Most serious collectors share a common frustration. The desire is there: the curiosity, the passion, the genuine excitement about what's in the glass. What's harder to come by is the time to track down the right bottles, the relationships to access what never makes it to a shelf, and the confidence to know you're building something coherent rather than just accumulating. The wine world doesn't make it easy. Allocations disappear before you hear about them. Producers you've read about for years are nearly impossible to source. And the sheer volume of what's out there, across regions, vintages, producers, and formats, can make even an enthusiastic collector feel like they're perpetually one step behind.
That's the problem Private Client Services was built to solve.
If 2016 was the vintage of power and 2019 was the vintage of austerity, 2021 in Barolo is the vintage of complete nobility. As these wines finally start to reach our shelves, the verdict from the Langhe is unanimous: this is a “modern classic”year. The spine-tingling acidity of the past meets the polished winemaking and tannin management of the present.
While 2022 had more predictable yields, 2023 saw a harvest around 30% higher than normal, forcing winemakers to be selective both in the vineyard and on the sorting table. If there is a key word repeated to describe the 2023 vintage, it is abundant.
First Growths remain the gold standard: stalwarts with a proven track record and the anchor of any serious cellar. They are the foundation of the kinds of collections we are most privileged to help our private clients build.
Think of us as the advisor you've always wished you had on speed dial. Someone who knows your cellar, understands what excites you, and does the legwork: the sourcing, the vetting, the relationship-building with producers and brokers, so you don't have to. Our team brings decades of combined experience, deep buying relationships across the U.S., Europe, and beyond, and the kind of access that comes from being one of the most respected wine retailers in the country. When something rare surfaces, a private cellar acquisition, an early allocation, a parcel directly from Bordeaux or Burgundy, our Private Client advisors hear about it first.
I’ve just returned from a buying trip through Spain and Portugal, and I’m more energized than ever about what these regions are delivering. Across the board—red, white, and sparkling—the quality is high, the styles are distinctive, and the pricing still works strongly in the customer’s favor. From Spain’s broad, well‑established appellations to Portugal’s incredible diversity of native varieties, the consistency and craftsmanship I tasted were impressive. The wines highlighted here are some of the bottles and categories I’m genuinely excited to share with you.
For decades, Cava was the dependable workhorse of the wine bar: reliable, ubiquitous, and, if I’m being honest, often uninspiring. Even in Spain, 90% of Cava sells for under 10 euros per bottle. The issue has always been one of geography. Unlike Champagne, which is a place, Cava is a method. You can make it in Catalonia, of course, but also in pockets of Rioja, Valencia, and even Extremadura. This multi-regional approach to an appellation has long frustrated small producers who believed that it obscured the quality and potential of small-scale sparkling winemaking in Penedès, where the style originated.
No individual is more closely associated with Bairrada’s modern identity than Luís Pato. Beginning in the 1980s, he championed single-vineyard Baga wines at a time when the grape was often dismissed as too rustic or difficult. Through meticulous vineyard management and lower yields, he demonstrated that Baga could produce wines of finesse, aromatic complexity, and aging potential comparable to great wines elsewhere in Europe. His work helped reposition Bairrada from a region known for tough, tannic reds to one capable of elegance and terroir transparency.
Spain offers some of the best wine values in the world because it combines ideal growing conditions with deep-rooted tradition and relatively low production costs. Much of the country, especially regions like Rioja, Ribera del Duero, and Aragón, has abundant sunshine, varied elevations, and old vines that produce wines of great concentration and complexity.
Producing everything from delicate, almost ethereal wines to intensely concentrated and juicy styles, Garnacha is a true chameleon. This, in my opinion, makes it a fascinating variety to explore. And with the world’s highest concentration of old vines, Spain is the country to turn to in order to understand this historic grape.
In recent years, Rioja has been experiencing a tidal wave of change, with many young and new winemakers eager to make their mark upon the classic region. And while Rioja might still be most well-known for the long-aged wines of the Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva classification system, smaller wineries are increasingly rejecting this system in favor of the flexibility to craft wines that represent a more modern, terroir-driven perspective. The resulting “modern” Rioja wines bear the generic Rioja label, but they are anything but generic!
Join us on Tuesday, March 24th, to dine with four of France’s great wine families at a rare, one‑night‑only dinner at Frances in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. We’ll taste exquisite Burgundy, Chablis, and Champagne alongside the benchmark wines of Alsace, guided by the people who steward these estates. This very special gathering offers a singular chance to explore the breadth of French wine at the highest level, in the company of those who know it best.
