By Gary Grunner

I’ve been collecting wine for 27 years: always looking for the next outstanding bottle from a favorite winemaker, researching upcoming regions, or anticipating the harvest and release of another vintage of an old favorite.  This might sound strange to some, but to those of us who are lovers of food and wine, it isn’t.

Whenever I show my family and friends my wine collection I get the same feeling I had as kid showing off my baseball card collection: a true sense of pride. When I go to my cellar with friends it’s not show off what I have but to decide what to share that evening. I love to open up my wines (especially the hard to find ones) and share the experience. While one of the thrills of collecting is certainly the hunt—tracking down that hard-to-find bottle, knowing that I have several sought-after bottles of Amarone—I get greater enjoyment out of sharing my wines with friends over great meals.

Sixteen years ago, we moved from an apartment into our first house.  I was so excited to finally have a real space for my wines.  For two months we celebrated with friends and co-workers over incredible BBQs and dinners. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we drank half of my collection. I will probably never be able to regain those great California Cabernets, French Bordeaux, or those Super Tuscans, Barolos, Amarones and Barbarescos of the 1970s and early 1980s again, but I couldn’t put a price on those memories (Well, I could if I wanted to, but it would be painful!)

At first, our entire apartment was my cellar.  I was proud of my growing collection. But the problem was that I had too much wine. I bought and I bought and bought…and our living room started to look like a warehouse. I had bottles in every corner and it was getting out of hand. I needed a plan but back then no one was talking about wine collecting or how to buy wines for profit. One night, while reviewing some investment papers, a strategy pie chart caught my attention and I had a revelation. Why not develop a similar strategy for my wine-collecting syndrome? I came up with a yearly budget and then broke it down into short-term and long-term investments (just as one would do with stocks). Ready-to-drink wines that didn’t offer much of a return but were simply good everyday values were my short-term investments. Hard-to-find and prized gems that would grow in value as they aged in the bottle were my long-term investments (i.e., California Cabernets, Super Tuscans, Barolos, Amarones, Ports and some great French first and second growths). Part of the budget was dedicated to high-risk items like up-and-coming regions and new winemakers that might gain notoriety.  So I put my plan into action and over the years it has been fun and profitable!

Most of my collection is composed of wines I enjoy: 60% Italian, 10% ready-to-drink wines from all over the world, 5% French, 5% Californian.  The remaining 20% is strictly investment. Reviewing my collection every couple of months allows me to stay organized and not to lose track of a wine that is past its time for drinking, selling or trading.

Planning For Your Collection:

Your wine collection is a personal statement about who you are, just like your wardrobe, your car or your investment portfolio.  It should feel like a great pair of jeans or your favorite shoes.  It should be a perfect fit.  But there are a couple of things you will need to decide up front: First, your budget.  Consider how much you can spend, how much you and your family dines and how often you entertain. Next, decide the size of your collection. Will this be a starter collection (12-50 bottles) or are you looking to create a larger collection of 150, 300 or even 1,000 bottles?  Then, consider your storage space. Where will you keep your collection?  From a freestanding refrigeration unit to wine racks to a custom-made cellar, there are many options. Finally, consider your sources: Think about how and where you will buy your wines.  A local fine wine shop could be a great starting point.  Let the shopkeeper know your tastes and your budget.  They can start a list with you and help you establish a buying pattern.  Auctions (as well as the internet) can be a great place to buy older, harder-to-find vintages.  You could also work with a wine finder such as myself, a personal sommelier, or your very own wine buyer.  Not only can we work within your preferences, we also may have sources it would take you years to discover.

Starting Your Collection:

Before you start purchasing you must decide what kind of a collection you want.  The following five categories should help you choose a direction:

The Beginner Italian wine collection: We all have to start somewhere. Find two or three good local retailers, attend some of their wine tastings, and ask a lot of questions. Note what kinds of wines you like, what your budget allows you to spend and then buy a small wine rack that can hold 12, 24 or 36 bottles.  At first, it is best to keep your efforts small and focused.  Purchase a small assortment with these categories in mind: everyday, special occasion, sparkling and lay down wines (what’s a lay down wine?). Once you develop a palate profile for yourself, start expanding slowly—above all, have fun!

