Great hard to find wines: St Peters 02, Plexus 03, etc?

[Guest]

Hi, I'm a newbie, I'm just wondering what are some great, but hard to find wines to purchase and cellar for a few years before drinking. I.e: St Peters 02, John Duval Plexus 03, etc. Please advise.

[Wizz]

Why do you want them to be hard to find? You'll have trouble finding them anyway.

BTW, who has said the Plexus is great?

[Davo]

Sounds like someone is trying to make a few bucks on the auction circuit.

Not my favourite kind of person.

[Red Bigot]

Hi, I'm a newbie, I'm just wondering what are some great, but hard to find wines to purchase and cellar for a few years before drinking. I.e: St Peters 02, John Duval Plexus 03, etc. Please advise.

Are you a masochist, a trophy-wine-chaser or just trying for a laugh? How about some great wines that aren't that hard to find?

Why is it that anonymous drop-by posters seem to expect instant advice when they don't even have the courtesy to give their name? If you know enough about internet forums to call yourself a "newbie" you should know giving a little may get you a lot more than giving nothing and asking a lot.

Oh, and please don't act offended, I won't believe it and I suspect most others won't either, though you may get some sympathy because the big bad RB said nasty things to you.

If you really are serious, join up and join in, you'll get more advice than you can cope with, some of it even useful.

And that is my carefully considered advice.

[Bob]

I have to agree that flashing off command-like requests for information with no name is certainly rude , but I would like to consider the possibility that “great, hard-to-find wines” might mean something like “do you know of any real gems out there that I should keep an eye out for?” TORB was telling us all quite some time ago that the 2002 St. Peters was going to be a “great, hard-to-find” wine, and I’m sure that there are many in this forum who appreciated the head’s up so that they could keep an eye out for it. And I know that everyone that found some was delighted to get this “great, hard-to-find” wine. So I don’t necessarily think that if someone is looking for “great, hard-to-find wine” it automatically means that they want ideas for flipping at auction. Maybe I’m just gullible though.

[Red Bigot]

Maybe I’m just gullible though.

No Bob, you are just more generous/tolerant than I am. In this case I jumped in and still assume it was a "fishing" post, as the St Peter's buying frenzy has been done to death here, on *forum and on my site and the Plexus request featured recently further down this page.

How hard is it to take an extra minute to explain what you really want and give a name? I'm more than happy to put in the effort and respond where I can to someone who has made a genuine effort to be sociable at the start, but usually not to a half-considered anonymous post, especially when the information is already regularly available here, on the other forum and on TORBwine or my site.

It's pretty hard to make sensible recommendations of (probably expensive if scarce and desirable) wines to someone who gives absolutely no information concerning what wines they already like (other than "hard to get"). I'm often approached by friends of friends or workmates to recommend wines, I always ask them to tell me of at least 2 wines they have (recently) enjoyed before even attempting to make a recommendation.

If I've misjudged you "Guest", post again with a name, explain what you want, show me how and why I was too hasty in my judgement and I'll unreservedly apologise and try to help.

[Bob]

you are just more generous/tolerant than I am.

I don't know about tolerant Brian, as it is always very obvious that you are not one to suffer fools , but as far as generous goes, I know of no one who is more generous with their time and hard-found information than you . I was just thinking last night (after my wife fell asleep on the sofa I found I had to finish almost all of the second bottle by myself ) how generous you are in sharing the information on your site with (as far as I can see) getting absolutely nothing in return except for maybe some personal satisfaction and an occasional word of appreciation.

Still, on the matter of ‘great, hard-to-find wines’, I may be of a slightly different opinion than you. I greatly appreciate any type of advance information on such wines so I can keep an eye out for them. Certainly not to sell at auction; the only wines I’ve ever sold have been to friends at cost. And certainly not for bragging rights, since the only people I know who would understand what I was talking about would be on this forum. But if I have the opportunity to get a rare wine that is within my budget (the 2002 St. Peters would have fit that bill perfectly, but alas, it does not seem that I’ll be able to get any ), there is a certain satisfaction in being able to savor something that is difficult to come by, a rewarding feeling for the success of a diligent search. So even without knowing whether a hard-to-find wine is exactly my style, unless I pretty sure it isn’t (such as a pinot noir ), if someone whose opinion I respect says it is ‘great’, I would like to get my hands on it and try it. And that is one of the reasons I appreciate your site and TORB’s site, both of which I scour regularly in search of the information that will enable me to find some gem.

[Guest]

Hi everybody,
Firstly, let me explain my situation. It's my first time on this board and I didn't mean to cause so much controversy in regards to my 'Guest' post.

Basically, what I mean is this: I'm currently a 'newbie' in regards to wine. Having not tasted many different types and brands. I'll be enrolling in a wine-tasting course to learn more about it. As to my previous post about 'hard to find' wine. The reason is this: I'm not wanting to re-sell but to buy hard-to-find/get (limited stocks) - so that I'm able to store it for a few years while I manage to learn more about wine. Eventually, when I'm able differentiate the various flavours, types, I will crack open them to try them. Basically, it's just for storage purpose and to keep the good wines / rave reviews that I saw about St Peters 2002, etc.

