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In this video, I am going show you how to build a diverse and exciting wine cellar for a price of a new iPhone!
**PRODUCERS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO
🍷 Rioja (Lopez de Heredia, Bodegas Muga, La Rioja Alta and Remelluri)
🍷 Montepulciano (Salcheto and Avignonesi)
🍷 Chianti Classico (Castello di Ama, Fontodi, Mazzei and Castello di Bossi)
🍷 South African Chenin Blanc (Ken Forrester and Rall Wines)
🍷 Loire Valley Chenin Blanc (Francois Chidaine and Chateau de Plaisance)
🍷 Provence (Chateau Romanin and Antoine Sunier)
🍷 Muscadet (Famille Lieubeau)
🍷 Soave (Pieropan)
🍷 Verdicchio producers (Belisario and Garofoli)
🍷 Rias Baixas (Forjas de Salnes and Zarate)
🍷 Port wine (Quinta do Noval, Niepoort and Kopke)
🍷 Sauternes (Doisy Diane, Chateau Coutet and Chateau Suduiraut)
🍷 Bordeaux (Durfort-Vivens, Chateau Leoville-Barton and Chateau St.Georges)
🍷 Kumeu River Chardonnay
🍷 Champagne (Chartogne-Taillet, Suenen or Laherte-Freres and Taittinger Prelude)
**LET’S CONNECT:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blancdenoir/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blancdenoir
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nosediment
**CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO:
0:00 Is $25 Simply Too Little for Pinot Noir?
1:11 Know What You Like
2:13 Safe Bets
5:03 Speculative Gems
6:44 Classic Staples
9:00 When to Drink?
#winetasting #wineeducation #wine
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
24 Comments
Boring
I started my cellar in a similar way in the 1980's (although I-Phones weren't around in those days) and I started with around 100 bottles and then bought three for every two I drank. I now have a cellar of some 2000 (or so) bottles dating back to the late 1980's with, for example, Leoville-Barton almost every vintage from 1995 (plus a few 1990 vintage), Ch.Batailley – most vintages from 1985, Pol Roger Champagne from 1995 – I even have some British Nyetimber from 1993 (we opened a couple of bottles in January and it was superb) and I love 'sweeties', Chs. Suduiraut, Rieussec, Coutet (and others) from 2001 plus a 'few' more… Now that I'm retired I don't buy much at all but enjoy what I bought over the years together with my family and friends..
Ummmmm. I must have a REALLY REALLY expensive cellphone…… 😂😂😂
Taking your palate into account makes sense, but it's worth recognizing your palate can evolve. That's not so much an issue with a small cellar like this, but if you have like 300+ bottles and then find out your tastes have changed, that sucks.
add on the price of another (pricey) iPhone for the storage unit. They ain't cheap. Decades ago when I first started buying wines I bought some nice Bordeaux's which, like a dummy, I stored in my garage. I one year they had ullage all the way down into the shoulders.
50% everyday drinkers; 50% weekend / special wines is the way my cellar of 350 is constructed. 90% red, French and Italian with a smattering of Spanish, Argentinian and US. Essentially your process times fifteen.
Thank you for mentioning Beaujolais.They taste great today.
Wow! this is how I built my collection, with the exception of some wines from greece, cyprus, georgia, etc…excellent video indeed!
I also prefer to drink my collection and share it with friends
I started collecting in 1994, but I always did so to drink it, never to speculate. So the only wine left from those days is a case of 1970 Grahams port and one half bottle of 1995 Alois Kracher sweet wine from Burgenland. I now have a collection worth almost 30 iPhones and, after being stung on 2022 en primeur prices, have stopped buying en primeur on principle. I'm trying to drink rather than buy wines, so I have to heroically resist about 6 offers a day that arrive in my inbox. I like all of your recommendations, but have been disappointed by Kumeu River chadonnay and have drunk Tondonia's rioja in multiple vintages (including at the Lopez Heredia winery in Haro) and never liked it – much like Chateau Musar. I know vintners love it, but there are so many better Spanish reds. Most of my cellar is too expensive to drink on your own (though i know people who do that), so I crack open improbably expensive bottles of every sort whenever friends and family come over, which is great fun. If I hadn't semi-accidentally built a cellar, none of this would be possible.
What about changing the Sauternes with Tokaji Azsu for better value
If I wast starting my cellar today I would gladly follow your suggestions and be very happy with the result.
