What is the deepest vertical in your cellar?

Torbjorn_Dahlgren · July 16, 2020, 4:41pm

34 Clape Cornas over 46 years

A1ex_H · July 16, 2020, 4:44pm

Some very impressive verticals here. Like others, I don’t set out to build verticals but they happen when you buy wines you like every year:
8 vintages of Cathiard Vosne Romanee
8 vintages of de Montille Vosne Romanee Malconsorts
7 vintages of de Montille Corton Charlemagne

Greg_K · July 16, 2020, 4:52pm

That’s the best reason I’ve ever seen to visit New Zealand!

Scott_Tallman · July 16, 2020, 5:22pm

Matello/Goodfellow Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir - 9, maybe 10 if you count the 2017 Whistling Ridge Block bottlings as I did not buy the 2017 base bottling

PCLIN · July 16, 2020, 6:32pm

11 vintages of Fourrier Aux Moines
8 vintages of Cathiard Aux Murgers
8 vintages of Haut Brion
8 vintages of Hubert Lignier MSD 1er Cru
8 vintages of Jamet
8 vintages Chevillon LSG

Pat_Esposito · July 16, 2020, 6:41pm

Missing 04 and 05 vintages of Scarecrow, but outside of those have each vintage going back to the '03 inaugural. I suppose my intention is to do a complete vertical tasting at some point, but also part of it is simply having the complete collection.

Mike_Evans · July 16, 2020, 7:14pm

I have 13 consecutive vintages of Rhys Alpine Pinot, 12 vintages (not quite fully consecutive) of EMH Black Cat Cabernet, and 10 nonconsecutive vintages of Lagier Meredith Syrah. I also have complete or close to complete verticals of Rhys’s other wines.

Craig_G · July 16, 2020, 7:18pm

I meant how many vintages you have.

Craig_G · July 16, 2020, 7:22pm

Enjoy your supremacy until Francois posts!

Anton_D · July 16, 2020, 7:23pm

I think I am complete on Spottswoode and Dunn cabernets.

S_Rash · July 16, 2020, 7:48pm

Tensley Colson Canyon Syrah 2014-2018

RyanC · July 16, 2020, 7:50pm

Ridge Monte Bello but it’s not all that deep. 10-12 vintages I think?

MAT_Cramer · July 16, 2020, 7:50pm

By now it has to be Musar (rouge) going back to 1988 (a magnum and my birth year wine)! A couple I have only singles but most at least 3-4 oddly enough the last one missing was the ‘05 of which I just snagged 6 so finally have a full range to go!!

Can echo above “vertical” anxiety, where I kind of don’t want to break up the chain, but good wine is to be drunk, not looked at I guess

Yao_C · July 16, 2020, 7:51pm

I really want to see Francois’ answer to this

Patrick_Duffy · July 16, 2020, 7:52pm

An interesting question and a few surprises when I counted up:

Leoville Barton 53
Pio Cesare 43
G. Borgogno 42
Prieure-Lichine 41
Beaucastel (rouge) 40
Vieux Telegraphe 40

Craig_G · July 16, 2020, 7:53pm

This is one of those questions I struggle with all the time: What am I building the vertical for? I realize that wine collecting is almost as much a hobby as it is about actually drinking the wine, so from that perspective I get it, but what am I going to do: have a bunch of people over and drink 20 vintages of Chave Hermitage? While that sounds AWESOME, I don’t have enough wine friends that would appreciate this (or that could reciprocate the offer with a similar wine, for that matter).

So if I’m just going to end up pulling my one bottle of 1994 and taking it to dinner with me one night, why am I spending time hunting vintages in auctions to build the vertical? I don’t have the kind of cash to build a vertical by the case - as fun as that sounds - so once I pull a single bottle… then what? I need to hunt it again at auction … or is the game ever over–did I win? I do consciously avoid bottles that are part of a vertical in my cellar for fear of “breaking up the vertical” … which brings me back to: what am I doing this for?

I was going to ask this same question. Doesn’t the vertical discourage you from opening the bottles, unless you have a vertical with large numbers of the vintages?

I as well. At what point do you start opening the older bottles in the vertical? Sure, some of these mentioned are probably still aging well, but at some point . . . (and I confess I have a couple of wines with about 10 years in a row that I probably just need to pull the cork on the oldest bottles).

I have no particular interest in unbroken verticals and I don‘t buy single bottles to add to verticals. Usually if I buy a single, it’s to try it soon. These are just the wines that I like the most and have been collecting the longest, and I enjoy the variation across vintages in wines that repay aging. It can be difficult to drink the last bottle of a vintage but not so much because of the vertical. It’s just the last one.

Dale_Williams · July 16, 2020, 8:11pm

Not unbroken, but wines I have most vintages of in CT
11 Magdelaine (1970-2009)
9 Drouhin Mouches rouge (1993-2016)
9 Trimbach CFE (1995-2009)
9 Leo-Poy (1966-2002)
8 Beychevelle (1959-2015)
A few wines like Donnhoff OL Kab , Briords, Produttori normale might be at least that many, I am bad about keeping records on $20ish wines

A_Songeur · July 16, 2020, 8:13pm

Even Francois may not beat this!..

Dan_Hammer · July 16, 2020, 8:22pm

I’m holding 2011 - 2015 EMH Black Cat. Nice to see a few California wine lovers on the board.

Maybach
Saxum
Schrader

Martin_Petersen · July 16, 2020, 8:23pm

A bit different than other wines mentioned, two of my favorites

27 vintages of Soldera Brunello/IGT since 2006 (oldest 1979)
23 vintages of G. Mascarello Monprivato (oldest 1971)