The Wine Collector

Richard Shaffer of Israeli Wine Direct sent me a note the other day (on Twitter, @Vinfolio) asking whether there's a formal definition of fine wine.  While "fine wine" is a term bandied about by many, including me, I believe most people use it informally to distinguish high quality (generally higher priced) wine from everything else.

In fact, the first of 18 definitions of "fine" on dictionary.com is "of superior or best quality; of high or highest grade."   The example used to illustrate this meaning is "fine wine"!   But we all know judging quality is highly subjective and that a given wine will generate a wide range of opinions.  Rather than debate the well-covered subject of what constitutes a quality wine (e.g., balance, complexity, finish, etc.), I believe a good normalizing proxy for when a wine can safely be referenced as "fine" is its price. 

Why price is a good determinant

A wine's median price is essentially the typical merchant's view of what typical consumers are willing to pay.  Arguably, this price should be highly correlated to quality (or consumers would be spending less for a better quality alternative) and not to perceptions of quality created by marketers such as clever packaging. In essence, the various ways consumers evaluate quality ultimately translate into a willingness to spend a certain amount of money.

$50 is a good break point

I believe $50 is a good break point, above which, a wine is more likely to be considered "fine" by a majority of people than not.  The higher the price above $50, the greater the consensus is likely to be.  I don't have a survey or study to confirm this somewhat arbitrary threshold but Vinfolio has long used a minimum $40 retail price point for accepting wine to sell from private sellers (as well as a minimum professional score) and even that level was an accommodation to facilitate selling a greater percentage of the person's cellar.  Below $50, we've found that wines are often less differentiated and harder to sell. 

What I'm NOT saying

To help clarify the definition, I'm not saying that every wine priced at $50 or more meets the "superior or best quality" standard and we all know there are wines priced below $50 that easily meet this quality standard (particularly in certain QPR categories like sauvignon blanc and Chablis to name a few).

How would you define "fine wine"?  Please add your comments.

P.S. For a few other perspectives on defining fine wine, here's an excellent post called What is a fine wine? from the Wine Anorak and another on the LovetoKnow.com site called Fine wine defined.

I was reading the Saturday Wall Street Journal this morning, specifically Peggy Noonan's Rectitude Chic and a Heard on the Street article called For the jet set, a newfound austerity.  Peggy references a coming "age of restraint" and in the other article discussing the private jet market, a UBS equity analyst says "Now, any display of wealth is negatively perceived."  How is this public mood going to affect the wine collector?

One of the beauties of wine collecting is that it's a pursuit that can be conducted with discretion:

• Dinner party guests generally don't know the value of the wines unless you're serving broadly recognized trophy wines or they're wine collectors themselves.  Even then, values of a given wine typically vary dramatically by vintage.  You can be even more low key by decanting the wine and leaving the bottles in another room
• Avoid serving more grandiose formats like 6L bottles that might be interpreted as "showing off." Those bottles age better anyway so a few more years in the cellar won't hurt them.
• Your wine collection is probably hidden away in your basement or in a professional storage facility.  Unless you're holding dinners in your cellar or giving tours, nobody really knows your true cellar size or the amount of money you've invested in it.
• If you buy expensive wine at auction, skip the live events in favor of absentee bidding or phone-based bidding to maintain a lower profile.

Bottom line: "Quiet enjoyment" should be your rule and it's an easy one to follow.

Last week, Vinfolio issued a press release announcing our new Personal cellar manager service which enables you to hire a one of our wine experts to manage your wine collection on a "fractional" basis (a fixed number of days per month).

Why we launched the service

This service is a logical extension of our inventorying services and VinCellar software to enable busy wine collectors get the most out of their collection.  Many people with larger wine collections don't have the time to manage them properly.  Your personal cellar manager is at your disposal to perform whatever wine-related task you desire, for example:

• Visiting your home anywhere in the country to reorganize your cellar
• Creating reports on your cellar holdings
  
• Generating recommendations on which wines to cull for sale or to buy from new releases
• Providing pairings and recommendations for entertaining

We're running an introductory special on pricing through March 31, 2008.  Check out the fee schedule and call to learn more.

P.S.    Image above is a Paul Wyatt-designed cellar.

We've all noticed.  The prices of top wines have been going through the roof.  The most recent issue of The World of Fine Wine, #18, includes an excellent article titled The Changing Nature of Wine Collecting by Claude Kolm which assembles the trends which have led to the current situation.

Among his observations as driving factors are: 

• Globalization of demand and the advent of the Internet for wine marketing
• "Winner take all" economies leading to large wealth accumulation
• The emergence of wine as a status symbol or luxury good
• Wine as an asset class for investment purposes
  
• The very wealthy seeking the scarcest wines to obtain a degree of exclusivity or "trophies"

Unfortunately, he concludes that current trends will continue for top wines and that prices may stay out of the reach of ordinary wine lovers.  I agree with him.  See my post from September titled Why fine wine prices will keep rising.