Today you reminded me to get some halve bottles of Sauternes. I would never skip Bourgogne, but would do a number of tastings before buying anything. There’s value everywhere and for €1.000 you can indeed start a really nice and varied collection.
This was a cool episode. Great information.
Good advice. I would also advocate selecting great vintages for the long-term and good ones for medium term drinking. For example, 2016, '19 or '22 Bordeaux will last for many years but 2014 and '17 are drinking beautifully now and there are bargains to be had.
On Andrew Jefford's divide; I was a Burgundy man at 25 but preferred claret when I hit 50, which is reflected in my collection.
Your last tip on storage is really important. Keep your long-term stuff in your merchant's cellars rather than in poor conditions at home, if you can.
Great to see Ghost make an appearance!
Another well thought out and wonderful video! Being new to wine as of a few months I have begun working on my wine collection. First thing I have learned is that I have storage for about 48 bottles and it's not enough. Have been trying to actually do what you suggest, but your video will help a lot with how I go about it. By the way, I love my J Lopez de Heredia wines! Love the Vino Cubillo Rioja Crianza and Vina Tondonia Reserva . Always have a few bottles! Thank you again from California!!! Always look forward to my Sunday Morning "No Sediment" video!!!
Too funny beginning! I LOL.
Hmmm…which wine would I first buy to start my cellar? Although I have a smattering of wines currently, I wouldn’t consider it a collection or cellar.
I’d probably buy a Bordeaux, Chateau Lascombes. It was the first Bordeaux I ever bought (a 1978 vintage about 40 years ago) and was the reason I fell in love with wine. I know there are better houses out there, but for me, it’s a nostalgia thing. I would, of course, supplement it with other great Bordeaux’s.
Now, Burgandy. That is a much more difficult decision for me as there are so many great ones out there. It’s also my favorite grape. I’d have to think a while. But for a U.S. Pinot producer, I’d have to go with Sea Smoke.
Now on to Italians. Chianti Classicos are great wines. Costello is always a good, reliable one and I’d love to lay a few down. Nebbiolo and Sangiovese are great grapes!
Have you done a Champagne/Sparkling review? I’ve fallen in love with them the past several years. Am big fan of Pol Roget (vintage or NV-both are great) and Scharfenberger from Cali. Can you recommend a few sparklings or Champagnes that you enjoy; or, if you haven’t done a sparkling review yet, please consider doing one. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d recommend you not throw your cell phone.
Cheers!
I started with a small fridge of 50 bottles and mostly Napa cabs in the early 2000s. Now I only have a few napa reds as they have changed dramatically and my pallet has changed. I would like to buy more US wines but too sweet and jammy. Still like US whites when not too oaky. I now have approx 300 and growing to 500 bottles as I’m expanding my cellar. My inventory comprises of approximately 40% Bordeaux, 20% Italian, 15% Chilean, 15% Spanish and rest from other countries. 75% reds, 25 whites. I’m always trying different varieties and countries.
I've been buying wine with the expectation I will hold $40+ bottles around 10 years and open cheaper wines within a year. There are exceptions, but I don't need a $15 bottle taking up space for years if it is a disappointment when it is opened. Generally, cheaper wines are intended for immediate consumption and more expensive wines are intended to open in years and I don't second guess drinking windows unless I am familiar with the wine.
I reject, broadly, Jeffers’ claim. At least in my own experience. My preferences and moods oscillate, and the notion that I’m remotely unique in this sense, seems patently laughable. I see Jefford’s advice – at least as it was expressed in your video – as naive. I would say that a better approach would be to be mindful and aware of the dynamics of your taste, and how you’ve observed said dynamics to map onto both internal and external variables
I think omitting the US altogether is a bit nearsighted. And I’m not referring to Napa/Sonoma. The Central Coast of California, Oregon, and Washington produce outstanding wines at a fraction of the cost of Napa and Sonoma Valley offerings. I have all of the areas you covered in my cellar plus many other regions.
Nice Ghost shirt – one of my favorite bands.
Right now I mostly have vintage ports and a couple Bordeaux wines aging gracefully.
White Wines:
Drink Now: Quality entry-level Dry Riesling😀
Drink/Hold: Premium Dry Riesling (not Grand/Premier Cru)😎
Ageable Wines: GG/PC/Smaragd/equivalent Dry Riesling😋
*Must include at least Pflaz, Alsace, Wachau, Andersen Valley, and Finger Lakes.
The videos like this one where you recommend wines are my favorite ones. Thanks !
My safest bet so far have been André Clouet Champagne and anything from Raul Perez. Never been disappointed.