Good discussion, thanks for all the thoughts. But, leaving aside the question of verticals, what are some more strong arguments for buying every vintage of a particular region/varietal/producer?
Since I’ve been thinking about it, a couple for me are Cappellano Pie Rupestris and Bartolo Mascarello Barolo. I love these, they tend to outperform weaker vintages, and they are going up in price rapidly. Could make a similar argument for many red Burg producers. Lower vintage variation and weaker auction markets gives me more flexibility in California. Massively available (future) supply puts me in no hurry with Bordeaux.
There are 5 or 6 wines that I like enough to buy every year. I suppose if there was a disastrous vintage I might skip it, but for several of the wines, a true disaster would likely mean the wine would not be made.
Noah, I know they can be great experiences, as a store tasting of Latour once showed(!), and I’d love to do it more often, but where I live, I’m lucky enough to get 2 or 3 wine buddies together!
I tend to continue buying wines that I have enjoyed in previous vintages. BUT, often others come to like them as much as I do and the price goes through the roof. I stop when the price gets too high and look for something else to spend my money on.
As a club member, I buy Monte Bello every year - it’s a no-brainer. The closest this question goes to that is if I buy more. Have done so with a couple particularly strong vintages, when priced right (like '05s) and under-rated personal faves (like '07), which should be drinking well younger, as '00s are now.
I have zero sentimentality about complete verticals. Have tasted plenty of verticals of various wines. It’s fun and educational to compare the characteristics of various vintages, but a good sampling accomplishes that. Certain wines, like Monte Bello, I’ve been interested in trying every vintage. That doesn’t mean I need to own or have owned every vintage.
There are a number of wines that I try to buy every year (some years I may have been skint and just not had available funds), though I’m not really driven by the desire to build verticals. My feeling on this is that if you like a given producer/wine/style then it is very useful to have some lesser years in the cellar too, as these can be opened and enjoyed while you wait for the great years to mature. Moreover, sometimes the so-called ‘lesser years’ can completely outperform their humble vintage.
I also am very aware that winemakers are absolutely in the hands of mother nature. ‘Good years’ or ‘lesser years’, their livelihoods are dependent on what they can produce and if I like a particular producer/wine/style, then I try to support that producer (in my own very small way) by buying every year.
There are a very few wines that tempt me, but no. I am talking about wines to drink, not investments.
To make great wine means taking risks. If the Clerk of the Weather is in a bad mood, even great growers can’t make great wine. I’m not interested in paying Great Wine prices for lesser wines, even if the producer has done everything possible under bad conditions. I represent a grower with multiple 100 point ratings. While we don’t always agree on her pricing, she varies prices dramatically based on her perception of vintage quality, a policy I salute.
I have hosted many vertical tastings. I can’t think of a single one that included every single vintage of a specific wine. I remember doing a Domaine de Chevalier tasting about 25 years ago. It went from 1964 - 1982. I think we had 10 wines. I know I didn’t have 1968, why would anybody want to do that?
We recently had a Quinto do Vesuvio Port vertical - every vintage from 1989 to 1997 except the 1993, which was so bad they didn’t bottle it. The 1989 was undrinkable and taste like someone had pureed a sheet of acrylic into the wine. Glad to have tried it for science, but glad I do not own it.
There are several wineries whose wines we buy every year…
Who the “F” are the wine critics to make my decisions for me?
I enjoy seeing the give/take of vintages and how my favorite wineries handle them. I get information from this and it’s a big part of my enjoyment of the hobby.
“Any idiot could make great Cali cab in 1984.” I like seeing what skillful winemakers do in different vintages.
If I only bought in the “best” years, I’d have no ‘83 Bordeaux!
I used to buy a fair number of wines yearly, good and bad years. With 05 red Burgs, I got shut out by several longtime merchants. That coupled with crazy price increases and my age make me more hesitant to buy; I’ve given up on verticals. Don’t need every vintage.
Yearly purchases make sense for the young and if one wants to learn more about a wine they don’t know, but many of us with 30+ years doing this already have made our decisions.
With apologies, given the difficulty in finding older Schaefer auction wines I am reluctant to share the specifics of my strategy. But I will tell you this much- in markets where I know US buyers for these wines exist I have put word out to trusted brokers and retailers who can resell wines that I am not only interested but that I will pay DeeVine prices for back vintages. And I also am a regular buyer at DeeVine- once or twice a year I will reach out and secure a few bottles each of older vintages I do not yet have in hand.
Historically, older German wines- even auction bottlings- were not really in demand unless it was Egon Muller or really old Prum or von Schubert. And one reason so few came to market is that they were not often offered for sale. In my brokering referral work in the past I would often take unwanted German wines in lieu of a fee because I knew the wines were good, but there was just no market for them.
Those days are gone, and the Far East market is finally turning its attention towards Germany- which incidentally is driving the significant price increases at the Trier auctions now, and there is potentially far more upside to come.
Winebid also tells the tale. They have long been one of the few auction resources that routinely offered older German wines- but notice they are not so cheap anymore and the supply is growing. German wine is also slowly becoming a more important factor in the online auctions for the major houses plus getting more attention in live auctions.
So, at this point- the best strategy is to let people in the business know you want the wines and will pay aggressively for them. This is one area of wine where there is still enormous upside potential. So I have been aggressive in part because I know the days of scooping up the rare cache of these bottles for a song are quickly passing.
2008 to some extent. 2012 Jadot- the Fuees and Clos St. Denis in particular are spectacular. 2012 Jadot Clos St. Denis and 2008 Magdelaine are the only non-champagne wines in my cellar where I have more than 2 cases FWIW. In white Burgundy- 2013 Drouhin. And while I would not call 2016 an “off” vintage by any measure- even coming in the wake of 2015 and with very high prices, I have been pretty aggressive about the 2016s since they are really that good. Not big, but just deliciously good.
Thanks. I just tasted a large number of 2016s and they are quite good (unfortunately, not that much was made). But, the vintages I have truly loved of late have been 2010 in red and 2014 in white.
Nice thing is many regions don’t require buying every year like BDX. Not true in US on mailing lists or from your retailer when it comes to top tier Burgundy or Northern Rhones, but that is more a fact of life that they have to buy every year or risk losing access, so you get to also. Really the only thing I buy every year is a couple mailing lists, MacDonald and SQN.
If I ever made a conscious choice about wines I’d buy something like Jadot Clos des Ursules, Donnhoff OL Kabinett, Huet Demi Sec’s every year and just drink them younger based on vintage.
I just enjoy the great wines out there and the opportunity to try a wide range of regions and varieties and many come from reading here.
We sold them for years and wish I had grabbed more when CdP was $90, Pignan $60 and the Fonsalette wines $50-75, drank a lot of Des Tours VdP back then for $15…apparently I have turned I to one of those “the good old days guys…”
