Need some help please

Hey everyone i am new to wine but have always had an interest in it. I am trying to start a collection early, now i am a poor college student so i cant blow tons on wine but i can spend money on a monthly basis to improve my collection. I just bought a double climate controlled wine cellar that holds only 30 bottles but that should be enough space for right now. I would like to stock my cellar with roughly, 10 dailies, 10 weeklies, 5 collectible and 5 ultra-collectible. So i am just seeking help from anyone that knows their stuff, i live in central pa and our wine stores really dont offer much. Only down side is i havnt tried many wines yet that i have taken record of. I just recently had a bottle of Robert Modavi Cabernet, i really enjoyed this wine. Thanks.

hmmm. well, welcome. do you have a friend or family member with a fairly cool cellar? if so, that is where the collectable stuff should go. at home, "it its there, they will drink it." or you and they will. i assume you are talking about things like 2005 bordeaux which need a minimum of 10 more years and probably more. on the other hand, you really DO need to drink some of these sorts of things to see what they taste like and why they need to age. do you have a good excuse to go to philly? just across the river you can find a couple of good wine shops with better prices and selection - canal's and moore bros. anyway, at this point, if you are serious about learning you should mainly be drinking - to learn what you should be saving. that said, this is definitly late in the game to get the 2005 bordeaux and you kick yourself if you don't. just a couple of ideas. david

Welcome! I agree with David about finding a good place to store the wines for aging. From central PA, you're only a few hours drive from the Finger Lakes. There are many very nice wineries you can visit and taste their wines before buying. You'll find that most don't need a lot of cellar time, but there are some exceptions. Generally the whites (especially Riesling) are better than the reds, but you can find some nice Pinot Noir and Cab Franc there. Some nice bubblies also.

Welcome from me as well! I'm a grad student, so I understand your situation quite well, and in fact it sounds like your budget is quite a bit more than mine. As far as collectibles go, keep in mind that you don't have to sink a whole lot of money to get an outstanding wine with good cellaring potential. The majority of my cellar is bottles under $50. Also, I would advise you not to sink a lot of money into any particular wine before having at least some idea of your preferences. Another thing to consider is that currently, older vintages currently represent much better values than recent vintages, especially for Bordeaux. If you like Cali Cabs, I can make a specific and affordable recommendation: the 2004 Louis Martini Napa Reserve. This is a classic Napa Cab that I feel will age for 15 years plus from now, and is under $25.

Hello, Chase.
I too started my wine collection at a young age (22), though I didn't have a wine cooler to store them in (nor a cellar, but that's another story). I think your plan to buy everyday wines and wines for laying down is a good one, as is the suggestion to get to know your tastes better. PA is a particularly tough state because of the state stores, but if you're in the Philadelphia area, it's easy enough to pop over to NJ, where there are some very good stores. So what is your budget? For affordable, ageworthy wines, you are better off not investing too much in California Cabernets as they tend to be especially expensive. Among the cheaper, more ageworthy examples are those from Clos du Val and Corison (good luck finding them in PA, though). Ridge Geyserville and Lytton Springs are two ageworthy "Zinfandels" (they are actually blends) and are widely distributed. All of the above wines will cost you $30-$50 a bottle. There are many other styles and types of wine to try, but those are a starting point. Pinot Noir rarely needs as much age as bigger red wines, but again price is an issue. Saintsbury Reserve Pinot Noir is a fairly available and reasonably priced Pinot Noir that can age 5-10 years.

For everyday drinking, you have many more options. Try many different wines, red and white and see what appeals to you. Try to find a fairly reliable source of information (here is not a bad place, but a good local retailer -- if such a thing exists in central PA -- is even better) for recommendations.

Good luck, and have fun on the journey!
Mark Lipton

I was thinking, i know my local store dosnt offer anything of interest to me, but is there somewhere online that i could order a box maybe 12 bottles or so and choose an assortment of different wines. My store dosnt really carry many selections. With school being back in i really dont think i will have time to make a NJ or Philly trip. That is why i think looking to the internet for help would work. Is there a website that will list all the types of wines?

I was thinking, i know my local store dosnt offer anything of interest to me, but is there somewhere online that i could order a box maybe 12 bottles or so and choose an assortment of different wines. My store dosnt really carry many selections. With school being back in i really dont think i will have time to make a NJ or Philly trip. That is why i think looking to the internet for help would work. Is there a website that will list all the types of wines?

http://www.wine-searcher.com might be the kind of thing you are looking for.

Good wine retailers' websites:

K&L: http://www.klwines.com
Sam's: http://www.samswine.com
Zachy's: http://www.zachys.com

Mark Lipton

Here's another website for you: http://www.bountyhunterwine.com/info.asp?sid=22
I just received their catalog in the mail yesterday. Some of their offerings are very expensive but they also have a listing of twelve wines from around the world that are reasonably priced (a Cotes du Rhone, a Rioja, a Dr. Loosen Blue Slate Riesling, etc.). I'm thinking about ordering the dozen-bottle selection myself. It would be a good way for you to sample a variety of wines without investing heavily and you should determine your taste preferences before committing too much money.
The Bounty Hunter is based in Napa. Not sure about shipping rules in Pennsylvania (or even in my state--I can order directly from wineries but maybe not from retailers in other states.) Being located in Napa, they do carry a lot of Napa wines--Caymus, Etude, Waypoint, etc. and if you like the Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon, you may like some of these also.

Ok i am going to buy the dozen bottles from bounty hunter. Now the only thing is should i have them ground shipped or air. Ground will take 5 days, and air will take 3 days. I dont want to have them suffer from heat damage but i dont know if they will.

You could ask them to wait until fall to ship. That is what I am doing with my current wine orders from wineries. You may need to phone the Bounty Hunter people or request their catalog through the mail to get the specifics of the around-the-world selections. I wasn't able to bring it up by searching the website but that may be due to firewalls here at work. I tried the "shop" tab and then the drop-down menu "by catalog."

You might find these useful:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/dinin ... ref=slogin

http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0 ... ass&st=cse

I totally endorse Chambers Street Wine and think it's the best place to get a mixed case.

Styrofoam is good for protecting the wine from temperature fluctuation during shipping but some stores won't use it for ecological reasons. Probably best to ask them (or anyone else) to ship as soon as the weather cools.