4 ms·

Collecting wine can be come quite an addiction. My wife and I both love wine and living in NorCal we have easy access to tons of great producers. We would taste

Collecting wine can be come quite an addiction. My wife and I both love wine and living in NorCal we have easy access to tons of great producers. We would taste a wine, like it and say, well lets get a few bottles. That turned into a case, then a few cases. Right now we have around ~3000 bottles and are in the process of building a cellar for them. The cellar will hold 4106 bottles. It is nothing fancy, just a room above the garage that has been well insulated (spray foam) and as a dedicated AC unit. The unit is pretty cool as it has a probe you put in a wine bottle full of water and it uses that to set the temperature. We have in the last few years had the opportunity to taste and acquire some older wines from France from the 1960s. It is a completely different taste profile then anything from CA. Then need to open and sit for awhile (a few took 6 hours to really open up). As far as cost go I think the most expense bottle I buy is around $200 (750ML). I just have never been able to justify the cost vs taste difference. Heck, one of my favorite bottles was $6 from Trader Joe's (a Chilean that they do not sell anymore). If you live in the Bay Area I and want to try some very interesting wines that are not stupidly priced there are some great producers in the Santa Cruz Mountains area. Try one call Storrs or Silver Mountain. For Napa - Corison or William Cole on the high end. Both can be aged for years. We had an opportunity to taste 25 years worth of Corison at a dinner and it was amazing to see how the years changed the wine. I tried Screaming Eagle at a friends. Amazing wine, but not that that price point. But to each their own. At the end the best wine is the one you like to drink, preferability with friends and family over a good meal.

bbarn 10y ago
I've met more than a few wine fans who can afford to drink 300 dollar bottles of wine, that will be as excited about a particular 12 dollar bottle as you'd expect them to be over something in the 300 dollar range.
- myrandomcomment 10y ago
  Right it is the taste and the experience. Part the reason we collect wine is to just have lots of stuff to drink over time and see how it is. Drink what you enjoy! I have a ton of wine but still love going to Trader Joe's and buying every random bottle I have never tried and seeing how it is. Thats the fun part.
  - ridgeguy 10y ago
    Heartily agree! In California alone, there are over 4,000 wineries [1]. It's hard to buy genuinely bad wine here. If you can spend ~$8/bottle and take the opportunity to sample stock from stores like TJ's, you can find delicious wines with excellent (enjoyment/$) values. [1] https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/statistics/article124 https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/statistics/article12...
  - kylebenzle 10y ago
    Sometime you like to waste a little money and sometimes you like to waste A LOT of money, to each his own, thats the fun part!
OriginalPenguin 10y ago
Which Chilean wine was it?
- myrandomcomment 10y ago
  I think it was Santa Ema, but it has been years.
benbristow 10y ago
Can I come to one of your parties?
kylebenzle 10y ago
[1] But don't you know by now that everything you are saying is BS? No one can tell the difference, there is no "opening up" it is all in your head, your 1960s bottle or your $6, its not just "personal taste" there is no taste difference, it is proven over and over again. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-ta...
- myrandomcomment 10y ago
  So you are telling me that the taste of wine does not change over time as it is exposed to oxygen? Hum, I guess I should call all my chemistry professors and tell them what shame all that chemistry is. You can find studies that say anything. I would agree that a large number of people including experts can get it wrong, on the other hand a spectrum anazlizer will prove that the make up of a wine changes as it is exposed to air and those changes is something your taste and nose can dectect. Also I have sat a completley blind tastings and watch as some where able to ID the grape (or mix) and the region it was from. I suggest you try it for yourself. Go buy Pinot Noir from let's say Burgundy France, CA Santa Cruz and Washington State. 2 different bottles from each area. Then take one set and taste taking care to note how they are different. Then have someone open the 2nd set from the same region and pour a taste of each. You should easily be able to pick which wine was from which region based on what you learned from the first tasting. This is no different then anything else that picks up the characteristics of the input. Grass fed beef vs corn fed for example. I promise you if you open a 62 1st growth and let us sit for an hour and then open the same bottle and pour a glass from each I will be able to tell you which is which. Heck the color of the wine even changes a bit as it is oxidized.

bbarn 10y ago

I've met more than a few wine fans who can afford to drink 300 dollar bottles of wine, that will be as excited about a particular 12 dollar bottle as you'd expect them to be over something in the 300 dollar range.

myrandomcomment 10y ago
Right it is the taste and the experience. Part the reason we collect wine is to just have lots of stuff to drink over time and see how it is. Drink what you enjoy! I have a ton of wine but still love going to Trader Joe's and buying every random bottle I have never tried and seeing how it is. Thats the fun part.
- ridgeguy 10y ago
  Heartily agree! In California alone, there are over 4,000 wineries [1]. It's hard to buy genuinely bad wine here. If you can spend ~$8/bottle and take the opportunity to sample stock from stores like TJ's, you can find delicious wines with excellent (enjoyment/$) values. [1] https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/statistics/article124 https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/statistics/article12...
- kylebenzle 10y ago
  Sometime you like to waste a little money and sometimes you like to waste A LOT of money, to each his own, thats the fun part!

OriginalPenguin 10y ago

Which Chilean wine was it?

myrandomcomment 10y ago
I think it was Santa Ema, but it has been years.

benbristow 10y ago

Can I come to one of your parties?

kylebenzle 10y ago

[1] But don't you know by now that everything you are saying is BS? No one can tell the difference, there is no "opening up" it is all in your head, your 1960s bottle or your $6, its not just "personal taste" there is no taste difference, it is proven over and over again. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-ta...

myrandomcomment 10y ago
So you are telling me that the taste of wine does not change over time as it is exposed to oxygen? Hum, I guess I should call all my chemistry professors and tell them what shame all that chemistry is. You can find studies that say anything. I would agree that a large number of people including experts can get it wrong, on the other hand a spectrum anazlizer will prove that the make up of a wine changes as it is exposed to air and those changes is something your taste and nose can dectect. Also I have sat a completley blind tastings and watch as some where able to ID the grape (or mix) and the region it was from. I suggest you try it for yourself. Go buy Pinot Noir from let's say Burgundy France, CA Santa Cruz and Washington State. 2 different bottles from each area. Then take one set and taste taking care to note how they are different. Then have someone open the 2nd set from the same region and pour a taste of each. You should easily be able to pick which wine was from which region based on what you learned from the first tasting. This is no different then anything else that picks up the characteristics of the input. Grass fed beef vs corn fed for example. I promise you if you open a 62 1st growth and let us sit for an hour and then open the same bottle and pour a glass from each I will be able to tell you which is which. Heck the color of the wine even changes a bit as it is oxidized.