Any Wine Aficionados Out There?

[ymgc]

I recently got engaged and to celebrate my dad busted out his best bottle of Bordeaux: 2000 Chateau Angelus St. Emilion

It was R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, all 98 pts of it! It'll be years before I have anything like that again. What's the best wine you guys ever had? I'd love to hear from the baller attendings, in particular.

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[IlDestriero]

I recently got engaged and to celebrate my dad busted out his best bottle of Bordeaux: 2000 Chateau Angelus St. Emilion

It was R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, all 98 pts of it! It'll be years before I have anything like that again. What's the best wine you guys ever had? I'd love to hear from the baller attendings, in particular.

That's a $2-300 bottle of wine. Unless you're a real oenophile, it doesn't get much better than that. The key is to buy that same bottle when released for $50-75 and sit on it for a while. If you invest in the proven wineries and in the better years, your cellar could be full of hundreds of bottles of 10/10 wine with a modest investment every year. If you are a future oenophile, you could get started right now, even as a medical student. Buy a 50 bottle wine fridge. Buy some decent stuff to drink now, and than spend about $500 on 10 or 15 bottles with some potential. When you have another $500 set aside, buy another 10. After a few years you will have to get another cooler, and will be well on your way. The hard part is having the willpower to not drink the stuff that you are trying to age. I have a couple hundred bottles now in a large unit. I was considering putting in a wine cellar in an unfinished part of the basement, but I think that it would be much easier to just get another unit. I can always take them with me if I move! Investing in a wine cellar for a few hundred bottles of wine is probably not a good use of wine funds!
As an aside, make sure that you keep track of what you have, and what it is worth. One of my colleagues, a real oenophile, thought that he was opening a ~$50 bottle from his huge collection and he accidentally opened a $500 bottle to have with his microwave dinner when his wife was on call! When she came home, and recognized the bottle, he had already drank most of it. In retrospect he said it tasted better than he expected!

 

[Sergio99]

Hello,

Interesting topic. I have never spent more than 50 dollars in a bottle of wine. The more expensive wines I have tasted were bought by someone else, often by my son-in-law, who is very much into it with some sort of obsessive-compulsive record keeping method like IlDestriero said, with spreadsheets and everything.

Probably the best I have tried was a Plump Jack Cabernet Sauvignon, from Napa Valley, I don't know from what year. I have had some others that were very good, but I think Plump Jack was the best.

In general my favorite wines are the Malbecs from Argentina, usually very full-bodied, very dry and very smooth, with excellent aftertaste. The Malbec is originally a French grape that was transplanted into Argentina in the late 1800s, but nowadays French Malbecs are not as good as their Argentinean counterparts. Now they are growing some in Patagonia, with excellent results. There are many brands of Malbec, some good, some not as good. The problem with imports is that you get whatever the importers decided to bring that month. You cannot get always the same brands or the same kinds. Among the most common brands, Familia Bianchi, Altocedro, Navarro Correas, Fabre Montmayou, are usually very good. There are many others. Among low price wines, Norton Reserva is very consistent, predictable and good (not Norton plain, but Norton Reserva).

Chile makes very good and relatively inexpensive red wines, some excellent Cabernet Sauvignons and Carmeneres. Actually, last Saturday I opened a Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon rated 95 pts. which goes for 50-70 dollars. It was excellent. I am not very experienced in French wines. Some I liked, some did not. Australian wines are good, too.

In white wines I like the Sauvignon Blanc and the "Retsina," which is a Greek dry white wine kept in pine barrels, so that it takes a pine resin taste. Some people like it, some people don't. It is somewhat of an acquired taste. Traditionally it is used for accompanying bread and cheese with bitter herbs, olives, and smoked herring, but in my opinion, if you like the taste, it goes well with everything; I love it even with a steak dinner. There are many brands of Retsina, all of which seem to have the same price, under 10 dollars a bottle.

Greetings

 

[jetproppilot]

I recently got engaged and to celebrate my dad busted out his best bottle of Bordeaux: 2000 Chateau Angelus St. Emilion

It was R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, all 98 pts of it! It'll be years before I have anything like that again. What's the best wine you guys ever had? I'd love to hear from the baller attendings, in particular.

Caymus cab

Napa Valley Silver Oak Cab

Prisoner (blend)

Are my favorites right now, in descending order.

