Masseto makes some of the Super Tuscan best vintages

Super Tuscans: The Best Vintages for Your Collection

Buying Wine, Collecting, Italy, Wine Regions

What I love most about Super Tuscans is how diverse these wines are. Some are almost purple in color, with bold, fruit-forward flavors, while others are bright red, finessed, and racy. No matter what type of wine you prefer to drink, there’s a Super Tuscan out there that is perfect for you. However, this diversity also makes these wines more difficult to shop for based on vintage alone. When you drink a red Bordeaux blend or a white Burgundy, you usually know exactly what to expect before you uncork the bottle, based on what critics have said about the vintage. But with Super Tuscans, finding the best vintages isn’t always so clear-cut. The best vintage for a bold Syrah blend, for example, might differ from that for a Sangiovese blend. To find the highest-quality Super Tuscan vintages, you need to take into consideration the weather conditions and how they affected the primary grape varieties in the blend.

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Some of the best Southern Rhone producers are Rayas, Pegau, and Beaucastel.

Your Guide to the Best Southern Rhone Producers, Appellations, and Vintages

France, Producers, Producers and Wineries, Rhone, Wine Regions

After your first experience with the best Southern Rhône producers, it’s hard not to fill your cellar up with these incredible bottles. One of my colleagues started buying Barroche Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Pure in 2004, and she has continued to buy this label ever since. The wine’s fine tannin, elegance, and perfectly ripe fruit flavors draw her back to this producer year after year, and she has also started collecting some of the estate’s other delicious wines, like the Signature label.

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Top producers made great wine in the best years of Napa Cabernet

Ranking the Best Years for Napa Cabernet

California, Napa, Varietals, Wine Regions

A few years ago, I attended a retrospective tasting event of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon at a local wine bar. We sampled wines from some of the best years for Napa Cabernet, and it was easy to see which vintages everyone enjoyed the most. The 2007 wines in particular were a huge hit among the crowd. The man sitting next to me gushed over a glass of intense, incredibly complex 2007 Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, saying it was one of the best wines he’s ever had. Most of the 2007 wines received similar praise; it was clearly the winning vintage of the night.

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The 2018 Napa harvest was bountiful.

The 2018 Napa Harvest: A Winemaker’s Dream Vintage

California, Investing, Napa, News, Wine Regions, Winemaking

The 2018 Napa harvest ended on a high note this fall. Most winemakers across the region are reporting superb grape quality, high yields, and low sugar concentration in the fruit. Hudson Vineyards director Kelly MacLeod says, “This year, it really was a winemaker’s dream. They got to consciously choose exactly what they wanted.” While it’s still too early to tell how these wines will develop over time, all of these factors could result in a collectible, age-worthy vintage. If you’re looking for flavorful New-World wines that are well-balanced with comparatively restrained alcohol, the 2018 vintage may be your dream year, too.

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The 2018 Bordeaux harvest was very successful.

The 2018 Bordeaux Harvest Promises an Exciting, Perhaps Classic, Vintage

Bordeaux, Buying Wine, Collecting, France, Investing, Wine Regions, Winemaking

Usually, winemakers in Bordeaux are hesitant to call a vintage superb until all of the grapes have been picked and the wine has finished fermenting. This year, however, winemakers across the region are thrilled with the quality and ripeness of the grapes–they’re already calling the 2018 Bordeaux harvest one of the most successful of the past decade. While it’s still too early to make any definitive predictions about the investment potential of the 2018 vintage, based on the health of the grapes picked so far, you can expect to see plenty of age-worthy, intense wines. This is a vintage that you’ll want to keep a close watch on as it develops over the next few months.

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Champagne house styles vary widely.

The Ultimate Guide to Champagne House Styles

Champagne, Collecting, Enjoying Wine, France, Investing, Wine Regions

Champagne is home to more than 100 different houses, and each one has its own distinctive style. From Bollinger’s biscuity, full-bodied profile to Gimonnet’s delicate apple flavors, Champagne house styles are incredibly diverse. With so many to choose from, it can be difficult for even experienced collectors to find producers that make wine in the style they most enjoy. Whether you’re starting your collection of top-quality Champagne from scratch or you’re an experienced collector who wants to try new producers, learning about individual Champagne house styles can help you invest in wines that will suit your palate.

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Some of the best Châteauneuf-du-Pape vintages made by iconic producers like Pegau.

The Best Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vintages for Cellaring and Investing

Collecting, France, Investing, Rhone, Wine Regions

What are the best Châteauneuf-du-Pape vintages for cellaring? Nearly all of them, to some extent. This region has a reputation for producing wines with great aging potential–most red Châteauneuf-du-Pape benefits from at least five years in a cellar, and the finest vintages can even last for decades. Last month, I met a collector who had a bottle of 1998 Pégaü Cuvée Laurence in his cellar that he had completely forgotten about until this summer. When he opened the wine, he was met with wonderfully intense, earthy aromas, soft tannin, and rich flavors of smoked meat. After 20 years, the wine had reached near perfection.

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Wines from the best California wine regions

A Guide to the Best California Wine Regions

California, Wine Regions

When I was in my early twenties, my grandmother lived just 30 miles away from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Over the summer, I’d regularly drive down to visit her and we’d spend the weekend exploring some of Santa Cruz’s finest wineries together, from Ridge to Rhys. Through those experiences, I discovered that I preferred Chardonnay from the Santa Cruz Mountains to Chardonnay from Napa Valley; in fact, I currently have close to a dozen bottles of Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard in my cellar at the moment.

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Left bank vs. right bank Bordeaux bottles and crates

Left Bank vs. Right Bank Bordeaux: Which Should You Invest In?

Bordeaux, Collecting, France, Investing, Wine Regions

Before you invest in Left Bank or Right Bank wines, you’ll want to understand their key differences. For example, while both banks make age-worthy, collectible wines, the Left Bank tends to make wines with better aging potential overall compared to most wines from the Right Bank. This is why many collectors perceive the Left Bank to be more collectible; the Left Bank is also home to all five of Bordeaux’s First Growth producers. However, when it comes to Left Bank vs. Right Bank Bordeaux, the differences go beyond collectibility.

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Red Burgundy Wine Prices are increasing at a steady rate.

Analyzing the Increase in Red Burgundy Wine Prices: Should You Invest?

Burgundy, Investing, Wine Markets, Wine Prices, Wine Regions

Danish author Isak Dinesen famously wrote, “There are many ways to the recognition of truth, and Burgundy is one of them.” The Burgundy region crafts some of the greatest bottles of Pinot Noir in the world, full of rich flavors that often grow more complex and beautiful with age. But over the past decade, Burgundy’s red wines have been overshadowed somewhat by Bordeaux. In the mid-2000s, as Bordeaux’s value skyrocketed (especially in countries like China), Burgundy’s value remained more steady. This caused some serious collectors to question whether Burgundian wine was worth the investment, or if Bordeaux would be a wiser choice.

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