8 Common WINE COLLECTING Mistakes! 

Good tips, John. I would add this: find a wine merchant whose buyers you trust - I buy almost exclusively from the Wine Society these days, having used many over the years. I agree about off vintages: one of the most disappointing experiences for me was tasting Lafite from an off year. However, more fruit forward years can be very useful. For example, I am drinking 2014 clarets at the moment (a Beaumont this weekend) whilst waiting for the '10s, '15s, '16s, '18s and '19s to mature. Over-buying is so tempting. I have stopped buying en primeur (I am 68) and so my modest collection of 700 or so should diminish gracefully along with its owner over time. Mind you, my mum is over 100 and still going, so perhaps I will come to regret this decision. I record all my purchases on a simple Exel spreadsheet, along with its purchase price, drinking window, remaining stock, who I drank each bottle with, with what foods and my comments. I find that is sufficient for my needs. Also, I agree about buying smaller quantities - my recent purchases have all been in either threes or sixes. I do like to check on the progress of particular wines over time, so for Bordeaux, for example, I stick to half cases usually. Lastly, as we rarely get Texas weather here in the UK, that point is less of an issue, although I would say that proper storage is still very important; I keep my wines ready for drinking in a chiller cabinet at home and the rest in the merchant's cellars.

"Critic known for high scores" Ah, Luca Maroni.

Love your videos and your recommendations!

"Regardless of how much I enjoy them." Just drink it is the wine industry's message.

Every bottle of wine, encapsulates art and culture. I’m not a collector myself for different reasons. The ones that are collectors have all my respect and admiration. To be a collector is not only a hobby but a passion that demands dedication, knowledge, and patience. It reflects the personality of each collector. It’s an act of love to enjoy wine and preserve this millenarian culture. It’s true that the best wine is the one you enjoy the most, but it’s also a true fact that producer make their best effort to elaborate the best version of a wine, printing in each bottle its own signature. An organoleptic adventure in each sip of this precious liquid. This video is a valuable piece of art even for the ones that are not collectors. We can make so many mistakes when we purchase a wine. Wine lovers are hunters of treasures and your suggestions are a treasure per se. From common sense tips to very complex ones. I really thank you as a no collector but as a wine lover that have this passion through generations and I still learning so much from you. A wine is more enjoyable when you learn more about it. And you as our perfect master. Thank you, John, for your inexhaustible dedication so we continue in a constant reflexion, every time wine drink a wine. Santé

Great advice, thanks

Hey JJ! If I may weigh in or as we say in Australia, "Belly up to the Bar!". I once was invited to a vertical tasting of 12 successive Penfolds 389 (aka The Poor Man's Grange) vintages. For me and my friends, it was a real eye opener! Some vintages were peaking, others were yet to peak and still others were nowhere near their peak. I agree with trusting your own palate and I maintain a tasting diary just for this purpose. One mistake related to highly scored wines are that the scorers may not only be famous but work in collaboration. I rejected a lot of wine at a recent tasting just because (as my wife reminded me...lets taste it first before getting carried away). Thanks JJ! Between you and my wife, I believe I am in good hands!!

Thanks for your Work🙏..helps me a lot👋

Love your recommendations… I agree with you wine insurance by Chubb / pure is great and love cellar tracker

John, this one of your best videos. I have made some of these mistakes. I don’t add new wines to my Cellar Tracker account and I purchased the 2021 Bordeaux futures for the 2021 Chateau Gloria only to learn that the 2021 vintage wasn’t a great vintage. In regards to joining wines clubs, some can be great and some can feel like they ship you wines you could have bought without being a member. My favorite winery in Napa is Matthiasson; the winery is low intervention but still uses sulfites before bottling to make stable, wines are lower in ABV than most wineries in Napa and they don’t just make wines from the traditional grapes grown in Napa. With Matthiasson, when it’s time for the next wine club order to be shipped, they let you choose the wines to be shipped to and you can add more wine club exclusive wines. I’m also part of Trucard’s and Grammercy Cellar’s and those feel like you’re mostly getting wines you could have bought from them without needing to be a club member. I also buy way to much wine.

Great video John. I pretty much agree with everything. We recently touched on the issue of sorting out your cellar and making sure you don't forget what you have. That's very important so not to leave things too long. That also leads into the size of a collection. Collecting is a hobby but you can't take your bottles to the grave. I think we both said we have to keep an eye on it Buying by case is a tricky one. I never do it if I can avoid it but sometimes you must. I recently bought a vintage Alta 904 (2004) and it was only available from a prestigous retailer I trust selling in case and bond. Older vintages of quality stuff are often only on sale in the U.K like this. When it comes to more modest fair I will always buy a bottle to try before spurging on more. These days I find that I'm buying more from smaller, very interesting producers, often organic and/or low intervention, which fly well below the more established wine radar and there are some real gems. They're definately one at a time.

Love this. It’s easy to get caught up in the deal of the day too. I do buy usually in 3s. With some exceptions. 3 is usually a good number for a nice dinner party or, for me, letting something get a little bottle age and see the difference in a year or two, or if not age-worthy, I can finish in a year or so. But, I am a “off the beaten path” wine drinker, like jacquere, retsina, dorona, sparkling prie blanc, ramisco, Isabella, sparkling sagrantino rose, sweet zibibbo, ……for those I have learned to get 1 or two only, as sometimes while I’ll find them interesting, they can be challenging for others. If I find one that’s really good, I’ll then go get more…. Another great post. Thank you.