 

[troutslayer1]

1976 Mouton Rothschild, a 1982 Chateau Margaux, and a 1994 chateua de quem desert wine(liquid gold). used to collect Heitz cellar bella oats vineyard. opened the 94-97 one night and tasted each, that was a great dinner! got to try lots of others because my wife and i used to be in the chaine des rotisseurs, a french food and wine club. i would suggest trying to join if you are really into food and wine and are making money.

 

[RabbMD]

Heitz was the best wine I tried in Napa, and we went to a lot of biggies. Their Martha's Vinayard 1998 Cap was awesome . That is the most expensive wine I own currently. going back to Napa soon, so that may change again.

 

[troutslayer1]

Heitz was the best wine I tried in Napa, and we went to a lot of biggies. Their Martha's Vinayard 1998 Cap was awesome . That is the most expensive wine I own currently. going back to Napa soon, so that may change again.

you should drink it now. it is at it's peak and can only go downhill. it should be awesome!

 

[Frank Rizzo]

or, The American Classic:

 

[IlDestriero]

I used to ride the Night Train Express, a LONG time ago.
Don't forget to "Serve very cold."
I used to have our cook put a bottle in the freezer for me on Friday nights so it would be ready when I went out.

 

[jetproppilot]

or, the american classic:

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

 

[ymgc]

That's a $2-300 bottle of wine. Unless you're a real oenophile, it doesn't get much better than that. The key is to buy that same bottle when released for $50-75 and sit on it for a while. If you invest in the proven wineries and in the better years, your cellar could be full of hundreds of bottles of 10/10 wine with a modest investment every year. If you are a future oenophile, you could get started right now, even as a medical student. Buy a 50 bottle wine fridge. Buy some decent stuff to drink now, and than spend about $500 on 10 or 15 bottles with some potential. When you have another $500 set aside, buy another 10. After a few years you will have to get another cooler, and will be well on your way. The hard part is having the willpower to not drink the stuff that you are trying to age. I have a couple hundred bottles now in a large unit. I was considering putting in a wine cellar in an unfinished part of the basement, but I think that it would be much easier to just get another unit. I can always take them with me if I move! Investing in a wine cellar for a few hundred bottles of wine is probably not a good use of wine funds!
As an aside, make sure that you keep track of what you have, and what it is worth. One of my colleagues, a real oenophile, thought that he was opening a ~$50 bottle from his huge collection and he accidentally opened a $500 bottle to have with his microwave dinner when his wife was on call! When she came home, and recognized the bottle, he had already drank most of it. In retrospect he said it tasted better than he expected!

Actually, that sounds like a great idea... investing now I mean. The only problem is that I'll be moving twice before I start CA-1 year, but definitely can follow through with that plan in a couple of years. Thanks, IlD!

 

[troutslayer1]

i was drinking with a couple one night who would buy 100 cases of california cab every year, all different but nice stuff. then a company would hold it and store it properly for 10 years. after the ten years, the couple would take a few cases and the company would sell the rest for them. they told me they were making a good profit from it and they were essentially getting free, great, aged wine. talk about the rich getting richer.

 

[Sergio99]

i was drinking with a couple one night who would buy 100 cases of california cab every year, all different but nice stuff. then a company would hold it and store it properly for 10 years. after the ten years, the couple would take a few cases and the company would sell the rest for them. they told me they were making a good profit from it and they were essentially getting free, great, aged wine. talk about the rich getting richer.

Yes, this is possible and it is a great idea, but you need to know a little more about wines than us, the common people. You also need the right contacts. And keep in mind that the purchase of 100 cases of good wine every year needs a substantial capital investment. But if you can get into this kind of thing, it can be very rewarding.

Greetings

 

[Mister J]

That's a $2-300 bottle of wine. Unless you're a real oenophile, it doesn't get much better than that. The key is to buy that same bottle when released for $50-75 and sit on it for a while. If you invest in the proven wineries and in the better years, your cellar could be full of hundreds of bottles of 10/10 wine with a modest investment every year. If you are a future oenophile, you could get started right now, even as a medical student. Buy a 50 bottle wine fridge. Buy some decent stuff to drink now, and than spend about $500 on 10 or 15 bottles with some potential. When you have another $500 set aside, buy another 10. After a few years you will have to get another cooler, and will be well on your way. The hard part is having the willpower to not drink the stuff that you are trying to age. I have a couple hundred bottles now in a large unit. I was considering putting in a wine cellar in an unfinished part of the basement, but I think that it would be much easier to just get another unit. I can always take them with me if I move! Investing in a wine cellar for a few hundred bottles of wine is probably not a good use of wine funds!
As an aside, make sure that you keep track of what you have, and what it is worth. One of my colleagues, a real oenophile, thought that he was opening a ~$50 bottle from his huge collection and he accidentally opened a $500 bottle to have with his microwave dinner when his wife was on call! When she came home, and recognized the bottle, he had already drank most of it. In retrospect he said it tasted better than he expected!