Hope it hasn't caused too much trouble

P.S: My name is Andrew

[Red Bigot]

Bob,

Yes there is some pleasure in the chase, but sometimes it's a bit like a dog chasing a bus...

But if I have the opportunity to get a rare wine that is within my budget (the 2002 St. Peters would have fit that bill perfectly, but alas, it does not seem that I’ll be able to get any ).

Since I managed to get more than a 6-pack, I'm happy to sell you a bottle at cost if you pay the freight or share one with you if you ever come to Canberra. (Others, please, no imploring emails or PMs, I didn't get enough to spare any more.)

Re generous, a lot of people have been generous to me over the years, I'm happy to share what I do for myself anyway. I don't get any kickbacks, I usually refer the few offers of free samples I get to contact TORB, that's his scene, I do get "special" prices from some retailers, but that's because I buy so much, not in return for mentions and these deals were available to me before I started my site.

Re not suffering fools, that's another "Life's too short to..." motto, about the only times in my IT career that my projects got into difficulty was when I tolerated the odd fool too long.

[escargot]

Feel free to join in Andrew, the information you will recieve will certainly increase your wine knowledge. I too am new to this forum but have received much advice/general knowledge in a short span of time - just by taking the time to read others tasting notes.
Brian has given alot of his time to me (he wouldn't know me if he tripped over me) even if my queries have been discussed in previous threads.

[Red Bigot]

Hi everybody,
Firstly, let me explain my situation. It's my first time on this board and I didn't mean to cause so much controversy in regards to my 'Guest' post.

Basically, what I mean is this: I'm currently a 'newbie' in regards to wine. Having not tasted many different types and brands. I'll be enrolling in a wine-tasting course to learn more about it. As to my previous post about 'hard to find' wine. The reason is this: I'm not wanting to re-sell but to buy hard-to-find/get (limited stocks) - so that I'm able to store it for a few years while I manage to learn more about wine. Eventually, when I'm able differentiate the various flavours, types, I will crack open them to try them. Basically, it's just for storage purpose and to keep the good wines / rave reviews that I saw about St Peters 2002, etc.

Hope it hasn't caused too much trouble

P.S: My name is Andrew

Andrew,

Welcome to the board and my apologies if I caused offense by my terse response. I suggest you spend a little time browsing here and get the flavour of what works and what doesn't, ask a clear question and you'll usually get a few pertinent answers.

Now that you've clarified what you want, my advice is to hold off on any significant purchases until you work out what your preferences are. You are probably on pretty safe ground with the St Peters, it's not an extreme style, but you will be pretty lucky to get any retail. Letting us know the city in which you live would also help suggest places to try and don't forget this site is provided by an internet wine retailer who specialises in small-maker, scarce wines.

I could give you a fairly long list of relatively hard to get wines, but in some cases you have to be a long-established mailing list member to get any, or pay the secondary market / auction premium. In other cases they are wines that I like but I know quite a few others don't particularly like, so I hesitate to suggest them to someone relatively new to wine, especially if you intend putting them away for a few years, maybe without tasting them?

My previous post suggested you browse here and on the other big Australian wine forum, (if you are interested in imported wines Starforum has more info on those than here), new and impending releases of small makers are regularly reviewed. Also visit www.torbwine.com and read Ric's winery tour reports, there are a lot of tastings of scarce or unreleased wines there.

When you can come back with the names/vintages of a couple of (red) wines you really, really like and an indication of your budget, I and others may be of more help to you.

Relax, there is no hurry, there are more good wines from good vintages around and coming than either you or I can ever hope to try or buy, as Ric has been known to say, it's like catching a bus, if you miss one, catch the next one.

[Bob]

sometimes it's a bit like a dog chasing a bus...

I'm happy to sell you a bottle at cost if you pay the freight or share one with you if you ever come to Canberra.

Well Brian, you've just proven my point re your generosity. I hope to be able someday to take you up on the second option, so please put my name on a bottle and with luck I'll see you in Canberra in a year or 2 or 3.

You may think that the dog is crazy for chasing the bus, but try and convince him of that. I try not to get too bothered by missing out sometimes. Certainly not enough to pay high premiums on the secondary market. Living in Japan and not having an endless supply of money, I've always had to go to a bit more effort to find good wines that I can afford. For some reason I get more satisfaction out of opening up a bottle that was hard to come by and finding that I like it than if it is readily available; it is like finding hidden treasure. Conversely, I feel much greater disappointment if I pay dearly for something just to discover that I don't like it.

[Red Bigot]

sometimes it's a bit like a dog chasing a bus...

I'm happy to sell you a bottle at cost if you pay the freight or share one with you if you ever come to Canberra.

I hope to be able someday to take you up on the second option, so please put my name on a bottle and with luck I'll see you in Canberra in a year or 2 or 3.

Done!