What is a vertical? In Wine speak that means collecting several different vintages of the same wine. A horizontal would of course be a bit different, which is to collect similar wines in the same vintage. For example, if I had all of the first growth wines from just the 2005 vintage.

Starting a Bordeaux vertical is awesome because it will allow the collector to have a prized lineup in his or her cellar. It adds distinction to one's collection. If someone were to inquire about your wine collection, having an impressive vertical is something one can be very proud to mention. Verticals also do very well on the auction block and are often sold as a single unit rather than bottle per bottle individually. They can even demand higher prices when they are sold as a grouping and all of the bottles have pristine provenance.

So where to start?

Well, if I were to start a vertical of wine I would definitely choose a type of wine that holds really well over time and ages gracefully. Bordeaux seems to be the wine that get collected in this fashion the most. I'd also consider collecting a wine that means something to me personally, a wine that I have a particular affinity for and one that I tend to understand and really know the flavor profile. I'd want to be familiar so that when I did open the vertical I could enjoy similar haunting characteristics in each vintage.

Start off with the goal of getting to five vintages. Then once you've reached the five, go on and try to make it a ten year vertical. This could be a long term goal and you could just purchase the wine every year upon release, or you could hunt down vintages yourself by shopping various online wine shops. However you go about creating your vertical, be sure to buy the wines from retailers that have respected the wines' storing conditions. If possible to buy directly from the winery then that of course is the best way to have documented provenance for your collectibles.

Start your vertical search at Wine.com the largest online wine retailer