What can you do?

Diversify.  Have the confidence in your own palate to try wine from new producers and "less famous" regions.  Ask your wine retailer or wine friends for recommendations.  Part of the fun of wine collecting is discovering new wines whose quality has yet to be recognized by the world.  Lead the way -- don't follow.

P.S.    Thank you to Sara at The World of Fine Wine for posting the article on their site for free download so I could link to it in this post.   Also, see my prior post titled The magazine for wine collectors in case you need any further persuasion to subscribe.  Special deal: The editors at The World of Fine Wine were so "chuffed" (as they say in England) at my mention of their magazine that they are offering a 15% discount on their subscription price to the readers of this blog.  Just follow this link.

1. Determine target cellar size - How much do you consume annually?  How much do you entertain? Are you going to buy for investment purposes? What wines do your drink and how long would you expect to hold each category before drinking them?  Consider your budget constraints and even your current age.
2. Plan storage requirements - Whether you're installing a home cellar, cave, standalone wine refrigeration units, or expect to store your wine at a professional storage facility, figure it out in advance.  There's no point creating a wine collection if you're not going to store it properly.  And don't forget to insure your wine; read Wine insurance 101.
3. Define your depth vs. diversity preference - How many bottles of a collectible wine should you buy if you are taking the long term view?  For guidance in how to think about this topic, read my prior post, Collecting goals: Depth vs. diversity.
4. Define wine buying criteria - Keep in mind that not all wine improves with age.  Focus on quality producers in good vintages.  Set goals in the following areas:
• By region, wine category, varietal, color, wine type, quality level, score
  
• By likely aging period (or remaining period for mature vintages)
• Timing of when you would like to start consumption
• Cost - min and max per 750ml?  What's your comfort zone?
• Bottle size?  Are you interested in smaller and larger format bottles?
• Favorite years to target (birth years, anniversaries, etc.)?
5. Develop a few strong retailer relationships - Focusing your purchases builds your personal clout for obtaining allocated wines and better service.  Good retailers should also provide advice and recommendations.  See Buying smartly from wine retailers and Criteria for selecting a good wine retailer. You might also read Buying wine on sale: when it's a deal and when it's not.
6. Taste before you buy - You may not like all of the professional critics' high scoring wines.  Read How to use wine ratings successfully. Trust your own palate.  Be willing to experiment with wine from other regions of the world for more affordable, but still amazing taste experiences.  If you're buying futures and pre-arrivals, you may have no tasting option but read Why buying pre-arrival wine makes sense.
7. Pace your purchases - Your taste preferences will almost certainly change over time.  Don't try to fill your cellar in six months.  Ideally, you would buy new releases annually and lay them down.  While most people will want to "backfill" their cellar to some degree with mature wine or prior releases, buying too quickly may increase your risk of being overcharged or buying poor condition wine (or even fakes).
8. Pay for provenance - If you're buying older vintages, be wary of "deals" which may reflect the fact that the wine is damaged or worthless based on poor storage or handling in its past.  There's nothing worse than storing a wine for 10 years only to open it and discover it was "cooked" the day you bought it.  See The wine authenticity premium.
9. Perform an annual evaluation - Measure your progress and revisit your goals at least annually.  Use it as an opportunity to consider wines to sell that no longer fit your preferred taste profile.  Monitor wines whose recommended drink dates are getting too old to ensure you drink or sell them before it's too late.
10. Sell wines regularly - Most wine collectors start out thinking they'll never sell anything they've bought.  However, as your tasting experience grows, your preferences evolve and some wines will no longer appeal.  Selling helps maintain your cellar's focus and also helps you finance the purchase of more wine.  See Common reasons to sell wine.

P.S.   Photo courtesy of Artistic wine Cellars in San Rafael, CA.

If you're a wine collector, have you ever given any thought to the number of bottles you "need" to be satisfied with your cellar?  Many wine collectors that I meet buy wine without really planning their purchases or balancing them against what they already own.  As a bit of an informal survey, I'd be interested in how large a cellar (measured in bottles) is enough for you and what factors you considered in reaching your answer. Please post a comment.

My own answer 

I downsized my own cellar in the past few years from 7,000+ bottles to 2,500 bottles.  Based on my consumption patterns and average holding periods for various categories of wine, it provides me with a diverse range of options for my needs.  My main reason to consider increasing it would be if I stepped up my personal wine investing activity or started adding more to the "sub-collections" of my three young children to give them a head start on their own cellars.

