Getting to know you (mentally insert melody)…”cellars”
I’ve been SUPER busy today, so I’m going to keep today’s post REALLY brief…This is an audience participation number…It occurred to me the other day that I know very little about most of the folks that read my ramblings, so I thought that it might be both fun and interesting to talk about our repsective “cellars”. Now by cellar, I don’t (necessarily) mean a damp cellar carved from living rock with a 50,000 bottle capacity. I’m not even talking about a fancy 1000-bottle Franco-Tank wine cabinet (though don’t feel guilty if you’ve actually got one - I wish I had one). No, I’m talking about those special bottles that you may have laying down in your basement or in the closet under your stairs…What, how many, most valuable bottle, and favorite bottle…Let me be clear with this idea too - this is not a bragging session, but rather a “meet and greet” with wine…
OK, me first…
I’ve got about 300 bottles spread out over 1 30 bottle Haier wine “cooler”, 1 60 bottle of the same, a BIG wooden rack that holds about 130 bottles that rests up against the coolest wall in my basement, and the rest of the bottles divided between a crawlspace under my basement stairs, and my mom’s “sub-basement” (it’s fully underground).
Of these roughly 300 bottles, I’d say about 85% are Italian - mostly Barolo and Barbaresco, some Brunellos, and some old oddities like a 1985 Schioppettino from Ronchi di Cialla, and a couple of 1995 Antonelli Sagrantinos. The remainder of the wines are French, Portuguese, and a few CAREFULLY selected Californians. Zero Australia, Zero South America. I have only a couple of large format bottlings…
My most valuable bottle is undoubtedly a single bottle of Giacomo Conterno Barolo “Monfortino” 1995 which is going for roughly $250 per bottle these days…this wine will be ready when I’m about 150 years old…
My most favoritist bottle(s) is a tie, and for the same reason - neither are made any longer, and never will be again:
1) Casa Ferreirinha Douro Reserva 1989 (Portugal) - This is the bottling just under the now defunct producer’s legendary “Barca Velha” cuvee`. Though this wine is still available, supplies are low, and as I said, the Ferreira as a house is now defunct. The vineyards still are being farmed, but for my palate, the “magic” is gone…
2) This is going to come as a real surprise to those who know me and/or have followed the blog for a while…
Ridge Petite Sirah York Creek 1999 - The York Creek vineyard is owned by one Fritz Maytag (of, among other things, the Anchor Steam Beer Co., his vineyards in Napa’s Mayacamas Range, as well as Maytag Dairies which makes one of The United States’ best blue cheeses, Maytag Blue, etc.).
Not only was 1999 a spectacular Cali vintage, Ridge is one of may favorite California houses. Further, York Creek’s Petite Sirah vines are among the oldest in the state, and for many, the vineyard is one of the best sites in the state for growing Petite Sirah (and Zin with which the Pet shares the space). But what makes this a real gem is that this is the last vintage that Ridge made, and probably will ever make, from this vineyard. Paul Draper (Ridge’s chief cook and bottle washer) had arranged a long term contract with Mr. Maytag that expired with the 1999 vintage, and it is unlikely that this will EVER be renewed, so once these bottles are gone, they are GONE FOREVER. full stop…sniff, sniff…
OK, now you show me yours…
TOM CIOCCO
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My ‘cellar’ is also a wine fridge. I rotate around 100 bottles in and out of it depending on how expensive/nice the bottle is. I don’t have too many gems but I have a few that might turn a head or two. My prize is probably my 1999 Cheval Blanc, I also have a 2001 Cheval Blanc. The other really nice French wine I have is a 1995 Grand Puy Lacoste along with a 2000 G.P.L. Cali wines I have two Mangums of Caymus S.S. 2003 and one Stags Leap Winery 2000 Magnum. Some fun wines I have are a vertical of the Oscar’s wine picked by Wolfgang Puck, Sterling Red Carpet Reserve 2001-2003. I also have a nice Diamond Mountain Ranch 1999 that deams mentioning. Besides that I have a few nice Pinot’s and Chards, the rest are drinkables, mostly Bordeaux’s. Hopefully I’ll have some Sea Smokes soon if the vineyards alot’s me a few. We’ll see. Thanks for sharing! Cheers!
Comment by Dublin — April 19, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
You knew I had to respond.
85 bottles in my “cellar” (1/2 in my master closet, and 1/2 at my Dad’s house in his real wine cellar). Username on cellartracker is brian1970. I’m about 20% syrah, some daily reds from Languedoc, a few Pinots, a few botrytized Semillons (mainly Sauternes), ports, Italians, Zin, spanish reds, a malbec from Argentina, Rieslings from Germany/Alsace, a Gewurtz. from Austria, and a smattering of others (Zin, Viognier and Viognier blends, Dolcetto, Roussanne, Sauv. Blanc, Rose blend, Chard.).
I don’t have any “valuable” wines yet. But there are a handful of recent vintage bottles that cost between $50 - $90. (A Domaine de Beaurenard from du Pape, Years meritage, some Brunellos de Montalcino, Justin Isoceles, Gloria de Ostatu rioja, Rochioli Pinots, some of the Sauternes, etc.).
