby itself. Wine is magic.

[Gregory_Dal_Piaz]

@alan weinberg

have to disagree. Wine is magic. No other hobby has held my fascination, interest, and passion for so long—now more than 3 decades. It makes me think, dream, and grow. The people I have met—other wine lovers and vignerons—have left indelible marks on me. The intellectual aspects, the hedonistic aspects, all heighten my love of life. I owe this to wine. Not every bottle, for sure, but to the hobby itself. Wine is magic.

Thank you.

Wine is magic.

[Ralph_George]

Wine may not be magic, but Burgundy is certainly voodoo.