[imcarthur]

Needless to say, but old wine takes time & patience. You have to buy it on release & forget about it for 5 – 10 years, which is a lot harder than you think. This patience gets you an older wine to drink in its prime that you either can’t find or you can’t afford. The bottle posted above, I bought as a 3-lot future in 2000 for $55 each. I took delivery in 2002. It has lain undisturbed in my ‘cellar’ (a crawl space with wine racks) since that time. I drank one bottle a year ago & one bottle was corked (very rare but it does happen) & this was my last. Wine Searcher says that it would cost $230.76 to buy a bottle in the US today.

And what to buy to age? This requires some work. Narrow your choices to a few regions or styles that you like. Read the reviews, the vintage reports & barrel tastings. Read Decanter, Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate etc & join Cellar Tracker. And find a vintage chart that makes sense to your palate.

Ian