I guess most people try to keep wine simple, shop for a bottle, drink it and move on. If it was better than they expected, maybe they buy a few more to have around the house. If it was nothing to remember, they don’t. I suppose this is true at any quality level, and for any budget.

 I enjoy wine for its variety. Something new is always right there, red, white or rose.

I used to follow a producer in Tuscany every year. His wine was one I would consider ‘classic’ in style, and it was interesting to me to try his wine in every vintage, good, great or mediocre, because I trusted his skill and appreciated his unique style…and he never disappointed. Monsanto is the producer, in Tuscany’s Chianti Classico zone.

 Wine collectors are a different breed, tending to hone in on certain regions and particular estates in order not to miss a bottling or a vintage. To some collectors, the wine is the prize, knowing you have it home safe and sound, to others, it may be the thrill of the chase. Yes, I do collect wines, mostly because I buy them faster than I drink them, not because I want (or can afford) a collection!

 My cellar (fridge) has about 40 bottles in it at any given time, the rest I store in one of ABC’s vaults. And the ABC is not even close to my house, which gives the wines a better chance to age appropriately. Out of sight, out of mind!

I don’t own any blue chips, but I like what I have, and I like the warm feeling I get when I look in the wine fridge and see my bottles, waiting like an old friend, just like the Monsanto Chiantis.

Is there a particular producer or wine that you always rely on? One you go back to time and time again, or one that you like to try in every new vintage?

 --Shayne Hebert, Wine Supervisor, Central Florida