Good points! Only comment on CT's Ready to Drink reports that are based on US-originated-user's drinking window-estimations :) According to that massive amount of my wines are been past drinking window for 5-10 years, but that just is not the case. I am also fan of long verticals of same wine, often we also include the off vintages, but if the wine was 20-50€ when purchased, is not as bad was with more expensive wines.

Great content as always ! A Segway would be a list of mistakes made when choosing wine from a restaurant menu! Cheers !

Another thought is not to be too attentive to drinking windows, especially for those lucky enough to have cellars. Last year my Godson turned 30 and in his honour we opened half a dozen 1992 wines that certainly weren’t meant to last that long - but there were NO disappointments, including a Riesling Kabinett from Muller Catoir in the Pfalz.

This is one of your very best video yet John ! I am not kidding you when I tell you that I have a 99% perfect cork score in the last maybe 10 years and I cannot remember my last corked wine. Maybe a little luck but in reality is that I buy just very recent vintages and never buy old ones to avoid what you said. Went to Specs and I continue to see the exactly same bottles I have seen for more that a year (numbered bottles) and even though the temps inside the store might be in the mid 70s I would be concerned buying a $200 wine that has been there for some years. I am opposite as you, I actually like to buy a lot of wines that I like and tend to drinkem many times a year. And there are some other that I stocked upr HEAVILY because I want to take advantage of great pricing knowing that prices will go up very fast. Examples are : Tour St. Cristophe, Laroque, Tronquay, and even Lilian Ladouys. You in North Texas have a better shipping window than us in South Texas, my shipping window is from November till mid March, but this year even in February we saw temps in the upper 90s ! Have a great Sunday

Great tips 💯

Excellent video, John. One thing I see some do is collect less expensive wine, what many of us would call ‘daily drinkers’. The two issues with that are paying for the cellaring (offsite, etc) and the mistaken belief a $20 wine will turn into a $200 if you age it. Buy your daily drinkers as you need them. By and large they are a commodity.

As far as wine clubs, I believe Wine Access would be a acception. They are ran by a Master of wine and I belive four other sommelier and are based out of Napa Valley. I have been a member for almost three years and have never received a disappointing bottle of wine. They offer many different clubs at different price points. Including one associated with Michelin star reasturants and another with Decanter. I'm a member of two clubs, wine access podcast and the discovery club. I believe the connoisseur club would be a excellent choice for collectors. Congratulations on a awesome channel I really enjoy your content.

There are so many learnings and takeaways from this video, and I hope everyone follows all your advice and recommendations because they make so much sense. Outstanding presentation and discussion of well-prepared and well thought-out content and topics - from tasting before purchasing (practiced this 99.9% of the time in my recent trip to France) to overbuying, collecting in realistic quantities, over reliance on critics’ scores, transporting of wine from source to home (one of my biggest worries!), the importance of climate controlled storage and proper storage position of bottles in wine shops (I agonize over this 😅), organization and inventory of wine collection (I have started keeping a virtual inventory in chart form with pertinent wine information), among others. I haven’t tried using Cellar Tracker since I have my own format and it’s pretty solid but I realize that an online cellar management software/App would be really valuable for those with many hundreds or thousands of bottles to keep track of. Other comments and observations: Shipping on a Monday - excellent advice! Terrific footages of cars and wines! Thrilled that you included photos of Pegau and Produttori del Barbaresco. Re. wine critics whose opinion and taste align with mine - well, that would be you! I also find my notes and opinion align with the notes and reviews by/of James Suckling and I do often check out the wine ratings by/from Robert Parker as well. Great info about some wineries in France and Italy not selling bottles in their winery. For example: Pio Cesare in Italy and Chave in France. All in all, a truly stellar video with real substance, accurate information, sensible advice, and reliable information. Merci beaucoup et felicitations! Exceptionally impressive work! Santé, John!

Hey… if possible could you please do a clip of your cellar? I know this can be personal but I am sure we will really learn from your collection.

Great video! Wondering if you could offer some advice. For my birthday recently my wife got me a few nice bottles of Bordeaux. How long do you recommend aging each of these before we open them? They are: 2018 Labegorce Margaux, 2018 Branaire Ducru, 2014 Grand Puy Lacoste, and 2010 Léoville Barton (this one was special!)

I still find people who pretend to be wine collectors who claim that older wine is better. And then they are surprised when they open a bottle of wine "deceased" years ago.

Can you make a video on which wines to buy in order to make some profit?

For what reasons would you ever write off wine purchases?

Point 1 is total nonsense. How are you supposed to "try before you buy" with futures purchases, which are most serious buyers' biggest investment? Could you offer blueprints for a time machine perhaps at the end?

Another terrible piece of advice is buying 3 or 4 bottles at a time instead of by the case. If you're a serious wine fan who may one day want to resell your wine, then you absolutely should ONLY buy good wine by the case, as resale value for wine in the OWC is far higher than for 3 or 4 random bottles.