What is the deepest vertical in your cellar?

[billnanson]

23 years consecutive - Ponsot / Chezeaux Griotte 1994-2016. I eventually decided I had enough and didn’t buy 17…

[Jay_Miller]

I don’t set out to build verticals but there are some that have accumulated over the years. These are the only ones with over 6 distinct vintages:

12 vintages of Magdelaine
7 vintages of Drouhin Bonnes Mares
7 vintages of Rollin Pernand Vergelesses “Iles des Vergelesses”

[Greg_K]

I also have smaller verticals of Magdelaine and Figeac

The funny thing is, Sociando and Magdelaine are amongst my deepest verticals. I have the Maggie with some nice old years like 70, 75, 82 and 85, up to 2011. Would have to go count for total vintages. Among some of the popular Board wines, I have a straight vertical of Gonon back to 2007, a run of Levet back to 2004, Baudry back to 2005, and a mess of Ridge. Lanessan is all over the map, too.

Levet is also my biggest vertical in the northern Rhône, back to 2004 (though cellar tracker is telling me I’m somehow missing 2012?!?). For Bordeaux it’s pichon Lalande, though it’s all older - I don’t buy young Bordeaux. In burgundy it’s Fourrier.

[Greg_K]

I don’t set out to build verticals but there are some that have accumulated over the years. These are the only ones with over 6 distinct vintages:

12 vintages of Magdelaine
7 vintages of Drouhin Bonnes Mares
7 vintages of Rollin Pernand Vergelesses “Iles des Vergelesses”

I saw your village burgundy post and immediately knew what “pernand” meant Same reason I own more Pernand than Meursault!

[Brian_S_t_o_t_t_e_r]

20 vintages of Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese - consecutive
14 vintages of Donnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spatlese
13 vintages of J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese

There are a bunch of other German wines where I have 9 or 10 vintages.

My longest red wine vertical is 11 vintages of Edmunds St. John Rocks & Gravel.

Now THAT I’m jealous of.

[Jay_Miller]

I don’t set out to build verticals but there are some that have accumulated over the years. These are the only ones with over 6 distinct vintages:

12 vintages of Magdelaine
7 vintages of Drouhin Bonnes Mares
7 vintages of Rollin Pernand Vergelesses “Iles des Vergelesses”

I saw your village burgundy post and immediately knew what “pernand” meant Same reason I own more Pernand than Meursault!

lol, yes. It was all one producer.

[Merrill_Lindquist]

Wow - some impressive collections. Mine is obvious: one (or more) of every vintage I have made of EMH Black Cat, which is 2000 through 2018.

[Chris_Seiber]

This is one of those questions I struggle with all the time: What am I building the vertical for? I realize that wine collecting is almost as much a hobby as it is about actually drinking the wine, so from that perspective I get it, but what am I going to do: have a bunch of people over and drink 20 vintages of Chave Hermitage? While that sounds AWESOME, I don’t have enough wine friends that would appreciate this (or that could reciprocate the offer with a similar wine, for that matter).

So if I’m just going to end up pulling my one bottle of 1994 and taking it to dinner with me one night, why am I spending time hunting vintages in auctions to build the vertical? I don’t have the kind of cash to build a vertical by the case - as fun as that sounds - so once I pull a single bottle… then what? I need to hunt it again at auction … or is the game ever over–did I win? I do consciously avoid bottles that are part of a vertical in my cellar for fear of “breaking up the vertical” … which brings me back to: what am I doing this for?

I was going to ask this same question. Doesn’t the vertical discourage you from opening the bottles, unless you have a vertical with large numbers of the vintages?

[Chris_Seiber]

And does everyone mean an uninterrupted string of vintage, or just how many vintages of something you have? I had always assumed it meant the former, but I’m not sure if everyone else understands it that way.

[AndrewH]

This is one of those questions I struggle with all the time: What am I building the vertical for? I realize that wine collecting is almost as much a hobby as it is about actually drinking the wine, so from that perspective I get it, but what am I going to do: have a bunch of people over and drink 20 vintages of Chave Hermitage? While that sounds AWESOME, I don’t have enough wine friends that would appreciate this (or that could reciprocate the offer with a similar wine, for that matter).

