Archive for the ‘Cellar Strategy’ Category
How to Start Your New Year Wine Cellar: The Historical Perspective
December 28th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
Suzette Dewey, daughter of U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Charles Dewey, spent Prohibition as a notorius Chicago flapper. Upon Repeal, she published a short primer on proper drinking, Wines for Those Who Have Forgotten and Those Who Want to Know. Though wine has been served in most countries for generations, the writer realizes that [...]
Tags: prohibition, wine, wine collecting
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One More Reason to Have a Wine Cellar
December 23rd, 2009 by Tom Johnson
It’s crazy out there. The Christmas shopping mobs are in full frenzy. Traffic is gridlocked and the clerks at the grocery store are on the verge of collapse. It’s time to lock the doors, light the fire and relax into the peace of friends and family — confident that whatever we might feel like tasting [...]
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The Gifting Season: Another Reason to Cellar Wine
December 11th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
From The New York Times on giving old wine as a gift. “Think about what a vintage brings to the equation,” says Steve Burgess, whose family’s winery, Burgess Cellars in the Napa Valley, is perhaps the most copious retail source of great old wine in the United States. “Besides the obvious marking of dates like [...]
Tags: gifts, wine, wine cellars, wine collecting
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Dumping Inventory: How It Works
December 9th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
The owner of a serious wine store explains the deals that are coming across his desk. He’s been in the wine business a long time and he’s never seen anything like it. For wine buyers, this is a golden age. The example he gives is Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet, but he’s seeing the same things [...]
Tags: deals, Retail, wine
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Buying Opportunity
December 6th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
There’s not much that has increased as much in price in the last decade as real Champagne. I used to buy Mumm’s Cordon Rouge for about $15 a bottle, but then one day it went up to $40 and I stopped checking and developed a fondness for cava and Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut. Yeah, well, [...]
Tags: Champagne, wine, wine collecting, wine surplus
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You Should Be Doing This, Too
November 5th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
Restaurants with substantial wine cellars are taking advantage of the lousy economy to buy excellent wines at rock-bottom prices. Morton’s, an expense account steakhouse, and California Pizza Kitchen, an upscale U.S. pizza chain, are going against the grain with their wine strategies in a bid to reap revenue from the vine. Morton’s is working the [...]
Tags: Restaurants, wine, wine cellars, wine collecting
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Up From Comments: Bandol Value and Cellar Theory
September 29th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
Regular commentor Wally, who knows his stuff, suggests that Bandol is not a good value: Good wine but rotten price/value ratio…Better to look for wines from Nimes where you don’t have to pay jet set prices for great wines. I retort: It depends on how you look at it. The price point for red Bandol [...]
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Joel Gott Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 815: Two Year ROI
September 27th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
I was attracted by the label. I know if I’m going to be a serious person, I shouldn’t admit things like that. But it’s true. I’m that vacuous. Some people go for critters; I go for restrained dignity. Joel Gott Cab was a $15 wine dressed up as a $30 wine. I asked about it, [...]
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The Most Important Reason to Start a Wine Cellar
September 19th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
There are a lot of reasons to store and age wine. The one that seems to get talked about least seems to me to be the most important: buying opportunistically and in volume lowers your cost of drinking well. Last summer, for example, Liquor Barn had a get-these-bottles-the-hell-out-of-my-sight price on Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. I [...]
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