I am curious how others approach. I’ve actually had a couple of decent value wine related gift cards that I’ve received lately. The most recent of which one of the cards from the BD raffle.
So let’s say my average normal wine purchase is $50-80ish. Would you use a $500 gift card to get a single really nice bottle that you’d never buy otherwise, or a couple of fairly above average price bottles that would still be stretches typically?
Id aim for a half case on the high end of my budget or a case on the low end, depending on whether I wanted to drink now or have enough wine to drink and want to get more in the pipeline.
I’d go for a $500 bottle, it’s found money. YOLO
First things first, Congratulations!
How about spending around half on a ‘splurge’ bottle and the other half on those bottles that are in your usual price range? Maybe Champagne for the splurge bottle to celebrate your win?
Your typical spend is about the same as mine. I’d probably look to get a couple well-over average spend, but I wouldn’t completely dismiss getting just one bottle. This is within the context of finally having a cellar that has holdings in sufficient quantity and ages to do for us that which having a cellar is designed to do. If I was still in the cellar building phase I’d probably just use the gift certificate in the same way I typically spend money out of my wallet.
I wouldnt necessarily buy one single bottle with the entire balance, but would aim to buy one or more bottles a good couple pegs more expensive than my usual weekend fare. That way it registers as something special as opposed to just one more good solid drinker.
Agree with all of this
Champagne is never a wrong answer
It is the perfect example to buy something that you will drink. It’s found wine, don’t hold it for 20 years. Use it for something today, I’d look at it as a stumbled upon experience.
If you want to divide it into two I would think that makes sense too.
I’d go 2-3 nice bottles in the $150-$175 range. That gives you some very nice options to add bottles (plural) above your usual spend.
Yes you can go for the single $500 bottle but I just feel 2-3 bottles gives you more to enjoy than a single bottle.
Agree with several others. I have a similar range as yours so I would be happy to buy a couple of bottles in the $200-$250 range. A big factor is that I already have plenty of wine to drink so I don’t need more of the same.
So far I think a lot of these suggestions are kind of what I was planning. A couple of 150-200ish bottles will still feel like really special bottles, and I would definitely want to get something that’s drinkable soon. Like Brian said, the cellar is full enough that it’s not any fun to spend found YOLO money on something that’s just gonna sit there.
I do also think there’s a bit of diminishing returns. Am I gonna have more fun getting to open a variety of special bottles or one really special one? What if it’s just a bad day for that single bottle when it’s opened? That’d suck.
If you are careful about sourcing and provenance and find something that could be opened at the right time you’re less likely to have a bad experience. I would guess that about 90% or more of the bottles I open show well (which is admittedly a very high percentage, but I’m very careful in sourcing and choosing things that are likely to show well).
Found money. So, I’d probably splurge.
I would buy some magnums.
I’m trying to figure out the exact same thing! JJ Buckley’s list is huge, so finding a starting place is a challenge.
I think a couple swings of the bat v one swing (YOLO) is better for me. Only you can decide what is better for you. There are some great bottlings in the $150-$200 price range; Bordeaux super seconds come to mind but this really boils down to what you want to drink. I also have no clue what JJ Buckley has for sale.
I agree! I found a handful of just under 500ish Mugneret Gibourg, which is tempting. But then there’s also a pretty big selection of those like $200ish bottles. That’s a much harder group to whittle down!
Definitely use the info email to see about private pricing, as it does knock the cost down a bit!
21 MG vosne romanee is phenomenal, as is the 21colombiere and the 21 feuselottes, all of which look like they’re below the 500 price point. The fuesellotes is especially etherial.
I think it depends on your cellar situation and your financial situation. When I was younger and money was tighter and I was still trying to grow the cellar, I’d have just used the gift card on wines in my normal price range to help grow the cellar faster without impacting the budget. Ino other words, choosing quantity at my typical price point over splurging on something more expensive.
In my current situation where I have more budget flexibility and the cellar is over-filled, I’d be more likely to use a gift card like that to splurge on 1-2 bottles out of my normal price range. In other words, choosing splurging on something more expensive over quantity.