"Peter D. Meltzer, Wine Spectator's auction correspondent for morethan twenty years, is the foremost authority on wine collecting. His book offers expert guidance for beginners and connoisseurs alike." --Marvin R. Shanken, Editor and Publisher, Wine Spectator "Peter Meltzer is an authoritative journalist, savvy collector,and urbane restaurant and wine list critic; he makes theideal companion and counselor for wine collectors." --Michael Batterberry, Editor in Chief and Publisher, Food Arts "Keys to the Cellar is fascinating, informative, and easy to read; with this book, you will truly understand the ins and outsof buying wines for your personal cellar." --Kevin Zraly, educator and author of Windows on the World Complete Wine Course A true wine-lover who knows the value of a well-aged bottle, Peter Meltzer both celebrates and demystifies wine collecting in Keys to the Cellar. His appreciation of fine wine flavors every page as he gives you a practical approach to building a collection that fits your preferences, your lifestyle, and your budget. You'll find information on: * Buying and selling wine at auction, including valuable insider tips * Bidding at online wine auctions * Using the Web to calculate a wine's true value or locate a hard-to-find bottle * Making the best use of fine wine merchants * Storing and enjoying your wine--both every day and over the long term As a bonus, this guide includes a user-friendly Wine Spectator auction index, an invaluable tool for researching the "going rate" for more than 500 top auctioned wines. Whether you are just getting started or want to enhance your collection, this is a book you'll savor again and again--like your favorite fine wines. One can find many books on building the perfect wine cellar, but guidance for the budding wine collector on how to fill that cellar is scarce. Meltzer, a Wine Spectator columnist and contributing editor to Food Arts, offers expert and accessible advice on how to develop an enjoyable collection. Meltzer suggests several strategies for collecting wine, focusing on either immediate consumption, taste, investing, or a balance of all three. Plans, budgets, suggested wines, and number of bottles to hold for all four scenarios provide the foundation for starter collections. Wine storage requirements and options are included; chapters are dedicated to locating desired wine, either on the web or at auction. Novices will appreciate the instructions on determining a wine's value and how to stick to and stretch a budget. Wine and vintages are referred to with no description, so readers are assumed to have some familiarity with the topic. For truly avid collectors, Meltzer discusses wine-related accessories, such as stemware and corkscrews; he has good tips on what's available and what's desirable. Helpful appendixes include a glossary of wine-collecting terminology and a forthcoming directory of auctions. Recommended for public libraries. —Kimberly Bartosz, Univ. of Wisconsin at Parkside Lib., Kenosha ( Library Journal , October 15, 2006) Whether your goal is to set aside a few dozen prized bottles for special occasions or tostock an extensive cellar, Keys to the Cellar will unlock the secrets of wine collecting. Having a well-stocked cellar enables you to planahead, ensuring you'll have the right wines toenhance your meals and letting you transform an ordinary evening into an instant celebration by opening a choice bottle. Practically speaking, collecting can mean getting the best wine at the best price, because the bottles released today may be hard to come by or far more expensive by the time they're ready for drinking. And storing the wines yourself ensures they'll age under the best possible conditions. Creating a wine cellar is asource of perpetual pleasures, not the least of which is sharing and enjoying the fruits of your labor. In his entertaining style, wine collecting expert Peter Meltzer describes four basic types of cellars: Meltzer gives you the tools to project your wine needs and plan a cellar that fits your lifestyle, with suggestions for specific wines for each type of cellar. He shows how to navigate the various paths to buying wine, including locating the best retailers, attending auctions, and buying wine online. Offering a strategic, personalized approach toplanning and stocking your cellar, Meltzer suggestscategorizing your wine purchases as "good,""better," and "best," with "good" encompassingcomparatively inexpensive wines you enjoy frequently. That way, you'll have wine for everyoccasion. However, if your heart is set on cellaringCalifornia cult wines or first growths fromcelebrated Bordeaux vintages such as 1982 or2000, this guide offers the keys for doing that, too. You'll find much more to inspire and guide your collecting, including tips on storing wine properly, profiles of different wine collectors and how they assembled their prized collections, and the "fine print" on the little details, such as buying