Wine Collecting Crash Course: 5 Tips for Starting and Building a Beautiful Wine Collection

If you’d love to one day own a vineyard, it may be tempting to look for wineries and perhaps even a grape harvester for sale in Australia. While these explorations certainly will satisfy your desire to daydream, a far more fulfilling approach to pursuing your wine-loving dreams would be to build a beautiful wine collection.

More than just a hobby, starting a wine collection is a powerful way to expand your palate and deepen your understanding of the winemaking industry. Whether you want to own your own vineyard one day or simply love exploring the world of wine, the following tips will help you master the art of building a beautiful collection.

1. Get to know your palate

To ensure you get a delicious return on your investment, it’s important to base your collection around wines that appeal to your personal palate and preferences. Yes, you do want to include a broad range of classic wines from a variety of regions and styles. However, it’s no good stocking your wine cellar with bottles you’ll never be enthused to open. So, start with what you know and love, and explore different winemakers to find your favourites. At this stage of your development, try not to be too constrained by rules or ratings.

2. Expand beyond your comfort zone 

While you certainly want to start with wines that please your palate, it’s also important to push your limits and expand your senses. Doing so will bring you far more enjoyment from your wine-collecting adventures, so it’s well worth the experimentation.

Once you’ve got a core collection of favourites, branch out into new styles and colours, adding red, white, dry, sparkling, and sweet varieties to your wine racks. Unless you have serious money to throw at this endeavour, forget about the top vintages from Bordeaux or Burgundy. Instead, look for more affordable regions such as Loire Valley or Rhône, which still offer fantastic wines. 

3. Learn more about wine

Researching, reading about wine, and talking to experts are all great ways to inform your wine-tasting experiments. Get to know the people who run your local fine wine store, and pop in during their quiet times to have a chat.

If you’d rather get your information from books, some great ones to start with include Wine for Dummies and The Wine Bible. These books will give you a broad overview and understanding of the world of wine. You can also bookmark Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast to stay up-to-date on the latest ratings. Just don’t become a slave to other people’s opinions. To gain genuine enjoyment from your collection, you need to honour your own palate and opinions. 

4. Invest in high-quality storage

Proper storage is critical if you want to maintain the quality of your wine collection. Wine loves a cool humid environment (55 degrees, 75% RH). So if you don’t have the resources to create a wine cellar, invest in a temperature-controlled wine fridge that’ll keep your bottles at a consistent temperature year-round.

5. Track your collection

As your wine collection grows, it will become increasingly important to keep track of what you own. At the very least, you need to know where each bottle is and how many you have. You can achieve this with high-tech software or low-tech pen and paper – whatever suits you best.

Building a beautiful wine collection takes time, care, and dedication. By following these tips and continuing to expand your knowledge about the world of wine, you’ll be well on your way to building a collection that brings you pleasure for years to come.

• Prev
• Next