Buying Wine ?

Posted by: Brian OReilly on 06 January 2004

After spending Christmas with my parents-in-law in Bretagne, I've come to the stunning conclusion that I prefer 20yr old wine to 2yr old wine.........

Its filtered through my crack-addled brain that if I start buying and storing wine now, then in 10yrs time I will have a pretty good wine stash (with zero additional costs). The problem is that I don't really know what the best strategy is ? Should one buy the most recently released wine to store, or is this an indication of poor base quality ? So far I have decided to buy what we currently drink and store it. Is this too simplistic ? Are there specific wines that "age" better than others ?

I'm sure that there are people out there who already do this and I would love to know your strategy. I simply want wine for personal consumption rather than for investment or to collect. Are there any broad guidelines for the optimum age of various types of wine ? How critical are storage conditions ? Is it better to buy direct from the vineyard or to buy from a dealer or a supermarket etc

Regards,

Brian OReilly
Posted on: 06 January 2004 by Rasher
I wonder how long it will be before Richard picks up on this.
Tom is right. Go and get a selection from Laithwaites, get to know what you like first. Not all wine is for for keeping. Also, you would be storing potentially a great deal of money, so ensure it is being kept well and safely. Would you know enough to tell when something needs to be used up? If you bought a case every month from Laithwaites until you had a stock, you could then just select what you want and when, without being restricted to some master plan.
I look at it like this. If I go to the pub and get a pint for £2.80 (this is Brighton), I might spend £10-12 for an evenings drinking. So spending £12 on a bottle is reasonable. At home, if you start with a cheap bottle of something good - say a drinkable Shiraz for £4, you could then, between a couple of you, justify £20 on a bottle for a 2nd bottle. I'm not sure you need to start collecting.
Posted on: 06 January 2004 by MichaelC
Brian

Before spending and collecting consider your storage - do you have a cool environment with a broadly constant temperature such as a cellar?

Mike
Posted on: 07 January 2004 by Brian OReilly
Thanx very much for the advice, guys.

We have a cellar which is cool in summer, but effing cold right now, my wife was suggesting this could be a problem so I'll try and measure the temp sometime.

Laithwaites sounds good but doesn't really work where I am. I will take advice from a specialist next time I'm in France.

Have about ten cartons so far, just for fun. I will try and find the recommended drink-by-date for each type from the net.

I will think about en-primeur, direct from the vineyard. It might be risky, but it could be a fun road-trip.

Thanks,

Brian OReilly
Posted on: 07 January 2004 by Mike Hanson
I've got a wine fridge that holds 200 bottles at exactly 14 degrees. It also isolates the wine from vibration, etc. I also have a cold room that varies too much for the good stuff, but is suitable for everyday drinking varieties. I can probably get another 400 bottles in there.

Ultimately, if you don't know what you're doing, do some research and play trial and error. If you buy a case of something, try one bottle after 2-3 years. If it seems like it's going off, drink the rest of the case that year. Otherwise, try another bottle five years later, with the same caveat.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-
Posted on: 09 January 2004 by Rana Ali
Happy New Year Brian

"Its filtered through my crack-addled brain "

So the stuff they're using in the BMW styling department has finally filtered into engine design? Here was I thinking you lot were the 3rd best engine designers in the world!

Rana
(BTW facing redundancy....want my CV?)
Posted on: 09 January 2004 by MichaelC
Just remember to experiment first without spending silly money - but most of all enjoy...

I have in the past enjoyed tooling around the south west of France trying the wines from the many small vineyards and buying the odd-case. There has been no need to spend big money.

Cheers

Mike
Posted on: 12 January 2004 by Brian OReilly
Thanx all you guys, Rasher, Mike, Mike, Ag, Edddie, Tom(you c**nt),

you've filled in some holes and confirmed things that I already suspected.

quote:
Originally posted by Edddie:
But the rewards are huge, far better quality of wine at a far better price.
Edddie


This quote from Edddie sums up the whole idea - better wine without paying more. I'm going to go forward with this, but as MichaelC says, doing it just for fun. We already buy from a specialist in Munich, who also advises the "best by" date, but obviously we pay extra for this service in comparison with a French hypermarche. I'll take their advice and also speak to some specialists in France and take it from there.

Thanx again for your kind offer Ag, but I don't want to get too serious at this point.

Regards,

Brian
Posted on: 12 January 2004 by Brian OReilly
Hallo Rana,

I've just had sight of your original email about Jim. I'll PT you.

regards,

Brian
Posted on: 12 January 2004 by Larry
My wife got some blurb from Laithwaites with an offer of 13 bottles, a picnic pack, book, cuddly toy! for about 50 squid.
We took them up on it and have not looked back since. We're now happy to let them choose the selections and there has not been a bad one yet,
in fact the opposite is true. These guys/gals know their stuff and the price is great.
Larry &, (she who says "don't put my name on that internet")
Posted on: 12 January 2004 by MichaelC
Last Saturday we went to a birthday party and a small wine tasting session was part of the proceedings. This together with a wonderful selection of cheeses, oh, and good company made for a very enjoyable evening.

I will add at this point that I do not in any way consider myself an expert on wines but was mightily surprised when I correctly judged four of the six wine regions correctly. The sub-regions and years were another matter altogether.

It is events like this that make the subject of wine so enjoyable. Indeed I found a new region to explore.

Mike

PS The 2002 Beaujolais was awful!