The first spoiled wine I ever tasted was given to me on my 21st birthday. My aunt had bought me a beautiful Charbono and Cabernet Sauvignon blend from her favorite California estate, and had kept it in storage for four years until I was old enough to drink it. The second I opened the bottle,…
Have you ever wanted a career in the wine industry? This lofty-sounding goal is more attainable than you might think. Take winemaker Michael Dashe. More than a decade ago, he was an abalone diver who had only a passing interest in wine. One day, winemaker Bob Roudon asked if he could trade some wine for…
A year ago, I was having dinner at one of my favorite wine bars in town when I noticed that the owner looked a little morose. I’d known him for two years, and he was usually boisterous and optimistic–that night, he seemed distracted and cranky. I asked him how he was doing, and he said,…
One quality separates a refined palate from an amateur: the ability to detect secondary and tertiary flavors in wine. A big reason why most professionals are able to pick out these subtle notes is because they are more familiar with the winemaking process than a layman who only occasionally imbibes. Unlike the primary flavors that…
My parents live next door to a man who adores Burgundy; he’s been to the region three times in the past decade alone. One day, my mom asked him whether he was planning another trip soon. He answered, “No, but I have something even better planned: the best wine cellar you’ve ever seen!” As the…
Collectors often assume that a wine’s provenance doesn’t matter once they’ve bought their bottles and stowed them away in their cellars. This might be true if they only plan on drinking the wine, but if they want to resell the bottle later, the wine’s provenance still has a long way to go. I’ve bought bottles…
Sometimes, sellers will put a bad wine case up for auction without realizing there’s anything wrong with it. Take premox for example; unless you open one of the bottles, it’s not immediately apparent when a case of wine has been impacted. A collector might naively invest in a vintage that’s notorious for premox problems, keep…
A few years back, I invested in a case of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that I hadn’t personally tried, thinking it would be as good as the previous New Zealand vintages I’d sampled. Later, I opened the first bottle and discovered that I absolutely hated it. The wine tasted flabby and dull, and I thought…
Wine collections grow like bamboo; if you’re not careful, your bottles will easily take over every empty space in your house, and then some. I once knew a collector who started off with a modest smattering of Bordeaux tucked away in a cool, dark pantry cabinet. Months later, and two more cases deep, he realized…
Premature oxidation (premox) catches even the most seasoned wine collectors by surprise, and it’s easy to accidentally invest in an oxidized case at auction. Collector Billy Grippo has an expansive collection containing several thousand bottles at a time, and even he’s fallen victim to premox wines. Grippo explains, “A lot of people put their wines…
Even seasoned collectors feel insecure about their palates once in awhile. For the longest time, my Achilles heel was herbal notes. I could easily pinpoint dark fruit, citrus, and lavender, but grass, thyme, and eucalyptus always seemed to evade me. It wasn’t because those flavors weren’t there–I’d read multiple tasting notes that all picked up…
I often take for granted the fact that I am a relatively young collector. When I see that a wine will last 30 or more years in a cellar, I’m giddy with excitement; I know I’ll get to see that wine evolve completely and reach peak maturity. However, older collectors view these long-lived wines differently.…