P.S.    This post was inspired by "A Rich Person's Definition of Rich" in Robert Frank's excellent blog, The Wealth Report, at the Wall Street Journal.  The story discusses the survey results where affluent households were asked how much it takes to be rich.

Also see related prior posts from The Wine Collector:

• Wine cellar "house cleaning"
• Collecting goals: Depth vs. diversity

The well-known wine collector Russell Frye, who sold $7.8 million of his wine through Sotheby's in May 2006, has launched a new website, www.wineauthentication.com, dedicated to "helping the wine industry fight the battle against counterfeiting."

The website has a number of interesting features including:

1. A repository of news and articles on wine counterfeiting as well as solutions to the problem.
2. A discussion forum
3. A bottle registry service intended to help identify whether two people have a bottle with the same serial number.
4. A bottle photo library (including the ability for users to upload photos)
5. A list of top 10 wine counterfeits
6. The ability to report a suspected counterfeit
7. An "inexpensive" authentication service (no indication of price provided)
   

Business model

The site intends to cover its costs through corporate sponsorships and by requiring "a token membership fee."  See the About Us page.  Sponsorships and advertising is what this site should focus on.  Even "token" fees will scare off the vast majority of people from participating in the community.  Without participation, there is no community.

Suggestions to make the site even better

1. Identify the "experts" behind the site.  The Authentication Service page mentions that there are "specialists" on staff.  What are their credentials?  Who are they?
2. Publish a note for wine collectors on "How to spot a counterfeit wine" and a list of particular clues with specific wines (e.g., label changes in particular vintages).
3. Start a blog on the site to share wine counterfeiting expertise.
   
4. Make the Top 10 Counterfeits list more than a list.  Publish actual case studies showing detailed photos of bottles deemed to be counterfeit with the reasons explained.
5. Draft auction houses or others who may routinely encounter counterfeit bottles as contributors to the site. Consider making them "sponsors" in return for their non-cash content contributions.
6. Work with online cellar management software providers to collect and exchange bottle registry information.  Speaking for Vinfolio, we would be interested in cooperating with our VinCellar software.  We don't currently enable our users to record serial numbers for wines in their collection but it would be easy to do.  It also seems far more likely for wine collectors to do so in this context than to make the effort to go to a special site to do it.
   

Bottom line: Wineauthentication.com is a site to bookmark and visit often.

P.S. Regarding the label image, the 1945 Mouton Rothschild is the most expensive bottle ever sold at auction (a 4.5L bottle was sold for $310,700 in February 2007).

A newly published Associated Press story (for which I was interviewed) is titled "Collectors do it for love, perhaps money".  The title sums up the general point that most collectors of anything, whether it be baseball cards or wine, pursue collecting because it is a personal passion.  However, being knowledgeable about your area of interest may help you identify values that can lead to good investments.  If you're a serious wine buff and make intelligent buying decisions, chances are you can buy a little extra to sell later at a profit.

The press has been filled with stories about counterfeit wine in the past few months.  Any solution for absolute authentication needs to start with the wine producer for obvious reasons.  But for a solution to be workable for the trade and consumers, a simple method for them to verify the wine's authenticity is needed.  A security seal called Prooftag (adopted by Blankiet Estates and some Burgundy/Bordeaux producers) meets this test whereas Kodak's offering (adopted by Colgin, Vineyard 29 and Staglin, see press release) does not.

Overview of Prooftag technology

Prooftag is tamper-evident strip (about 1 cm wide and 5 cms long) which is applied to run from the foil capsule onto the bottle.  The technology works on a three dimensional signature called bubble tags that are made from a clear resin which create bubbles in unique (random) patterns during a hardening process.  Read more about why these tags are impossible to reproduce.

Tags also have a unique number assigned and both are then scanned with optical readers when created (by the manufacturer, French company Novatec) and recorded in a central database. 

The key advantage of Prooftag - Easy verification

There are 3 levels of "controls" to verify tags.   The first level is based on a quick visual inspection.  See example to right where the top image is an original strip and the lower one has been tampered with.  The strip might also be ripped.

The second level of control requires using the identifier on the tag to retrieve the unique bubble pattern image from the company's database.  Simply visit this authentication page, and enter the identifier (click here for the animated tutorial).  According to the company, over 99.95% of people tested can complete a visual authentication in a few seconds.

For the trade, optical readers that use an algorithm to calculate a signature for each bubble tag (analogous to how fingerprint readers work) can then be connected to the company portal for electronic authentication.

Possible issues with Prooftag's solution

I presume simply peeling off the strip (even if it remained unripped) would create the damage shown in the second image above (although I didn't see this scenario proactively addressed on the company site).

