Aging...or hoarding?

[Jenise]

Keeping verticals of wines is always of interest, but I think suggests something of the collector mentality - especially when the wine is bought "to keep the vertical going".

Wouldn't disagree, and further proof that I don't have that mentality though it could be in my case as much about resenting compulsive/have-to kind of urges as anything else. Mind you, I've very much enjoyed other people's verticals and I'm glad someone does this, but it's not for me.

[David M. Bueker]

There are so many verticals I have let lapse in the last few years:

Leoville Barton (dropped after '04)
J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese (dropped after '06)
Mont Olivet Chateauneuf du Pape (dropped after '04)
Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape (dropped after '03)
Krug (dropped after '95)
Salon (dropped after '96)

To name a few.

I keep the Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese vertical going, but that's the only one I am still religiously buying.

I keep the Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese vertical going, but that's the only one I am still religiously buying.

That probably accounts for the shift in your location from Schloßböckelheim to Connecticutt

Mark Lipton
(Still maintaining verticals of Beaucastel, Vieux Telegraphe, Pegau, Geyserville and Lytton Springs)

J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese (dropped after '06).

???

Too pricey?

Takes too long to mature?

Surely not because you no longer like the wine very much

I don't maintain any solid verticals, though certainly there are plenty of bottlings I have multiple vintages of.

[David M. Bueker]

J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese (dropped after '06).

???

Too pricey?

Takes too long to mature?

Surely not because you no longer like the wine very much

I don't actually drink enough Prum to continue buying it. Everything I own is in perpetual aging.

I don't actually drink enough Prum to continue buying it. Everything I own is in perpetual aging.

I can see that.

Although in my limited experience, the recent (2001 and later) vintages have all been beautiful, delicious, and relatively approachable even though they are 'less than fully mature'. Certainly not the Painful Prum experiences I hear people used to have with the young wines.

Still, your preference may (and evidently do) tilt towards other producers/regions/wines for young wine drinking.

[David M. Bueker]

I've had a number of the recent vintage Prum wines young & they are delicious. In fact I am thinking of opening some 2006s at some point in the spring. But recent tastes of the 2002s and 2004s have shown that they have gone into their shells & will now need tons of time to come back. The 2003s I am waiting on, with the expectation that some fat will be shed, making the wines more classical if not truly classic. The 2005s have shut down, as have the 2001s.

I have some 1995s that I may begin to open soon. The 1997s are starting to drink at the kabinett and spatlese level.

Similar reasoning applies to my limited purchases of Grunhaus in recent years.

Similar reasoning applies to my limited purchases of Grunhaus in recent years.

Yes, although the stylistic changes there make it somewhat more of a moving target.

And you're still a young man. What happens when you turn 90 and don't have any perfectly aged Prum or Grunhaus left to drink!!

[David M. Bueker]

And you're still a young man. What happens when you turn 90 and don't have any perfectly aged Prum or Grunhaus left to drink!!

My Bordeaux and Burgundy will be ready by then.

I personally own no bottles that I bought before 2006, because prior to that time I bought when I needed something for dinner, period. Then I discovered this site. Now I have about 110 bottles, plus two 5-gallon carboys of homebrew yet to be bottled. I am averaging 2-3 bottles a week in consumption. I'm up against two constraints - lack of good cellar space and lack of funds to buy the more cellar-worthy bottles. I have about 30 or 35 bottles of Bordeaux and other French wines, all between $10 and $35, but that's about as high as I'm willing to go without someone standing beside me in the store telling me whether a particular one is a good buy or not. I don't have the years of experience with the unfamiliar names to be a good judge of that myself, unless I happen to see one that I recall being given accolades here on the WLDG. I'd love to have a cellar full of great vintages from good wineries, but it's not going to happen in time for me to be able to enjoy them, I'm afraid (me being the big 50).

So I take vicarious pleasure in reading about the great ones you folks have cellared.

And you're still a young man. What happens when you turn 90 and don't have any perfectly aged Prum or Grunhaus left to drink!!

My Bordeaux and Burgundy will be ready by then.

David, some of the Garrafeiras will be ready too! Have a good one here, the `00 Esporao....infanticide!

[David M. Bueker]

Perhaps true Bob, but that's not an area of focus for my cellar and likely never will be. I seem to have settled in to a bit of a routing. Perhaps I have finally figured out what I really like.

[Jenise]

I personally own no bottles that I bought before 2006, because prior to that time I bought when I needed something for dinner, period. Then I discovered this site. Now I have about 110 bottles, plus two 5-gallon carboys of homebrew yet to be bottled. I am averaging 2-3 bottles a week in consumption.

And we're not done with you yet! Are you dependent on local retailers, Robert, or can you have wine shipped in from out of state?

I personally own no bottles that I bought before 2006, because prior to that time I bought when I needed something for dinner, period. Then I discovered this site. Now I have about 110 bottles, plus two 5-gallon carboys of homebrew yet to be bottled. I am averaging 2-3 bottles a week in consumption.

And we're not done with you yet! Are you dependent on local retailers, Robert, or can you have wine shipped in from out of state?

Oklahoma is one of those screw the consumer states. I am stuck with what I can get locally, or travel out of state and bring it back myself, which makes it ridiculously expensive if that is the purpose of the trip. There is a retailer here in Tulsa that has a good selection, including the first growths and sometimes Ch. Y'Quem, but I don't earn enough to justify paying several hundred $$ for one of those.

[Jenise]

There is a retailer here in Tulsa that has a good selection, including the first growths and sometimes Ch. Y'Quem, but I don't earn enough to justify paying several hundred $$ for one of those.

Neither do I. But more to the point, I don't think your taste runs to old world wines that require 20+ years of cellaring. My take is that you favor robust, full-bodied wines with the kind of complexity that will show best in the 3-to-10 year range. You favor black fruit profiles over red, you appreciate new oak structure and are not bothered by warm climate alcohol levels. Washington wines are a better fit for you than Bordeaux, and you'd be very happy if every wine you drank was cabernet, syrah or petite sirrah. Am I about right?

[David M. Bueker]

There is a retailer here in Tulsa that has a good selection, including the first growths and sometimes Ch. Y'Quem, but I don't earn enough to justify paying several hundred $$ for one of those.

Neither do I. But more to the point, I don't think your taste runs to old world wines that require 20+ years of cellaring. My take is that you favor robust, full-bodied wines with the kind of complexity that will show best in the 3-to-10 year range. You favor black fruit profiles over red, you appreciate new oak structure and are not bothered by warm climate alcohol levels. Washington wines are a better fit for you than Bordeaux, and you'd be very happy if every wine you drank was cabernet, syrah or petite sirrah. Am I about right?

But what are his turn-ons and turn-offs?

[Jenise]

But what are his turn-ons and turn-offs?

Walking in the sand at sunset....

But what are his turn-ons and turn-offs?

Walking in the sand at sunset....

Both a turn-on and a turn-off?

Wow, what a complicated (or simple?) man!

[David M. Bueker]

How about pina coladas?


(ducking for cover...)

How about pina coladas?


(ducking for cover...)

With comments like that, you deserve to get caught in the rain

Jenise, I sure thought I had posted a reply to your last post to me about my wine tastes. But you got pretty close. Add Zin, Malbec and Nero D'Avolo to the list of reds, and Gewurztraminer & Pinot Grigio as my favorite whites, and 90% of my consumption could come from these shores and Italy.
And who isn't turned on with a sunset walk on a sandy beach with one's Honey?