How Vertical?

I'd like to try a verticle tasting at our next wine club gathering, and I have some questions:

1) How many vintages of each wine should be represented in order to do a proper tasting? Could I do two wines (one red, one white) with three vintages of each for a total of six bottles? Is three years enough to get a good sampling?

2) Should the vintages be consecutive, or can you mix it up any way you want (say two years that were supposedly good and one that was known as bad).

Obviously it's a free country and I can do this however I want, but I'd be interested in others' opinions.

TIA!!

[Jenise]

K,

Technically, any two vintages constitutes a vertical. And the operative issue is probably less about what you should have vs. what you can get. You'd be lucky to find three vintages of anything languishing about on shelves, so that's where I'd set my sights were I you.

As for consecutive vintages, actually no, I'd vote against that. The more space between vintages, the more dramatic the lesson about how a wine changes with time. But you'll have to settle for what you can find.

As for one white and one red...well, you'd have to choose your white very carefully. Many whites aren't made for aging even two-three years, and the ones that will are probably going to have significant vintage variation. Which is not a bad thing to show, actually. Would recommend a riesling for your white.

"Vertical" refers to the theme and intention of the tasting: to survey more than one vintage of a particular wine. A horizontal tasting, in contrast, is a survey of more than one producer of a particular type of wine. So as pointed out, anything two or beyond from one producer can be considered a vertical tasting. How many is appropriate depends on setting, number of participants, budget, and other such constraints.

-Paul W.

K,

Technically, any two vintages constitutes a vertical. And the operative issue is probably less about what you should have vs. what you can get. You'd be lucky to find three vintages of anything languishing about on shelves, so that's where I'd set my sights were I you.

As for consecutive vintages, actually no, I'd vote against that. The more space between vintages, the more dramatic the lesson about how a wine changes with time. But you'll have to settle for what you can find.

As for one white and one red...well, you'd have to choose your white very carefully. Many whites aren't made for aging even two-three years, and the ones that will are probably going to have significant vintage variation. Which is not a bad thing to show, actually. Would recommend a riesling for your white.

Thanks for the info and advice, Jenise! I'll do some research and see what I can find locally.

Solid advice from Jenise, per usual, to which I'd only add this: If you have any older bottles stored, that might help you choose, since newer vintages will be easier to find at your retailers.

As for consecutive vintages, actually no, I'd vote against that. The more space between vintages, the more dramatic the lesson about how a wine changes with time. But you'll have to settle for what you can find.

I'd amend that statement. Although one purpose of a vertical tasting is to gain some insight into how a given wine changes with age, a second purpose is to gain some insight into how the character of a given vintage influences a wine. For instance, a vertical of e.g. Lynch-Bages from '00-'04 would likely show marked differences from the heat-drenched '03 to the cool-climate '01. Of course, one would also gain some insight into the similarities of those wines, which could be an interesting lesson in itself.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

As for consecutive vintages, actually no, I'd vote against that. The more space between vintages, the more dramatic the lesson about how a wine changes with time. But you'll have to settle for what you can find.

I'd amend that statement. Although one purpose of a vertical tasting is to gain some insight into how a given wine changes with age, a second purpose is to gain some insight into how the character of a given vintage influences a wine. For instance, a vertical of e.g. Lynch-Bages from '00-'04 would likely show marked differences from the heat-drenched '03 to the cool-climate '01. Of course, one would also gain some insight into the similarities of those wines, which could be an interesting lesson in itself.

Mark Lipton

Absolutely right, Mark, I'd overlooked that aspect.

I've got an email in to a local retailer about the following, which I found on their website:

2000 Amouriers Vacqueyras
2004 Amouriers Vacqueyras

2002 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenhuer Spatlese
2003 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenhuer Spatlese

1997 Cristom Marjorie Pinot Noir
2003 Cristom Marjorie Pinot Noir

Finding more than 2 vintages of each was just going to be more work than I am willing to do, but since we're all newbies perhaps this will be enough variety to spark conversation and observation. Granted the rieslings are back to back, but given the controversy surrounding 2003 I thought that it might provide a point for discussion.

[Jenise]

K, that's what I was afraid of. I like your first two choices but would caution you against the Cristom--I like Cristom wines a lot, but 97 was a weak year and I wouldn't trust this one to be alive without specific knowlege. You can call the winery and ask their opinion--last time I called Cristom the winemaker answered the phone--once you get that nailed down, if it's a go, you still need to question the storage of the bottles you might be buying. The winemaker's guess would be based on good storage.

K, that's what I was afraid of. I like your first two choices but would caution you against the Cristom--I like Cristom wines a lot, but 97 was a weak year and I wouldn't trust this one to be alive without specific knowlege. You can call the winery and ask their opinion--last time I called Cristom the winemaker answered the phone--once you get that nailed down, if it's a go, you still need to question the storage of the bottles you might be buying. The winemaker's guess would be based on good storage.

I sent an email to Cristom and they replied quite promptly with the following:

I’m fielding your question re: 1997 Marjorie Vineyard. I wish there was more I could tell you but I just haven’t had a bottle recently. We did open a 1995 Marjorie the other day and it was a great surprise. Like the 1997 vintage, not known as a blockbuster, it was showing very well and still had sweet fruit and a wonderful texture. The color was evolved to a bricky/garnety rim and we liked it very much at the winery. So, I’m going to hazard a guess and say that this wine is probably showing ok.

Let me know how it works out!

I really appreciate your input Jenise, as I have no experience with Cristom and wasn't aware that '97 was a weak year. I guess I'll give this a shot anyway and let you know how it goes ('cause I'm feeling too lazy to research further, and now I'm curious!).

K, Jenise has given you some good advice and a good recommendation regarding the riesling. I would like to expand on that a little though. Loire chenin can age very very well. The sweeter they are the better they age. But I would venture to say that a Savennières with 8-10 years can be very very good. For which winery(s) I would recommend Baumard or Closel. Another white that ages extremely well is a 100% marsanne wine, especially my beloved Ch. Tahbilk from OZ. one more would be the white wine from Ch. Musar. the 1996 and 1998 vintages haven't hit their stride yet which gives you an ideal how well it ages. All of these labels should be available for under $30 and the Marsanne is under $15.

Personally I think your 3 mini-verticals look nice. If the Cristom '97 doesn't shine, well that's a learning experience too. Have fun, and please report back on your experiences.

On the more general subject of verticals, I like Mark and Jenise's points. I'll add another insight that can come out in extended verticals- style. It can be really cool when doing a long vertical of a particular wine (most of my experience with bigger verticals is with Bordeaux, but think it applies everywhere) is keeping an eye on the house style. A long vertical can give one some great insights into terroir as well as house style, as well as make stylistic changes really apparent. Verticals of Gruaud and Meyney over 20-30 years showed their stylistic changes (in my opinion weaknesses) in the 90s. And the change in style for Pape-Clement about turn of century is quite in ones face. I'm a big fan of verticals and horizontals both, the best way to learn in my opinion.

Another white that ages extremely well is a 100% marsanne wine, especially my beloved Ch. Tahbilk from OZ.

Why not ship her a couple for the tasting Bob?!!! Alas, still no hope of finding this in Alberta but do remember a previous offer you made. LOL.

K, the Tahbilk I mentioned above is available at Schneiders of Capitol Hill and on line at [url]http://www.cellar.com/inventory_category.aspx?category=Wine&subcategory=US%20White%20Misc[url][/url]

I think though this might not be available for older vintages, but if you would just like to try it I know they have the 2006 vintage. if you buy it, get at least three bottles and let them age a bit. Say try one every few years and watch how it ages.