What about the long-term "stickiness" of the label in varying cellar conditions?  If for some reason the Prooftag came off accidentally, it could render the bottle valueless.  It seems likely this use case has also been considered.

Potential flaws in Kodak solution?

Kodak's system is based on applying invisible markers to printing inks, paper, and other packaging elements.  But these invisible markers are only readable with proprietary handheld readers.  Putting aside the low probability of an individual collector ever buying a reader, trade members might still do so if they care about selling authentic bottles.  The problem is when Vinfolio inquired about obtaining a reader for this purpose, we were told that they're available only to customers!  Huh? This virtually defeats the benefit of marking the bottles at all.  

The other obvious flaw with the entire Kodak approach is that it does nothing to stop a counterfeiter from refilling a bottle with something else (unless the markers are in the foil capsule and it is not resused after a bottle contents are replaced).

Bottom line: Wine producers deciding between these and other anti-counterfeiting options need to consider how the trade and consumers will interact with the technology.

P.S. Here's a link to the Decanter.com article which prompted this post.

Facebook is gaining serious traction as a social networking platform for a wide variety of applications since opening up their API (application program interface) to others (a brilliant strategic move which spells the end of Myspace).  As such, I recently took the plunge and set up a Facebook profile.  So if you're interested in linking up to me, send me an invitation from within Facebook.

In addition, I decided to set up a new Facebook group called Wine Collectors.  Anyone with an interest in wine collecting should join it as I think it could be a lot of fun to share tips and advice on a peer-to-peer basis.  If you've got other ideas for the group, then add a comment to "the Wall" or start a discussion topic on the group's page (or just comment here).

If you're not yet a Facebook member, then go crazy and sign up!

P.S.    After I wrote this post, I had several people suggest creating a Vinfolio group on Facebook which I have now done so please join that too.   

Periodically, every wine collector needs to stop buying more wine and take stock of what's already in their cellar. Ideally, you're maintaining an accurate inventory as the benefits of doing so are compelling (See "Reasons to update/create your wine cellar inventory").  If not, you may be faced with the exercise James Laube describes in his article "No bottle left behind" (too new to be online yet) in the September 20, 2007 issue of The Wine Spectator.

Most people discover what Laube did in his friend's cellar -- namely that some wine is way past its prime (i.e. dead) or needs to be consumed immediately. But his three categories for classifying what he found -- "keep, toss, and party" -- is missing an important one which is "sell."

If your rate of consumption is not keeping pace with your rate of buying, regularly selling off wine before it goes bad is one way to avoid stockpiling excess wine (see reason #2 in "Common reasons to sell wine").  You might even find that selling helps finance your buying habit.

Does anyone really believe that Two-Buck Chuck Chardonnay is California's best chardonnay other than the judges at the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition this past week? 

I've got nothing against the brand but "best" means numero uno, meaning better than true stars like Aubert, Kistler, Kongsgaard, Marcassin, and Peter Michael.  Who's kidding who?

Alder Yarrow's call to "Stop the State Fair Madness" in his post over at Vinography says it all.  You might also be interested in James Laube's (of the Wine Spectator) review of the wine ("No passing the Buck: Here's my take"). 

If you're curious how the competition is structured, you can read the details on the offical site. 

Yesterday's article, "Are ratings pointless?", in the San Francisco Chronicle provided an in-depth analysis of the 100-point wine rating scale.  The short answer to their rhetorical question is "no" but let me explain how I think about the use of ratings and the key underlying factor driving consumer interest in them.

Why wine consumers want ratings - Reviewer "triage" is a proxy for their own effort

The sheer volume of fine wine produced annually overwhelms the individual consumer's ability to determine what to buy based on his or her personal preferences.  By leveraging the time of reviewers with respected credentials, the resulting ratings and wine descriptions provide an invaluable service by helping prioritize buying decisions within a finite budget.  The consumer's goal is spend his or her money wisely and to achieve maximum drinking pleasure while avoiding outright buying "mistakes."

Determining which rating sources to trust 

Rating sources don't have to be preeminent professional reviewers like Robert Parker, Stephen Tanzer, or Allen Meadows.  As my post of only two days ago highlighted (see What influences your wine purchase decisions?), "wine-knowledgeable" friends are the most frequently mentioned source of influence (72%) followed by wine retail staff members (61%).  The consumer only needs to perceive the rating source as having a good probability of having made an accurate assessment.  This probability assessment or "trust index" is essentially the result of a personal calibration process between the individual consumer's subsequent experiences with wines reviewed by a given source and the level of agreement between the consumer's opinion and the source's.  That's why friends and retail store staff "compete" well against professional reviewers.

