Wine education from a Master Sommelier.
How to start a cellar. How to read a wine label. How to taste like a sommelier.
How to start a 50-bottle cellar — the practical version.
Most cellar advice you read online assumes you have a temperature-controlled basement, a five-figure budget, and unlimited patience. None of that is true for most of our customers. Here is how Brett actually thinks about a starter cellar — fifty bottles, one home wine fridge or a closet that stays under 70 degrees, and a budget that respects the rest of your life.
The structure. Twenty-five bottles for drinking now (under three years), fifteen bottles for the medium term (three to seven years), ten bottles for long-term aging (seven to fifteen years). This ratio means you always have something to open without raiding the bottles you are deliberately holding back.
The weekday wines. The first twenty-five bottles should be the wines you actually want to pour on a Tuesday. Spanish Rioja Crianza, Beaujolais Cru, Côtes du Rhône Villages, dry German Riesling, lighter-style Tempranillo. None of these need patience. All of them taste better with food. We can build this entire layer for under $25 a bottle if you let us pick.
The medium-term layer. Now you start accumulating wines that need a year or two to relax. Village Burgundy reds, mid-weight Tuscan Sangiovese (Chianti Classico Riserva, Brunello), white Burgundy from communes like Saint-Aubin and Rémily, dry Bordeaux Cru Bourgeois. Budget around $40-$80 per bottle. The patience pays back.
The long-term anchor. Ten bottles you pull out for milestones. A 1er Cru Burgundy. A classed-growth Bordeaux. A serious Barolo or Barbaresco. A Northern Rhône Syrah from a top vintage. A Riesling Auslese from a great producer. These are the bottles you remember — both the buying and the eventual opening. Budget honestly: $100-$300 per bottle, once or twice a year.
Come in. Tell us what you cook, what you drink now, and what you are saving for. We will sketch a list and you can build it over six months instead of one terrifying afternoon.
How to taste wine like a sommelier — a working framework, not a performance.
There is a lot of theatre around wine tasting. Most of it is not useful. Sommeliers do not actually swirl-and-sniff for the audience. They use a structured framework to extract information from the glass, in a specific order, and they do it quickly. Here is the framework Brett teaches new staff at the shop.
Sight first. Tilt the glass against a white surface. Look at three things: the rim, the core, and the depth of color. Young red wine has a vivid magenta or purple rim. Older red wine fades to brick or amber at the edge. White wine deepens with age — from pale lemon to gold to copper. This is the first useful data you have.
Smell second, twice. Once before swirling, once after. The first sniff reads the volatile aromas (the most lifted notes). The second sniff after swirling reveals deeper notes — oak, earth, secondary fermentation character. Build a quick mental list of fruit (red, black, dried, cooked), non-fruit (flowers, herbs, spice, smoke), and barrel/age notes (vanilla, leather, mushroom, petrol).
Taste in three movements. The first sip wakes up your palate. The second sip is the data sip — pay attention to acidity, tannin, body, and alcohol. The third sip is for finish: how long does the wine stay with you? Sixty seconds is a long finish. Ten seconds is a short finish. Both are diagnostic, neither is automatically good or bad.
Then conclude. Old World or New World? Cool climate or warm climate? Likely grape or grape blend? Likely vintage range? You will be wrong often at first. You will be right more often than you expect by the end of the first six months of practice. The discipline is worth more than any specific guess.
We run an informal blind-tasting hour at the shop a few Thursdays a year for serious customers. Email or ask in person to be added to the list.
How to read a French wine label — the five things that actually matter.
French wine labels are designed for people who already know what they are looking for. That can feel intentionally exclusionary, but the structure is consistent once you know the pieces. Here are the five things to look for, in order, when you pick up a bottle from any French region.
1. The appellation. The most prominent geographic name on the label. This is the legally protected production zone — Sancerre, Chablis, Saint-Émilion, Hermitage. The appellation tells you the region, the rules of production, and (often) the grape varieties allowed.
2. The classification level within the appellation. Many regions have hierarchies: regional, village, Premier Cru, Grand Cru in Burgundy; AOC, Cru Bourgeois, Grand Cru Classé in Bordeaux. Knowing the level tells you something real about the quality tier.
3. The producer. In most of France, the producer matters more than the appellation. A village-level wine from a great producer will outperform a 1er Cru from a mediocre house. We can help you with names — producer expertise is what a wine merchant is for.
4. The vintage. Year matters. Some regions are remarkably consistent (Champagne in non-vintage form, Northern Rhône white). Some regions vary tremendously (Burgundy, Bordeaux). Vintage charts help, but a conversation with us helps more.
5. The bottling style. Phrases like “Mis en bouteille au domaine” (estate-bottled) or “Éleveur” (a négociant who matures someone else’s wine in their own cellar) tell you something real about the supply chain.
Bring a confusing label to the shop. We will walk you through it in five minutes.
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