A few verticals I am concentrated on building are chateau d’Armailhac, Dominus and Opus. Have a good base now it’s just to continue acquiring new releases.
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Updating to now include
Gonon St Jo 2009-2022
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Di Costanzo Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Farella Vineyard -
2012, 2013, 2019
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The 19 is killer. You will love it.
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Some of the verticals I’m working on in no particular order:
Leoville-poyferre
Pegau CDP
Chave hermitage
Dunn Howell Mountain
Dominus
I’ve been working on some serious horizontals . . . . 
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Yeah, I have a lot of verticals on the launch pad.
All have vertical potential.
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How have you approached the Pegau vertical?
Had my first one only this year. Never spent time in southern rhone. Really enjoyed it. Thinking about grabbing some back vintages to explore more.
My best is Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee: 04, 06, 08, 09, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. I never owned the 05 and 07, and finished my 11s last year. The 11 was pretty good despite the vintage being not well-regarded, and I wish I would have hung onto one bottle.
Not far behind is the Vilmart Grand Cellier d’Or. 08, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.
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In general, i don’t think CDP ages as well as most people think. Not enough acid, hot climate. There are some exceptions in Rayas and Bonneau but those come with a hefty price tag.
I have ‘09 forward right now…and will likely open a 10 year vertical with some friends here in the next year or so.
I find Pegau to have a lot of notes that you’d find in a northern Rhône red, specifically Cornas. Lots of animal skin and violet. Love them as a producer, but I find myself slowly falling out of love with CDP, except for the two producers mentioned above.
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It depends on what “aging” means and how long you would expect it to last. I’ve had 30-year old Chateauneuf du Papes that were lovely (Beaucastel, Clos des Papes, Pegau). No, a Chateauneuf du Pape won’t last as long as a structured cabernet, but it can have a nice aging curve.
I also wonder how some of the newer ones will age. Clos St. Jean and Saint Prefert are both very tannic in their youth, so I tend to want to wait 15-20 years to drink them.
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That’s awesome.
I have '96, '06, 07, 08, 09, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14. Vilmart is my only 2010 Champagne besides Dom, and I only have one bottle of each from that vintage. For 2011 Champagne, I only bought 2 bottles of Vilmart, a bunch of Larmandier Bernier VV du Levant, and one Egly-Oriet Millesime because I thought it was a good price. That’s one I’ll trade out for something else in the future. E-O Millesime has be hit or miss for me, and the pricing inflated beyond the quality IMO.
Laurent Champs does really well in off vintages, so I’m not worried about those. How Larmandier-Bernier produced such a masterpiece in 2011 I’ll never know. Probably just good terroir, farming, winemaking and selective harvesting.
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The 04 -10 are single bottles. They feel like awesome kids I won’t let move out. The 09 is capital G gorgeous and the 06 spun my head off last time I opened it. I know a source for an 06 mag but asked the generous donor to donate it to Falltacular 2025.
The wines seem to age so well as you intimately know.
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They definitely age well. To my palate, they take a long time to show their stuff. 2009 Vilmart CdC was still tight when all of my other 09’s were evolved and expressive, some right out of the gate.
Ceritas Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Peter Martin Ray Vineyard -
2017, 2018, 2019