Personal taste ultimately trumps professional ratings

The same post I referred to earlier also notes that 87% of consumers agreed with the statement "I trust my own taste more than I do the wine critics."  While there are "score chasers" out there who seem to fall into the other 13% bucket, this extremely high agreement rate indicated that most consumers use wine ratings as a mere input to their purchase decision process.

Use of professional ratings by retailers

Most retailers selectively present only the highest rating, from whatever source they can find, to provide a positive buying rationale to a consumer. This has always irritated me as the source may not be one I "trust" most for the type of wine in question, and even if it were, more information, including divergent opinions from other trusted sources enable me to make a more informed purchase decision. 

That's why Vinfolio shows multiple rating sources whenever we can find them such as the example shown on the right for a $200+ bottle of Kistler pinot noir.  Even if you trust the Wine Advocate, the wine divergence of views on this wine (from Burghound, Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, and the Wine Spectator) will interest you.  Upon reading the text reviews (achieved by clicking on each box when on our site), you may choose to discount selected opinions or not. 

Your opinion

Please feel free to add your own comments on how to use wine ratings successfully.

The UK's Antique Wine Company (AWC) just started promoting the "The Great Antique Lafite Rothschild Collection" comprised of 48 bottles from 39 vintages (see full list and bottle sizes) including:

• 4 vintages from 1787-1799
• 21 vintages from the 1800s
• 11 from the 1900s (7 of which are 1982 or later)
  
• Plus 2000, 2002 and 2003

Expected sale price: $1 million to $3 million.  If you're interested, visit this page and let them know as bidding/negotiations commences May 1, 2007.

Authenticity testing reaches news heights

While this seems like an amazing collection (although I wouldn't call the youngest 10 vintages "antique"), what caught my interest more than the wine and money involved was the proactive approach taken to verifying authenticity for which AWC should be applauded.  See Decanter.com's story of today: "Most extensive collection of Chateau Lafite to be tested prior to sale."

I suppose it's not surprising given that the press has been full of stories about counterfeiting of wine.  While most of us cannot afford to do nuclear isotope analysis to assess whether we bought the real thing, in this case, the expected sale price covers it.

What about the "chain of provenance"?

While I'm sure AWC is diligent in tracking the storage history and ownership of these bottles to the best of their ability, these details are not disclosed on the site or even referenced.  The bottle glass and wine might be tested for age but what about whether any bottles were "cooked" by heat exposure sometime in the past 100-200 years?

The Decanter.com story only mentions that the wines were "assembled over the past two years from restaurants, hotels, and private cellars."  Personally, I have varying degrees of confidence in all three of those categories of wine owner based on knowing the source, where they got the wine from, how it was stored, how long they've owned it etc.

No doubt some of these questions are impossible to answer given the age of many of the vintages.  The assurance of a guarantee on the wine's condition is highly unlikely to be provided either.  But then again, collections like this are a high stakes game and anyone playing it is sure to appreciate the risks.

P.S.    The label image is from the Antique Wine Company web site. 

A reader asked me last week what my thoughts were on how many bottles of a collectible, high-scoring wine to purchase upon release if one wants to collect for the long term.

The two biggest factors affecting this decision are:

1. Your bank account – Financial resources are usually the biggest constraint. But if money isn’t an issue, do you really care if you buy too much when you can usually sell any “excess” later for a profit or at least get your money back?
2. Availability – No matter what you may want to buy, some wine is so scarce that what you can find becomes the limiting factor.

Assuming you have the money and the access, then other consideration come into play:

1. Diversity of tasting experiences – There are far more wines worthy of your attention than you’ll ever get a chance to try. Why load up on any one of them?
2. Learning through experimentation – Many wine collectors like to experience tasting a wine at various stages of its evolution (recommended).
3. The wine’s drinking window – The longer the wine is expected to develop or remain drinkable, the easier it is to “safely” buy more.
4. Your personal drinking window – The younger you are, the more you’ll likely be alive and healthy to drink the wine you’re buying.
5. Method of consumption – When you open fine wine, are you having friends over and drinking multiple bottles at a time? Is there a minimum quantity you’d like to have available when you serve it?
6. Corked bottle risk – It would be incredibly disappointing to cellar a wine for years only to find that it’s flawed upon opening one of a limited number of bottles.

My personal preferences

1. The maximum amount of any wine that I’ve ever purchased is 2-3 cases, usually of first-growth Bordeaux or Yquem which I felt safe buying for the long haul.
2. I was comfortable “buying a drinking option” that purchasing “excess” quantities provided me. I subsequently sold off the excess and made a nice profit but investment gain wasn’t my goal at the time of purchase.
3. Considering my strong desire to experience tasting a broad spectrum of wines together with my consumption profile, 6 bottles is now a normal purchase for me and a case is my upper limit.

Bottom line: Analyze your personal circumstances with the above framework and determine what makes sense for you.

