Every year around November, I used to get my sticky notes ready. I had a special place in my pantry for holiday wines that I planned on taking to holiday parties; without sticky notes attached that said “Do not drink! Save for Jeff’s ugly sweater party,” I’d forget which bottles I was supposed to save…
Most of the collectors I know can remember the moment they realized they needed to build a wine cellar. The tipping point usually happens around the 100-bottle mark; your collection is officially too large for most wine fridges, which forces you to consider alternative storage methods like professional warehouses or home cellars. However, building a…
I once stayed at a Washington winery with a couple of friends who were chefs on the estate. We were wandering in the on-campus garden one day when my friend said, “I hate the smell of sage. It reminds me of cat pee.” I laughed at first, but he was serious. He said, “Smell that…
Wine collector Billy Grippo opened his first premox bottle about eight years ago, when he was out to dinner with friends. He brought along a fantastic Leflaive 2002 Chevalier-Montrachet that he thought would be incredible in its old age, but when he poured the first glass, it looked nothing like the rich, straw-colored liquid he…
Early in my career, if you told me that I’d one day be buying up Argentinian Malbec by the case full, I’d have assumed you’d gone mad. Many of the Malbecs I’ve tried have managed to be both bold and bland all at once, with jammy fruit and no complexity. However, recent years have changed…
Many styles of white wine age beautifully in a cellar, and that list isn’t limited to vintage Champagne. I frequently store white wine in my own cellar and find that the right whites can age just as well, if not better than, some of the finest red wines on the market. It’s true that most…
The first time I set foot in an urban winery, I admit that I was pretty skeptical. I’m a fan of traditional winemaking practices, and most of the wineries located in the heart of major cities tend to buck tradition a bit–they aren’t regulated by the same AOC or AVA rules as they are in…
Wine Berserkers forum member Jay Hack said he wanted the perfect wedding gift for his nephew, so he did what any self-respecting wine lover would: he invested in a wine fridge and started filling it with the best vintages he could find. He wanted to include at least one excellent bottle from his nephew’s wedding…
As I said before about the legendary 1986 Henri Jayer Richebourg, I’m supremely picky about which wines I consider true “unicorns;” they should be rare, old, age-worthy, and historically significant. Although 2005 Clos Rougeard Saumur Champigny is still relatively young by fine wine standards, I consider it one of the few mid-2000s wines to have…
One common myth that many beginning wine collectors believe is that they can store red wine for years, no matter the varietal. In reality, only some red wines will last for decades in your cellar; most wine (an estimated 99 percent, according to some experts) doesn’t gain any benefit from aging, so you’re better off…
We lost a wine icon this year. Margrit Mondavi passed away from cancer on September 2, 2016, and although she is no longer with us, she leaves behind a long legacy that will ripple through California’s wine industry for decades. My father-in-law remembers the first time he met Margrit Mondavi. “She was magnanimous and sharp…
When my ancestors moved from Italy to the United States decades ago, they did so in turmoil: phylloxera had taken over their vineyards and destroyed the grapevines they worked so hard to cultivate. They were forced to abandon their vines and make a new life in the United States as orchardists. Unfortunately, the small village…
