Interesting wine question

[drizzt3117]

Hmm, I saw this question on the ERP board, and I thought it was rather interesting. Basically the question was that you had $5k and a 500 bottle cellar capacity, and what would you buy? I said the following, but I would be interested to see what people would put. Please don't make any comments about saving the money, it's too much to spend, etc... it's just a hypothetical question.

Shiraz/Syrah:
1 cs 2001 Penfolds B389 $200
1 cs 2002 Esca Syrah $195
4 bottles 2002 D'Arenberg Dead Arm $150
2 bottles 2001 D'Arenberg Dead Arm $160
30 bottles Total $695

Cabernet:
1 cs 2000 Don Melchor CS $350
1 cs 2001 Don Melchor CS $400
1 cs 2002 Esca CS $240
1 cs 2002 Neal CS $435
4 bottles 2002 Pride CS $320
2 bottles Gemstone 2001 CS $200
54 bottles Total: $1945

Merlot:
1 cs 2002 Pride Merlot $600
2 bottles 2001 Paloma Merlot $275
2 bottles 2002 Paloma Merlot $160
2 bottles 2002 Switchback Merlot $180
18 bottles Total: $1215

Bordeaux:
2 bottles 2001 Leoville Las Cases $185
2 bottles 2001 Leoville Barton $75
2 bottles 2001 Smith Haut Lafitte $75
4 bottles 2001 Lynch Bages $175
10 bottles Total: $510

Dessert Wines:
1 cs 99 Rieussec $400
4 bottles Navarro Cluster Select Late Harvest $100
5 bottles Schloss Schonborn Beerenauslese $125
21 bottles Total $625

133 bottles, average cost per bottle $37.50

 

[kabert]

Nice choices. I think I might swap out some of the cabs and Bordeaux's, but otherwise I'd be happy with your selections. Wait a minute -- no chardonnay? No white or red burgundy? I guess burgundy screws up the budget pretty quickly.

 

[drizzt3117]

It was difficult to stock up with all different varietals with those price guidelines, I thought about this a bit, and it didn't make much sense because it was $5k with a 500 bottle limit, most people aren't going to stock up with an average of $10 wines.

So, I came up with a new challenge.

250 bottle capacity, that must be filled, and a $10k limit.

Shiraz/Syrah:
1 cs 2002 Penfolds B389 $200
1 cs 2001 Penfolds B389 $200
1 cs 2002 Esca Syrah $195
6 bottles 2002 D'Arenberg Dead Arm $250
6 bottles 2001 D'Arenberg Dead Arm $450
48 bottles Total $1295

Chardonnay:
1 cs Pride Chardonnay $350
12 bottles total $350

Pinot Noir:
2 cs 2002 Arcadian Santa Lucia Highlands $450
1 cs 2003 Loring Wine Company Rosella $480
36 bottles Total $930

Cabernet:
1 cs 2001 Clos Apalta CS $500
1 cs 2000 Don Melchor CS $350
1 cs 2001 Don Melchor CS $400
6 bottles 2002 Esca CS $120
1 cs 2002 Neal CS $435
6 bottles 2002 Pride CS $450
4 bottles Gemstone 2001 CS $400
70 bottles Total: $2525

Merlot:
1 cs 2002 Pride Merlot $600
4 bottles 2001 Paloma Merlot $500
4 bottles 2002 Paloma Merlot $300
2 bottles 2002 Switchback Merlot $180
2 bottles 2002 Pride Vintiners Select Mt. Top Merlot $250
24 bottles Total: $1830

Bordeaux:
2 bottles 2000 Leoville Las Cases $500
2 bottles 2000 Palmer $260
2 bottles 2001 Leoville Las Cases $175
2 bottles 2001 Leoville Barton $75
2 bottles 2001 Smith Haut Lafitte $75
4 bottles 2001 Lynch Bages $175
14 bottles Total: $1260

Dessert Wines:
4 bottles 01 Rieussec $480
1 cs 03 Rieussec $455
1 cs 99 Rieussec $400
1 cs Navarro Cluster Select Late Harvest $250
1 cs bottles Schloss Schonborn Beerenauslese $225
52 bottles Total $1810

250 bottles, average cost per bottle $40

 

[Concordia]

Intelligent slicing of cost/quality/quantity. The 2001 Bordeaux are something of a layup, assuming you have a few years to hang out and wait for them.