The Everyday Italian wine collection: This collection is made up of wines that are young and ready to drink. 75% should be wines you like to drink (Chianti, Chianti Classico, Barbera, Pinot Nero, Primitivo, Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio, Soave, Pecorino, Frascati) and wines that you will need for entertaining (Franciacorta and Prosecco for brunch, New Year’s Eve, Weddings, Anniversaries and Graduations).   It is also important to rotate the style of wine with the changing of seasons: big, bold, heavy reds for the winter, lighter style whites and reds for the warmer months. This collection is for the true “foodie”: great wines for everyday consumption, very European in dining style.

Personal Italian Signature wine collection: This is the wine collection that most reflects who you are. It showcases your overwhelming taste in wine and creates a looking glass into your preferred style of cuisine. For example, I love Amarones, Ripassos, Brunellos, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Barberas and Soaves. My collection is filled with bold and rustic red wines (and, of course, few bottles of whites for friends and family if needed).

Simply by looking at my collection, anyone would be able to figure out that my cuisine of choice is made up of big, hearty dishes. You may like a certain style of wines within the category, like Chianti Classico or Amarone so you may have a collection of different producers or you could assemble what is known as a “vertical” (a series of your favorite wine in different years). Whatever you choose, start by breaking down the categories and assigning them a percentage ratio.  Remember you always need balance and should always throw in a few out of norm wines

The Italian Wine explorer: The Italian wine explorer is the person who lives by no map, no set plan but likes constant adventure in life. (Every collection should have a little wine explorer in them!)  The wine explorer is always looking for new regions to explore, the next great vacation spot and most of all, they enjoy trying new cuisines. Their wine collection is made of unique wines from around Italy’s twenty regions (including the North, the South and the island regions) that pair with different cuisines. This is a wine collection that is extremely exciting but very high maintenance. A lot of wines from some regions need to be consumed within a few years. So, although the wine explorer may live without a map, he or she needs to keep an eye on how the wines are developing.

The Italian Wine Index—Collection for Investment only: You read the financial section of the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Bloomberg.  You live by the ups and downs of the stock market.  Your wine collection can reflect this part of who you are as well. Wine for investment is not for everyone, you need to be patient, have money to spare and above all you must have enough self-control not to open up your investments. You need a state of the art storage facility to make sure your wines are kept in peak conditions. But most important, you need to collect what people will buy down the road. Super Tuscans, Amarones, Barolos, Cabernet Sauvignons, “Cult wines” made by top wine Italian wine makers and wines that have high ratings stamped on them from the top wine critics and magazines. You need to follow Parker, The Wine Spectator, and Decanter and attend wine auctions (or at least keep close tabs on the current auction prices) and keep control of your collection and understand it is for making money not drinking. Keep an eye on young Italian wine makers that are in the spot light some of their early winners will be worth money later on.  Follow the same rule as with any investment: buy low, sell high!

The world of Italian wine collecting is like no other. You can plan your vacations around the place of origin of your favorite wines, visit the vineyards, meet the owners and wine makers and, best of all, dine at local restaurants enjoying the local cuisine paired with the most current or hard to find vintages. Enjoying Italian wines is a lifetime of adventure that gets better and better. Remember, Italy is one big vineyard and produces some of the best wines in the world today.

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About Gary Grunner:

Gary Grunner is the owner of Grapes on the go, Inc. a New York based national beverage management company and Grapes on the go Imports. His wine blog Grunner on Wine www.grunneronwine.com keeps his readers up to date on what’s happening in todays ever changing wineworld along with his grunner on wine tweets: http://twitter.com/#!/grunneronwine. Gary is the co-author of Italian Wine and Cheese made Simple and two wine journals: Italian Wine Notes Journal and Wine Notes Journal thatcan be found on Amazon.com. Winter of 2012 will be the release of Italian Wines Notes his long awaited book on Italy, it’s 20 regions of Food and Wine and he is currently finishing his book on the Foods and beverages of New York Immigrants In 2009 Gary was the Silver award recipient of The Italian Trade commission distinguished service award for the work he has done promoting, educating and building Italian wines in the USA.