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temperature-controlled wine lockers. This is a good option if your home doesn’t accommodate a cellar or storage unit, or your collection has grown to exceed its capacity. The prices are usually charged per case, and such spaces are often part of larger storage facilities. Retail stores sometimes provide this service, as do some private membership clubs, such as country clubs. The disadvantage, of course, is that you have to plan your wine needs in advance so that you have time to retrieve what you want to drink from the locker. That puts a cramp on the “what do you feel like drinking?” spontaneity that wine lovers are known for—considering and deciding is for many of us an important part of the overall experience because it builds the anticipation and excitement (okay, the longing).

Investing in Wine

If you plan to purchase wine and hold it, with the hope that the price appreciates so that you can sell it for a profit, a cellar investment is definitely worthwhile, because provenance of a wine (what storage conditions it came from) factors hugely into the resale price. Supply and demand of the particular wine is the other major factor in price appreciation potential, because collectors particularly covet certain famous, historical, or critically acclaimed wines. Another factor in a wine’s price potential is bottle size, with large bottles commanding a premium because they are rarer, and their aging potential is longer (this is due to the greater volume of wine relative to the air exposure from the space between the liquid and the cork). Age of the wine is yet another factor in a wine’s valuation, with prices appreciating as the wine ages, reflecting its increasing rarity as bottles are consumed. Commercial auctions are where most such wines are resold, and of course like other traded items, from stocks to baseball cards, prices have up and down cycles. Given that, a good buying policy is never to choose wines that you wouldn’t appreciate in liquid terms—meaning in your glass rather than in cash. This means don’t buy wines that aren’t to your taste, or pay prices so high you couldn’t justify popping the cork.

For me, buying wine is an investment in pleasure. I buy wines to cellar because I look forward to the joy that they will bring to me and my friends and family when they are at peak, and ready to reward my patience. In the English tradition, I bought a case of vintage Port from my son’s birth year that we look forward to sharing on his twenty-first birthday. My 1990 Château Palmer will one day be just reward for my vendangeur’s blood, sweat, and tears (trust me when I tell you that picking grapes is really hard work). And my little cache of Krug vintage Champagne will be a delicious reminder of the liquid that lured me off Wall Street and into the world of wine.

Every day I think how lucky I am to be here. In the wine world, I can never know everything, or even close to it, so I know that I will never be bored. It is a world full of breathtaking natural and sensory beauty that has been enhanced, for a change, by man through the artistry of skilled winemaking, and of beautiful bottles, labels, and glasses.

Through wine, I feel an intimate connection with every moment and every person in history, from ancient times until today—their customs, love affairs, daily meals, celebrations, momentous occasions, and minor moments—and now with my restaurant guests and with you.

For me, wine is a little daily celebration that I don’t have to work hard to pull off, and that always delivers what I’d hoped, or more. I hope that I have shown you how very easy it is for you to take part in that, too. Welcome to the fete!

APPENDIX A

Bordeaux Wine Classifications

According to the Bordeaux Wine Bureau, there is no single comprehensive classification system that ranks Bordeaux’s fifty-seven appellations and thousands of wines. But Médoc (the left bank), Graves, Sauternes and Barsac (the sweet wine appellations near Graves), and Saint-Émilion do have their own official classification systems.

The Official Classification of 1855