For me right now, it’s about getting exposed to as much as I can, for variety’s sake (and quality, yes). I seem to be really enjoying Riesling, Malbec, the QPRs from Languedoc, etc. Cal. Cab’s are wonderful, but I don’t particularly crave them.
Last night was great. A business dinner at a fancy Bev. Hills steakhouse, and we worked our way through a 2004 Duckhorn Goldeneye Pinot, 2 Caymus Cab. Sauv. Special Selection 2004, and a Cain Five 2003. That was a rare night (and thank God I wasn’t paying, because if I was, it would have been the Covey Run… not really, but something more down to Earth for sure).
Comment by TagWorld Brian — April 19, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
My ‘cellar’ is waay over-stocked! I have about 250 bottles, of which one is white and the rest red. None are French, only a couple are Australian, and maybe 5% are West Coast or Argentine (Malbecs). I am actively adding Portugese reds to the mix, and they probably are approaching 5%. The rest is evenly divided between Italian and Spanish. So far, I have yet to shell out over $50 for a bottle, with my usual price range $30-40 and almost nothing under $10.
I have a 30 bottle Danby and a 50 bottle Magic Chef, a 24 bottle wine rack and maybe another 24 in book shelving. The rest are stored in WL styro shipping crates and stored in a closet. In Texas, cellars/basements are almost unheard of in residences, but we run our AC’s constantly and I maintain 70F year-round. Never intended to hold wine for more than a year or two, but with so many tempting offers arriving from WL, I was guilty of buying much faster than I was drinking. I’m trying hard to slow down my buying until I can catch up consuming. The fact that I am 65 years old tells me that I will never drink it all up unless I learn to resist salesmen like GV.
Comment by elbowroom — April 19, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
Well, I’ve only been into wine for the past 6 months, but feel pretty good about my collection. Currently, my fiance and I have about 30 bottles or so in ‘our cellar,’ but we have a signed 2001 Mueller Emily’s Cuvee, a signed 2002 Hall Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2002 Quintessa, a 2003 Dominus Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2004 Duckhorn Howell Mtn., two 2003 Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignons, a 2003 Cliff Lede Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2001 and a 2004 Montes Alpha M, a 2003 Montes Purple Angel, a 2004 Chateaneuf du Pape, & a 2001 Sassicia as our gems. For our everyday wines, we have a couple of Cabs., a few Malbecs, a Viognier, a Rousanne, a couple Chards., a few ports, and a Muscato. Probably our fav. is Orin Swift’s Prisoner. Personally, the 2001 Montes Alpha M is my fav. because it is the wine that got me into taking wine seriously.
TagWorld Brian….I gotta say…WOW! I’m REALLY jealous…What an evening!
Comment by Fiorentina! — April 19, 2007 @ 10:50 pm
Fiorentina, yeah, I know. I can still barely believe it myself. (And I spent the first half of today recovering.) It may be YEARS before the stars align like that again (I hope not that long).
Your collection sounds wonderful. I’d be looking forward to that Duckhorn. Their Goldeneye Pinot Noir was amazing. Is Howell Mtn. the same area where Ladera is?
I don’t understand the signing of a bottle of wine. I guess it’s cool to meet a celebrity winemaker, but does this mean you won’t drink the bottle? Will you try to sell it instead? I hope you’re able to enjoy it when the time comes. Or maybe it’s just fun to look at, and think about. That’s nice too.
Like you, I’ve only been into wine a short time - about 9-10 months. I’m 36 yrs old, so got a really late start (long story). But now, I read or listen to something about wine everyday. I especially love blogs like this. I’ve been addicted to WL ever since my Dad turned me on to it about 6 months ago. Balanced against Gary’s raw enthusiasm on the video side, we get Tom’s precise knowledge and experience here. It’s a knock-out punch. (And by the way, I prefer knock-out punch to an actual knock-out punch.)
Comment by TagWorld Brian — April 20, 2007 @ 1:45 am
My Cellar:
A wine box that holds 6 bottles located in my clothes closet and a 6 bottle wine rack in the kitchen.
How many:
There are currently 13 bottles in the house, 5 are open. (I may be able to drink them before I die!)
Most valuable:
$34 Jean-Luc Dubois 2005 Savigny-les-Beaune “Les Picotins” This will be my second Burgundy.
As you can see, I’m new to this. I’ve got ten years on TagWorld Brian’s “late” start!
Comment by Dave Chouiniere — April 20, 2007 @ 1:17 pm
Dave, does that mean you’re 26 or 46?
Comment by TagWorld Brian — April 20, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
Hey Brian-
To answer your question, yes…the Howell Mtn. Duckhorn vines are located in the same area of Napa as Ladera.(By the way, Ladera….one of my fav. Cabs!)
