9 Wine New Year Resolutions

With the benefit of 2020 hindsight, wine collectors could have done rather well for themselves over the past couple of decades: top end Burgundy and Barolo for a song? Yes please, Lilac Wine or Red Red Wine? But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured. Collecting wine isn't what it used to be. Selection is the name of the game. With that in mind, we quizzed a host of wine collectors to hear what their New Year resolutions are for 2020. Here goes. Our NINE WINE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS FOR 2020: 1. Ignore Burgundy 2018 En Primeurs. It eats the budget and there are better values elsewhere. BUT the wines are so good, so pedigreed, so timeless. Amend to "Don't spend the entire budget on Burgundy 2018". 2. Buy as much Barolo 2016 as possible. Terrific vintage and this area is so hot right now. You'll need nerves of blue steel but get ready to get trigger happy when it comes to those offers. 3. Explore Riesling. Whenever a high quality, aged Riesling gets served at a dinner it is the wine of the night. This is pretty much a rule among tasting groups. The other rule is that everyone should be super surprised and vow to buy some to lay down for a couple of decades or more. The third rule is that they don't do it. Break these rules and go long Grosses Gewächs (GG) Rieslings this year. 4. Buy more white wine. The rules of 3 pretty much apply here. There's plenty of good stuff out there, beyond Burgundy too. Alto Adige, Champagne and Mosel, Chardonnay from Sonoma and Central Coast Cali. It's delicious young and not so young. 5. (Go west) We will do just fine. Pacific North-West to be precise. 2016-2017 Washington to be even more so. Small production, hand-crafted wines in an area that is really starting to find its feet. 6. Spain has so much to offer. It feels like Spain has been victim of "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" syndrome for years now. However, head off the beaten path and find those exciting new producers and this could be a match made in heaven. 7. Buy wines with which you have a connection. If you're spending time in a wine region and you have a memorable visit with a producer - a picnic as the sun sets behind the undulating vineyards, glass in hand, an evening birdsong floating in the air - buy plenty of wine from that producer. Get transported back to that moment with every bottle. 8. DRINK your special bottles. If you need an occasion, make the opening of a special bottle the occasion. Ultimately the wine you buy is there for your pleasure and you can only have that by popping a cork and enjoying your well rested wine with a few (hopefully similarly well rested) friends. 9. Make sure to record all the wines you're drinking. OK, so it's obvious that this one would make it into the list, but we've heard it from a whole bunch of collectors. If you have a wine that is memorable then be sure to record it with a quick photo, ideally uploaded to your Delectable account. When you upload your next wine label, let us know what your wine resolutions are for the year.