Need Wine. Will Tipple.

May 8, 2008 1:43 PM

I'm interested in collecting some older vintage wine. I've heard mention of people selling their cellars and of wine auctions. How can I find such sales in my area?

I'm located in and around Oregon. I am much more interested in European wines.

posted by elwoodwiles to food & drink (5 comments total)

Just to be clear, by "vintage" you mean the colloquial meaning of "old", and not the literal vintner meaning, yes?
posted by cmiller at 3:16 PM on May 8, 2008

Yes. I mean wine from vintages that are older than what is available through usual channels. For example, most Burgundies at a retail store are from 2004 to 2006. I'd like to find burgundy wines from say, 1998 and older.

Same for Piedmontese wines. The current vintages range from 1999 to 2003. Perhaps I'd like something from 1997 to drink now, or 1996 to cellar for awhile.

A friend suggested looking to private sales or auctions. I was wondering if there was a resource that could tell me where/when auctions are taking place in my area, and where people would post notices that they are selling parts of their private collections.
posted by elwoodwiles at 3:24 PM on May 8, 2008

Ask at the better (dedicated) wine stores. (I've been wondering about great places to buy wine in PDX. I collect Bordeaux and vintage port.)
posted by neuron at 5:38 PM on May 8, 2008

Find your local independent wine merchant and have a chat with them about what you want to do - be open and honest about what you are trying to do, and they'll be able to point you in the right direction, either with stuff they have in stock, special order, or by pointing you somewhere else that specializes more in what you need.

Also, becoming a regular at a wine shop like that is a good way to make sure when they get stock of a very limited supply, you're the first to know. - I've ended up been able to purchase bottles where there have been only something like 78 bottles in the country just because I'm friendly with my local shop, and limited supply like that never even sees a shelf, it's all sold to people they know are interested.
posted by paulfreeman at 3:24 AM on May 9, 2008

While not technically 100% legal always there are certain wine stores that will ship anywhere in the US and will regularly buy cellars. Since the cellars will have limited quantities of the wines they usually get sold to customers before they even get to the store so you'll need to be on their mailing list. I'm in NY, but these guys regularly send out emails of old burgs and bordeaux they've bought out of someones cellar which I then never see hitting their shelves. Additionally they are an example of the kind of place where once you are a regular they would def help you learn about acquiring older stuff.

Two points to add though - Burgundy prices are literally absurd. I think its a bit of a bubble and wouldn't make a meaningful purchase today

And I find it interesting that you are having a hard time find older Piedmontese stuff. Might be a function of the Euro-centric nature of the East Coast wine guys, but its really not hard to find. Much easier in fact then older stuff from France I think. For Example


posted by JPD at 5:20 AM on May 9, 2008