When you think of a Napa Valley cult wine, you probably picture a rich, fruit-forward glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. However, some of the best cult wines of the moment are in fact made from California’s lesser-known Cabernet Franc, a relatively uncommon varietal that’s only been gaining traction on the wine market over the past five…
As a collector, you’re always on the hunt for the next “it” wine, and we want to help you find it. We’ve discovered and compiled the most essential wine trends from the fall quarter that will keep you ahead of the game this year, and we’ve looked into what’s happening in the global wine market,…
The problem with legendary vintages that are more than 90 years old is not whether they’re worth investing in–they undoubtedly are–it’s that finding an authentic bottle becomes more and more difficult every year. A wine like 1928 Mouton-Rothschild combines rarity, old age, and quality, and it’s these factors that make it one of the greatest…
The summer after I graduated from high school, I stayed at my grandmother’s house for a few weeks to help her with a gardening project. After a long day of digging in the dirt, she’d usually relax on the couch with her knitting and a chilled glass of Robert Mondavi Chardonnay. One evening, her foot…
Last spring, a group of French winemakers hijacked five tankers carrying gallons of cheap Spanish wine. They forced the tankers to the side of the road, turned on the their taps one by one, and dumped tens of thousands of liters of generic red wine into the streets. The hijackers destroyed the wine because they…
One of my acquaintances invests in white Burgundy every year, even in times of hardship for the region. I recently asked what he thought of Burgundy’s low 2016 yields, and he said, “I have a feeling my favorites will be hard to find…I’m thinking about buying more Loire instead.” He isn’t alone; Loire Valley is…
In 2009, a collector tried a delicious aged bottle of Cayuse from Washington, and immediately signed up for the mailing list. Years later, he finally cleared the list, but his excitement was short-lived. After buying two bottles of 7-year-old Armada and God Only Knows, he found their funky, earthy flavors far too overpowering. The collector…
My grandmother always told me that I should never keep open Champagne overnight. When I got older, I decided to test this theory. Early one evening, I got more than halfway through a bottle of Moet & Chandon (don’t ask me why I opened it knowing I wouldn’t finish it) and since I didn’t want…
MENTIONED IN THIS POST: Chateau Petrus Chateau Lafleur Chateau l’Eglise Clinet The words on nearly every collector’s lips this year are “2016 Bordeaux.” I haven’t seen collectors get this excited over a new Bordeaux vintage since the iconic 2009. During the past five years, many of my closest wine loving friends have complained that Bordeaux…
A collector on the Wine Berserkers forum recently attended a “wine archeology” tasting party. His friend frequently buys wine from a shop in Belgium, and one day decided to invest in a handful of unlabeled mystery bottles that the store sold him for next to nothing. Some of the wines were so terrible that they…
I have an ornate glass wine decanter that sits in the center of my kitchen table at all times, like a permanent decoration–it never leaves its spot unless I’m cleaning it. I’m strict about keeping it on the table because nearly all of the wines that I drink taste better with a little aeration, and…
Like a stone thrown into a pond, the ripples of wine fraud impact more than just one collector’s cellar. What happens when a professional wine reviewer can’t tell a fake bottle from a real one by taste? Collectors rely on professional reviews for accuracy, but when these reviews are compromised by fraud, it’s virtually impossible…