I love a good red wine and I wouldn't mind investing in a couple bottles that might age well, but I'm a complete novice and I have no idea how to select them. How does one know what's a good year and which vineyards are the good ones?

 

[IlDestriero]

Yes, this is possible and it is a great idea, but you need to know a little more about wines than us, the common people. You also need the right contacts. And keep in mind that the purchase of 100 cases of good wine every year needs a substantial capital investment. But if you can get into this kind of thing, it can be very rewarding.

Greetings

There are not many of us that could probably do this, unless you have a sugar momma/daddy. 100 cases of good wine would be $50-100K and you would have to hold it a few years until it increased in value and was no longer available. I would bet $250K minimum. It's funny, I thought about the feasibility opening a business that did just this earlier this year. Essentially speculating on wine, which we stored in a controlled warehouse. I would need several investors, in for at least $100k each. It's probably not that hard to find a warehouse space, especially in the current business climate. One of my wife's friends is married to a serious player who owns a vineyard outside of Napa. He was Wine Spectator, or Wine Enthusiast's MOY a few years ago. He could make a good partner, though he would likely want too much for his connections to make it worthwhile. That's always the way it is... I wonder how much we could borrow against the wine? It could make it possible?
But, "first of all you're going to have to grease the local politicians for the sudden zoning problems that always come up. Then there's the kickbacks to the carpenters, and if you plan on using any cement in this building I'm sure the teamsters would like to have a little chat with ya, and that'll cost ya. Oh and don't forget a little something for the building inspectors. Then there's long term costs such as waste disposal. I don't know if you're familiar with who runs that business but I assure you it's not the boyscouts."

 

[IlDestriero]

I love a good red wine and I wouldn't mind investing in a couple bottles that might age well, but I'm a complete novice and I have no idea how to select them. How does one know what's a good year and which vineyards are the good ones?

Subscribe to wine spectator or wine enthusiast, etc and just read. It's all there.
Not long ago when all of the US automakers were going down, EVERYONE said Ford was the only one that had a chance to turn around. Again and again they said Ford was the only one that had what it takes to make it work and the least likely to go bankrupt, the one who would pay back the loans the fastest. It's stock still sank. All the way to $2.00. How risky is a few thousand shares at $2? Guess who paid for his MERCEDES with a FORD? It's up to $14 now. I should have held out for more. It's all there if you just look. They tell you what should be good from year to year, what wineries are on the rise. If you're only buying a case from here or there, just stick with the consistent performers that they recommend and you can't go wrong. Speculating in wine futures is a whole different ballgame.

 

[Gimlet]

But, "first of all you're going to have to grease the local politicians for the sudden zoning problems that always come up. Then there's the kickbacks to the carpenters, and if you plan on using any cement in this building I'm sure the teamsters would like to have a little chat with ya, and that'll cost ya. Oh and don't forget a little something for the building inspectors. Then there's long term costs such as waste disposal. I don't know if you're familiar with who runs that business but I assure you it's not the boyscouts."

Love me some Thornton Melon. (That was filmed at my alma mater, too!)

 

[BADMD]

What's the best wine you guys ever had? I'd love to hear from the baller attendings, in particular.

A friend of mine did a "bring your best bottle" night.

There were a few pretty good bottles. Most of the bottle were top vintages of top producers. I brought one of my bottle of 1990 Chateau Y'quem. The best bottle of the night was a 1963 Warre's. I'm not even a port guy and the Warre's was clearly the best wine I have ever had.

I've been slowly collecting different Sauternes since medical school. If possible, find a style of wine you like and slowly acquire some good ones. It will pay off after a few years if you can find some that will age well.

 

[error404]

Caymus cab

Napa Valley Silver Oak Cab

Prisoner (blend)

Are my favorites right now, in descending order.

The 2006 prisoner was stellar. The 2007 was lacking in comparison. I'm hoping for big things from the 2008.

Brought a bottle for the chair of surgery when he had me over for dinner. He said, "Oh, Prisoner! I'll add this to my case."