Personally, I wouldn't have messed around with the Californian stuff, and would have found some Burgundies instead. 1999 and 2002s from minor villages like Savigny-les-Beaune, then a good handful of Nuits-St-Georges, maybe a few Gevreys and Vosnes. For best price/quality, go for the better big merchants-- Jadot, Drouhin, Faiveley, plus a few specialists in the minor villages.

For Bordeaux that's ready to roll, I'd bag a few 97s that are of the top tier and on sale. Talbot or better-- great value and pleasant drinking now. And nobody wants them. 99s maybe get the same boredom discount with slightly higher quality.

I'd score about 4 cases of 2003 Beaujolais from old vines, and root around the southern Rhone from 00, 01, 03. Lots of good value there.

Oh, the whites. To save money, Jadot 2002 for premier cru Burgundies, then a lot of JJ Prum Kabinetts and Spatleses from 2001. And then learn a little more about Sancerre and Vouvray. Yum.

 

[drizzt3117]

I happen to like the taste of Californian wines, although I do have some Bdx and burgundy (mostly DRCs) in my personal wine collection, I would have to say that the very vast majority of my stuff is Californian, I have probably 75% California wines, 10% Australian, 10% French (Mostly Sauternes and Bdx) and the rest primarily Chilean. I have a couple bottles of Oregon Pinot and Washington State Cabernet and Icewine (Quilceda Creek and Ch. St. Michelle, respectively)

Most of my Californian wines are cabs, with a few dessert wines and a decent amount of Pinot.

 

[norcaltransplant]

Drizz,

You drink Californian wine, but you don't stock any Zin?  Dood, I get shipped 3k miles across the country, and all I want are Costco prices for table wine and a no-corkage fee in my favorite West Village Bistro.

Kudos, to the Beaujolais picks for the spring, summer, and fall.  I suggest investigating the Central Coast for reasonably priced, medium-body, fruity syrahs.  There's a lot of quality out there in the under $20 bracket.  If you like grilling fish in the summer, the Sauvingon Blanc by St. Supery is amazing--none of that excess oak that plagues a lot of California wines.

 

[drizzt3117]

norcal,

I have quite a few central coast syrahs in my own collection, as well as some zin, some turley and neal zins, in addition to some others. I think most of my shiraz are Australian, but I have a few Cali ones as well, as well as some cabernet francs.

I'm not a huge fan of white wine, except for the sweet dessert variety.

 

[jester]

I do have some Bdx and burgundy (mostly DRCs) in my personal wine collection

You have "mostly" DRCs and you're messing around with a peasant-level $10K wine collection?

 

[drizzt3117]

I just don't have alot of Burgundy, only about one and a half cases of DRCs and a few other assorted bottles.

 

[jester]

I have mostly Burgundy, but no DRC....but I certainly wouldn't mind a case and a half in my cellars.

 

[drizzt3117]

My cellar is about 1100 bottles right now, of which 60% or so is Domestic and of that 90% is California (60% cab, 25% pinot, 10% merlot, 5% whites and late harvest dessert wines, the other non Cali 10% is split between Oregon pinot and Washington cab), 25% is French (60% Bdx, 20% Sauternes, 10% Burgundy, mostly red), 8% Australian (almost all shiraz), 5% Chilean(all cab), and 2% everything else (Austrian, Hungarian, South African) About 60% of this stuff has been purchased in the past 3 months (been getting into wine in a big way) and most of the stuff that I've bought has been international, my cellar was primarily Cali cab before. I did get a couple hundred bottles this past year from one of my uncles who had kinda lost interest, which was nice.