You insure your home, car, jewelry, and art, so why not wine? The value of even a modest 500 bottle wine collection can easily be worth $50,000 if the average bottle is valued at $100. Larger collections may be worth millions. Yet, the majority of wine collectors don’t bother with wine insurance.

Perhaps they think their homeowner’s policy already covers the risk (generally not the case) or that the risk of accidental loss is lower than other items they insure (it may be but so is the premium rate).

What wine insurance should cover

1. Damage/loss caused by power outage or mechanical breakdown of refrigeration equipment.
2. Accidental breakage
3. Theft, fire, and water-related damage – Read Alder Yarrow’s recent post at Vinography on a $500,000 wine theft a few days ago in the San Francisco Bay area.
4. Wine stored at multiple locations (including off-site storage facilities where industry practice is not to insure customer-owned wine)
5. Damage in transit
6. New purchases at full value (immediately)

Selecting a policy: what to look for?

1. No deductible
2. Blanket coverage instead of itemized
3. Premium rates in the 0.4%-0.5% per annum range with potential discounts for alarm systems etc.
4. A reputable insurance company – The big players are Fireman’s Fund, Chubb, and AIG.

Disclosure: Vinfolio has a cross-marketing agreement with Fireman’s Fund. If you’d like to find out more about Fireman’s Fund’s wine insurance offering, click here.

Over the past few months, I’ve pointed out in this blog the trend towards packaging and selling of fine wine in larger auction lots, mini-collections, and even large-scale, million-dollar-plus collections. As further evidence of the trend, a friend sent me a New York retailer’s email offer yesterday which contained 3 different 7-case “cellars” at prices of approximately $9,000, $16,000, and $49,000 instead of the normal list of wines being sold by the bottle. In addition, a Wall Street Journal story yesterday by Christina S.N. Lewis , “The Overnight Wine Collector” (subscription required), highlights how homebuilders have made cellars a standard feature in new homes, prompting many to skip the collecting phase and just write a check to fill empty cellars like the one shown.

Risk factors

There’s nothing wrong with spending large sums of money on wine, either in large single purchases delivering an “instant” cellar or at a more measured pace. However, moving quickly and spending freely increases your risk of:

1. Being overcharged
2. Buying wines that are mismatched to your palate
3. Being duped into buying expensive fakes or poor condition wine

Everyone “backfills” their cellar to some degree

When I got the wine collecting bug over a decade ago, I was impatient and sought to “backfill” my cellar with mature vintages of “ready to drink” wine while simultaneously purchasing new releases to put away. While I probably spent more in any single year in that first year or two, I made individual wine decisions in conjunction with advice from my trusted retailer at the time.

The right way for new collectors to proceed

1. Get professional advice
1. Choose a retailer with whom you can develop a trusted relationship (see my post “Criteria for choosing a good wine retailer”), or
2. Hire a wine consultant. However, keep in mind that with fine wine, it’s all about access to supply which a retailer is more likely to have. Selecting a “dream list” of wine is meaningless unless the wine can be sourced on a cost effective basis.
2. Define your taste preferences - You need not be a wine expert to answer some basic questions about likes and dislikes. Or, if your base of wine knowledge is too narrow, ask your retailer/adviser to put together a mixed case or two of wine of the desired quality level from various regions and comprised of different varietals. Then open them all with your adviser at one sitting to generate feedback to drive more educated selections. (Schedule a party for your friends afterwards to finish off the wine.)
3. Provide budget guidance and ultimate goals – What’s your comfort zone on the price of a single bottle of wine? What’s your target average bottle cost? Do you have a bottle count objective (like filling the cellar of a newly purchased home)?
4. Set the pace – At what pace would you like to proceed? In general, better wine tends to sell quickly when it becomes available. Also, some wine may need to be sourced in Europe which will extend delivery times. Therefore, very short timelines may make it difficult to optimize selections and pricing. Allowing even six months is sufficient to accomplish most objectives but if you’re committed to wine collecting, make the advisory relationship a permanent one.
5. Authorize discretionary buying by your retailer/adviser – When desirable wine becomes available, permitting your retailer/adviser to make instant decisions on your behalf provides you with the highest chance of buying it before others. It’s also a lot more convenient than responding to frequent emails or phone calls.

Vinfolio’s free collection-building advisory service

Vinfolio offers its own collection-building service which assists wine collectors and enthusiasts through the process I have described above. By meeting certain initial; purchase minimums, our personalized planning services are free, including even face-to-face meetings in your home. Learn more about how we do it. Why not have your own “wine guy” to provide ongoing personalized advice?

Do you know how to pronounce "Montrose"? Most of us would pronounce the "t", but in French, you would not.