So if I’m just going to end up pulling my one bottle of 1994 and taking it to dinner with me one night, why am I spending time hunting vintages in auctions to build the vertical? I don’t have the kind of cash to build a vertical by the case - as fun as that sounds - so once I pull a single bottle… then what? I need to hunt it again at auction … or is the game ever over–did I win? I do consciously avoid bottles that are part of a vertical in my cellar for fear of “breaking up the vertical” … which brings me back to: what am I doing this for?

I was going to ask this same question. Doesn’t the vertical discourage you from opening the bottles, unless you have a vertical with large numbers of the vintages?

I as well. At what point do you start opening the older bottles in the vertical? Sure, some of these mentioned are probably still aging well, but at some point . . . (and I confess I have a couple of wines with about 10 years in a row that I probably just need to pull the cork on the oldest bottles).

[crickey]

14 Shafer Hillside (missing 2006 and 2008, which I drank already).
11 consecutive of Saxum James Berry.

[Brandon_R]

I don’t necessarily think a vertical has to be a consecutive string of vintages. And, these are mostly from buying a wine on release without consideration for vintage, mostly because I really like them almost all years. I don’t “chase” down missing bottles to fill in gaps, although I can see the allure. It’s fun to taste through a lineup of the same wines and note differences in vintage conditions and how they affect the wines.

5 years of Belle Pente Murto Pinot Noir (2010 - 2014)
5 years of Woodward Canyon Artist Series Cab (2010 - 2017, missing '14-'16)
5 years of Di Costanzo Farella Vinyeard Cab (2013 - 2017)

Several others that are only 3 years or so.

[EvanLodes]

Pierre Peters Chetillons - 14 vintages back to 1995, but there are a few missing in the middle so not contiguous.

[Mattstolz]

This is one of those questions I struggle with all the time: What am I building the vertical for? I realize that wine collecting is almost as much a hobby as it is about actually drinking the wine, so from that perspective I get it, but what am I going to do: have a bunch of people over and drink 20 vintages of Chave Hermitage? While that sounds AWESOME, I don’t have enough wine friends that would appreciate this (or that could reciprocate the offer with a similar wine, for that matter).

So if I’m just going to end up pulling my one bottle of 1994 and taking it to dinner with me one night, why am I spending time hunting vintages in auctions to build the vertical? I don’t have the kind of cash to build a vertical by the case - as fun as that sounds - so once I pull a single bottle… then what? I need to hunt it again at auction … or is the game ever over–did I win? I do consciously avoid bottles that are part of a vertical in my cellar for fear of “breaking up the vertical” … which brings me back to: what am I doing this for?

It’s a good question. I have a couple very small verticals, but it’s mostly just because I really enjoy the wines so I buy them each year. But I think unless your plan is to sell them as a set, then the healthiest view is to either start planning the party where you’ll invite us all over to taste them together or start pulling them and not caring!

[Br1an_Th0rne]

Mouton Rothschild 12
Haut Brion 11
Grand Puy Lacoste 10

[David_Glasser]

Beaucastel - 18
Pichon Lalande and Conseillante - 12
Haut Brion - 10

[NED_VALOIS]

1863 Bual Madeira to present !

[Dav3_Dyr0ff]

I don’t set out to build verticals for the sake of having “a vertical,” and I certainly don’t avoid drinking the bottles that are ready for purposes of preserving an unbroken vertical. I plan on opening every bottle I have, at some point. But, of course, I do set out to buy my favorites every year, or almost every year, except when they (like Chave, Giacosa, Chevillon, Montebello, and too many others to name) increase too much in price and I have to move on to other alternatives to stay within the budget.

As for the original question of which wine do I have in the most vintages, it currently looks like:

Beaucastel (rouge) 15 vintages
Ridge Montebello 14
Ridge Geyserville 12
Felsina CCR “Rancia” 11
Chave Hermitage (rouge) 10
Chevillon “Vaucrains” 10
Taylor vintage Port 10
Lagier-Meredith syrah 9
Leoville Barton 9

Of these, I’m only still buying Beau, Geezer, Rancia, L-M, and LeoB. The others have priced me out (or in the case of Taylor I’ve stopped buying due to accumulating my lifetime supply). And among the ones I’m still buying, at least the Geezer I don’t expect to grow from here, as I am basically at equilibrium - drinking the oldest vintage in the cellar every year, and replacing it with the new release.

[Rauno_E_NZ]

Jamet Cote Rotie (15+)
Carillon Bienvenue Batard Montrachet (12)

[Mark_Golodetz]

VCC 39
Trotanoy 34
Pichon Lalande 33