The thing I love about my signed bottles is that it reminds of me a wonderful experience. Meeting Jeff White (Ovene) & Kathren Hall (Hall) was really amazing. Still, I agree with you that there is this superstition about drinking wine from a signed bottle…should you drink the wine or should you keep the whole thing as a momento? What I plan to do is both. I’m going to age the wine properly (while I enjoying the signature), enjoy the wine with loved ones, have them all sign the bottle after, and keep the empty bottle as a momento! In this life, one can never have too many memories…
Comment by Fiorentina! — April 20, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
Fiorentina, that’s a nice idea. You could probably even film the event on a camera or phone or whatever gizmo they have in a few years, and access it forever online.
Comment by TagWorld Brian — April 20, 2007 @ 7:08 pm
I am at about 100 German, 100 Alsatian, 100 Bordeaux, 80 Italian, 70 California Pinot Noir, 65 Syrah/Shiraz, 65 Iberian, 50 Rhone 50 Burgundy. 20 Sparkling and miscellaneous others scattered about.
Comment by GeneV — April 22, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
TagWorld,
I’m 46!
Comment by Dave Chouiniere — April 23, 2007 @ 11:13 am
Nice Blog Brian. I have around 200 botttles all over the house, which is not a good thing because I live in hot Miami. I do have a 54 bottle wine cooler. I have mostly CA Cabs and Zins. I do have a few Italian, couple of Baroro, the rest Toscan, some Frech, mostly Rhones and whites, and a good chunk of Spanish. My oldest vintage is ‘94, these are all Spanish Riojas. The most expensive are a few CA Cabs from ‘97, Lokoya, Opus, To Kalon. My favorite is the ‘97 Silverado Limited, one bottle left, otherwise the Whitehall Lanes, of which I try to buy every year a few. I am finding out that some of my Rhones are not holding up here, so I will have to stop buying those to keep, I had to dump two bottles just last week out of the ‘98 vintage, the rest, in particular CA and Spanish hold up really well no matter how long I keep them. I am considering buying a bigger fridge, but my wife already indicated what the best place for it is, and I wouldn’t be too confortable walking, so I need to drink all of the wines, stop buying, and try to keep the cellar down to 40 bottles.
Comment by Jorge — April 24, 2007 @ 8:05 am
I have about 100 bottles in my cellar. Half of the wines are from California, 25% from Australia, the rest are split between Italy, France, and the balance of the southern hemisphere.
They sit in my 360 bottle VinoTemp cellar. Clearly it is too large for my collection, but I have room to grow.
The average value of my wine is about $22 a bottle. Probably twice as many $10 bottles than $20 bottles. Twice as many $20 bottles than $40 bottles.
The reason my cellar is devoid of old world wine is that I drink it as fast as I buy it. I rarely want to pop a Cali wine when I can pop a Piedmont. It’s a problem because the Cali is building up. Yesterday I got 3 new French wines so I would have something to drink the rest of the week.
Comment by UncleJosh — April 24, 2007 @ 3:16 pm
Hi all,
My cellar tracking software says I have over 150 bottles spread across a 66 and a 45 cellars and the rest just laying into some WL styrofoam boxes. I cringe when I think that I have 5 cases of 2005 Bordeaux coming next year as I don’t want any of those sitting outside in FL.
The majority is Southern France and Spain with like 10 Italians. The few remaining Aussies and Calis I try to use when I have non wino friends over. I don’t see myself buying more in the near future. Not many fancy bottlings either. I’m more of a quality everyday drinker. At least until I get the 2005s.
Some of the highlights (and not necessarily for their $ value) are:
1998 Rotllan Torra Priorat Gran Reserva
1998 Vina Tondonia Rioja Reserva, that we got from the winery along with some Baronia
2004 Agnus de Valdelana Rioja Crianza, tiny great winery
1999 Cvne Imperial Reserva
1999 Caves de Tain Cornas
1995 Faustino I Rioja Gran Reserva
So pretty much a Rioja fest for now.
Comment by Carlitos — April 24, 2007 @ 7:59 pm
Hi Tom,
My cellar is a walk-in closet type of assembled (kit) wine room in my basement. I guess that makes me anal since the basement is already pretty decent storage conditions. But the wine room is even better since it is insulated and cooled. Anyway, My ever-growing collection now tops 900 bottles and, according to my database, about 275 different wines. I think it is spplit about 50-50 between the New World (mostly Cali and Washington State with some Aussie and South African in the mix) and Old World. My Old World wines are more than half French and a large percentage of that is Bordeaux since I like it and it generally ages well. The rest of the Old World wines are probably about 70% Italian and the rest Spain and Portugal.
The most valuable bottle appears to be a 1982 Chateau Leoville Poyferre at ~$200 or so in today’s market. This is not bragging, but I bought it around 1990 for $27 (okay, maybe just a little bragging).
My favorite? a bottle of 1960 Croft Vintage Porto that I will be opening up on my 50th birthday in 2010! My second favorite is a 1999 Chateau Pavie, being a great bottle from my wedding year and also the year my dad passed on. It will mean a lot when we get around to drinking it. My oldest, bestest Italian wines are a couple of Scavino Barolos from the early 90’s.
Comment by JayZee — June 21, 2007 @ 1:47 pm