Regardless of your level of wine knowledge, without some understanding of multiple foreign languages, you will inevitably be stumped at the right way to pronounce foreign wine names. That's where online audio files of wine names come in handy. The folks at The Oenofile Network Wine Blog did a quick review of online resources in their recent post titled Wine Pronounciation Guide. Check it out.

Localwineevents.com, the leading site for tracking wine events happening all over the world (including your own city), is running an informal poll of your favorite wine blogs.

The Wine Collector is currently in the top 10 so please vote for us (and tell your friends) if you like the content of this blog.

A post in James Laube’s Unfined blog yesterday titled “That’s right, women are smarter” inspired me to consider why female wine collectors seem to be scarce. The general demographic profile of a wine collector is 90+% male, 40’s or older, and with some disposable income to support their “habit.” When I checked Vinfolio’s list of top 100 customers based on wine spending, only 5% were women. The big question is does this reflect the market or are we just bad marketers?

Here are some possible explanations (without any supporting facts):

• Women tend to have a broader range of collecting-related interests from shoes and handbags to clothing and jewelry where they prioritize their spending. Wine just does not bring as much pleasure per dollar as those other categories. (Note: this is an observation from a female staff member).
• Married women allow their husbands to take the lead on wine collecting to generate leverage to justify spending on what they want (see prior point).
• Many men treat wine collecting as another arena of competition and a method of signaling to others they have “made it.” Women tend to choose other means to compete or to signal success.
• Women are more disciplined drinkers and physically smaller. This in turn leads to less consumption and a lesser need to collect.

What’s your theory?

1. Buying wine solely on professional scores without sampling along the way. I started and continued buying high Parker-scoring Australian wine in the mid-1990s only to discover that they were not to my taste when I finally got around to opening some. Use professional reviews as an input, not a substitute, for your own purchase decisions but rely upon your own tastes.


2. Buying too rapidly before taking the time to figure out what you like. As Allen Meadows of Burghound.com once said, “I have never met anyone whose taste did not change.” In my own case, my preferences have shifted dramatically from Bordeaux and cabernets to Burgundy and pinot noir over the past 10 years.


3. Chasing trophy wines only. There are many worthier and less expensive alternatives that help round out one’s knowledge of a particular region. For example, I enjoy trying the undiscovered gems recommended by Doug Wilder in his weekly Wilder Side of California wineletter.


4. Buying too much. This is a relative statement but it applies to both individual wines as well as to varietals, regions, vintages, and relative to one’s collecting objectives (if you even bothered to establish any). One should always keep in mind the epic vintages, however, and be poised to stock up.


5. Placing too much emphasis on lowest price when buying. Buying wine is not like buying electronics. Low priced bottles, particularly from older vintages, may have been stored poorly before you bought them and could therefore be damaged or worthless goods.


6. Buying from too many sources. You’re better off concentrating with a few retailers to obtain priority service, allocations and advice. This will also save you the management headache of tracking your pre-arrival purchases.


7. Not asking for more advice and help from your preferred retailers. Develop a personal relationship with a knowledgeable person at your favorite retailers, even if it’s only by phone or email. Listen to them even when advice may be contradictory to a score or an article. They want to preserve their relationship with you and have no incentive to recommend any wine just to move it.


8. Forgetting to drink a wine until it is past its prime. If you’re not going to drink it, you should at least sell it to recover your money.


9. Poor post-purchase storage and handling. Why buy great wine if you’re not going to care for it properly? Pay attention to weather conditions when shipping and pay for priority delivery service. Store wine in temperature-controlled conditions, either in a home cellar or professional storage facility.


10. Deferring the purchase of special vintages that you know you will want later (children’s birth years, anniversaries) will cost you more. I have three sons (ages 2-12) and each one has a mini collection of birth year wines that I put together for them while the wines were more affordable.

What are some of your mistakes? I would love to hear from you or your comments on my points above.

Wine collectors have an inherent curiosity to explore because they know that the more wine they taste, the more they will notice and appreciate subtle differences, both positive and negative.

A tasting group setting facilitates comparison and encourages a greater mental focus on the wine than casually having a bottle of wine with dinner. I’ve been in a tasting group of seven friends for the past eight or nine years. It’s been the single most important step in developing my own personal preferences. Here’s how our group functions:

1. We meet 6-7 times per year over dinner at one of our homes or in a restaurant.
2. The host selects the wine theme and obtains seven bottles for the tasting. Examples of recent tastings include 1999 Grand Cru Burgundy (red), Cheval Blanc vertical, 2002 Australian Shiraz, Phelps Insignia vertical, 1996 Bordeaux, and a 1997 World of Syrah tasting.
3. We split the cost of the wine equally; the host covers dinner and provides pre and post dinner white wine, champagne, dessert wine, or port. Note: I use a car service to and from these events!
4. Generally, we know the identity of the wines included in the tasting but all wine is served blind in numbered glasses.
5. We each “force rank” the wine from 1 to 7 to create a composite score for each wine. The lowest score wins.
6. We then go around the table and defend our rankings.

A few observations:

1. A rotating focus over time on various regions, varietals, single producers, etc. develops a broad range of tasting experiences.
2. Having the ability to taste seven great wines for the price of one bottle is economically efficient.
3. The top rated wines from critics rarely match the group’s preferences.
4. The price of the wine is not a good predictor of quality either.
5. The process of force ranking requires a real self-examination of one’s true preferences and builds self-confidence in one’s tasting skills.
6. We have a lot of fun and generally can’t wait for the next tasting!

Bottom line: if you aren’t already in a tasting group, call some friends and start one.

Given the title of this blog, it's fair to ask how one defines a wine collector.

Last night I was reading the new issue of the Wine Spectator (November 30, 2006) whose headline is emblazoned "Wine Collecting." On the editors' introductory page titled "Are you a wine collector?", they offer the following definition: "A collector is someone who enjoys wine enough to plan for future consumption." As they also pointed out, there's no collection size requirement to qualify.

In doing a quick Google search, I came across another simple definition on the www.savoreachglass.com site in an article titled The Basics of Wine Collecting in which they quote Dennis Overstreet (of The Wine Merchant in Beverly Hills): If you have more wine than you can drink at one time then you are a collector.

I would add a further qualifier which is that true collectors pursue collecting primarily for their future drinking pleasure and not investment purposes. Given the price of fine wine, it's hard to ignore the financial value of one's collection but money can be replaced while not all of your wine can.

A magazine reporter recently asked me to identify these risks and here's what I told him:

1. Not buying "cellar worthy" wine - Why collect wine which is merely average or will not improve in the bottle? Ideally, you should buy wine upon release (to eliminate the risk of bad provenance -- see #3 below) and nurture it in ideal storage conditions until it has evolved further in the bottle.
2. Paying too much for wine - Many retailers are limited by state alcohol laws into having structurally higher prices than retailers in other states. Calfornia-based retailers, on the other hand, are generally far more price competitive given a more flexible regulatory structure and ship to most states.
3. Buying poorly stored wine - If you buy older vintages, you may often not know exactly how the wine has been handled and stored from the time of its release until your purchase. Even one day of heat exposure can ruin a wine forever. As a result, assurances of good provenance may drive large differences in pricing for what is ostensibly the same wine but it's often worth the difference.
4. Buying fakes - The greater the price per bottle of a wine, the greater the risk of it being a fake. Many high end producers include anti-counterfeiting measures embedded in their labels such as Chateau Petrus. Dealing with reputable retailers is your best defense.
5. Not diversifying purchases - Too much concentration in any particular region, varietal, or single producer is a mistake. There is an enormous range of tasting experiences available so why limit yours? E.g., I rarely purchase more than a single case of any wine and often six bottles would be my upper limit. However, if you are buying for investment, increasing quantities could make sense.

Sometimes it’s helpful to define something by what it isn’t and this is one of those times.
The Wine Collector is not a blog to read for the latest in wine recommendations or producers. There are hundreds of other blogs, websites, newsletters, and magazines where you can read those opinions (including on Vinfolio’s own site). This blog will instead address the many practical activities involved in being a wine collector to help you use your time efficiently and intelligently. The end goal is to create more time for enjoying your wine and to bring a degree of order to your collection, however big or small.

What makes me qualified?
I have been a collector for over a decade and built a collection of about 7,000 bottles. As my collection grew, more and more of my time was spent managing what I had, moving it between home and off-site storage, tracking pre-arrival purchases from numerous wineries and retailers around the country, and deciding what I should be drinking versus selling. Ultimately, I decided to create an entire business, Vinfolio, to cater to the needs of wine collectors and enthusiasts.

First and foremost that means locating and selling the fine wine sought by our customers at competitive prices. But as our company slogan “Fine wine, finer service” states, part of our mission is providing a complete range of collector services to address the associated practical activities faced by anyone who actively buys wine faster than they consume it. While I can't promise I have personal knowledge on how to tackle every wine collecting issue, between our customers and staff, there are many resources available to tap.

How often will I post?
The plan is to post 3-4 days a week. As we are all busy and I have Vinfolio to run, I will try to keep posts concise to ensure the points get across. Inherently more complicated subjects will be addressed in a series of related posts.

Contacting me
Your comments and own collecting advice are always welcome. You may reach me anytime via my email address: steve@vinfolio.com. Welcome to The Wine Collector!