Time in a Bottle
Wine collectors share their passion
There’s something romantic about wine collections.
Or maybe it’s the stories that surround them.
Bill and Julia Bugera have old empty wine bottles gathered on the top shelf of their basement wine cellar, each with a story about whirlwind trips to French and Italian vineyards when they were just college newlyweds.
David Crouse first met his wife, Teresa, in 1974, when she was a waitress at the Dam Site Inn during college summer break. A friend of the restaurant owners, David would sip from their wine collection and he fell for both the drink and the waitress.
And Howard and Marcia Newkirk have developed similar tastes for wines which they enjoy in their exquisite 9,600-square-foot Boyne City home. “We like the white Burgundies. In the reds, we like the Rhones,” said Marcia of their compatible palates.
Wine collectors in general have much in common — a thirst for education about the different wine-making regions and techniques of the world, an interest in history, and some money to collect their favorites and recommendations of others.
But there are differences, too.
The Bugeras, who live on a stretch of secluded Lake Michigan shoreline north of Harbor Springs, could be considered old-school wine collectors. Their spacious home is reserved in details, with a grand piano the centerpiece of the living room that overlooks the lake and beach-grass back yard.
Bugera tells his guests that his wine cellar isn’t especially photogenic. He doesn’t see the need to fuss with fancy temperature and humidity controls; instead, they simply stock their 500 or so bottles in a narrow room that stays cool enough for wine storage with brick walls and cement floor.
“Many of the myths about wine came from the English,” said Bugera, explaining that the perceived need for precise humidity control arose from early barrel transportation of wine.
The Bugeras trust their education in wine to ensure their valuable collection is being well-maintained. Among their showpieces is Chateau d Y’quem, a Bordeaux widely considered the world’s greatest white wine; Vega Sicilia Unico, considered Spain’s greatest wine; and one of the most celebrated Burgundy whites, Le Montrachet.
Bill said it’s a wine’s “terroi” that distinguishes it as exceptional, referring to the confluence of landscape, weather and the skills of the winemaker.
“You taste this wine and you know it’s something different,” he said.
Sharing their education and interest in wines is a natural fit for the Bugeras. They founded the New York Restaurant in Harbor Springs in 1990 and son Matt Bugera is now the chef/proprietor. The restaurant was among the first up North to offer an extensive wine list and was the original meeting place for the local Tasters’ Guild for wine connoisseurs.
“There was very little in terms of fine wine, and it’s a passion of ours,” said Bill.
“We’ve always seen wine as part of the food chain,” added Julia.
The two married 50 years ago while college students and during those early years they’d often travel to Europe on the cheap, rent a car and tool around the countryside. It wasn’t uncommon then for visitors to stop by vineyards and the Bugeras had opportunities to sip wine with many world-class vintners.
“It wasn’t as touristy,” said Julia. “You could just go knock on the door of a vintner. We visited literally hundreds of wineries.”
Both are well-educated on wine making and the industry, with Bill writing his master’s thesis on starting a wine distributorship and both attending two of three Master Sommelier courses over a several-week period at California’s Sterling Vineyards in the early 1990s.
Their palates don’t seem to have a strong preference for one type of wine and their collection includes bottles, new and old, from all over Europe, New Zealand and Australia, California and South American countries.
“We’re too eclectic,” Bill said. “You can’t pin us down on that. That’s the fun of wine. There are thousands of producers with a variety of styles.”
There are many striking aspects about the Crouses’ picturesque home on Walloon Lake. First, it was built five years ago but looks like a weathered, storied cottage from the Hemingway era. Second, it’s comfortable and so is the family; last summer, they’ll tell you, they swam 166 straight days in the lake. And third, the wine cellars are on the main floor, in two separate locations.
David, a well-known documentary filmmaker who was a co-founder of the local C.S. Lewis Festival, began collecting wines in the mid-’80s while living in Atlanta. A neighbor there with “a small but spectacular” collection had introduced him during his bachelor days to the good stuff.
“I didn’t know wine could taste like that,” he said. “I started thinking about investing in wine to put away then.”
His influence was California Cabernet, and after he and Teresa wed in 1989, the two began to enjoy cooking and pairing meals with various wines. Exploring the tastes and regions of the world via wine led to a growing collection that now includes about 2,000 bottles.
“We make an evening out of it, of choosing a wine to go with the meal we are preparing,” David said.
To the Crouses, the “holy grail” of all grapes is Pinot Noir.
“If someone said you can only drink one varietal, it would be that,” said Teresa.
The two have traveled the world’s most prestigious wine regions – Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone, Champagne – and have been guests at some of the most exclusive vineyards. Their collection includes many you wouldn’t want to drop, including top-of-the-line Grand cru Charmes-Chambertin and 1986 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, one of the most coveted of all the Chateaux of Bordeaux.
The two separate wine storage spaces are set at the suggested 55 degrees on the home’s main floor, since there’s no basement. “You can do it anywhere, as long as there is darkness and the temperature is stable and not too warm,” Crouse said.
The Crouses view wine collecting as investment as well as entertainment.
“We’re living in a golden era of wine production,” David said. “There’s more great wine that’s available to consumers right now than ever before. And you can spend $12 on a superior bottle of wine.”
When the couple travels, they like to sample locally produced wine when available. Typically they buy their wines locally from Galley Gourmet, Symon’s, Esperance and Toski-Sands, plus using other larger distributor contacts.
“It’s a shared passion and a never-ending quest for knowledge,” said David, who added that the two actually don’t consume much wine overall, enjoying the collecting and learning aspects the most.
“There are special memories in our life together when we can pinpoint a magical dinner we had. We forget what we ate,” David said, “but we remember what bottle of wine we had.”
One of the most spectacular wine cellars in this area has to be on the lower level of the Newkirk home, set along 200 feet of Lake Michigan shoreline in Boyne City.
The Newkirks translated their enjoyment of pairing fine wines with great food at Tapawingo, where they first met and befriended Charlevoix’s Master Sommelier Ron Edwards, into a vast home collection which now includes about 1,200 bottles.
The wine cellar itself is glass-enclosed, patterned after the cellar at Ferrari-Carano vineyard in Napa, a favored vacation destination. Inside, water cascades down a square granite slab that serves as a unique conversation piece and also as humidity control in the spacious cellar.
Adjacent to the cellar is a tasting room and dining table, and where the wall and ceiling meet a faux painter inscribed the Newkirks’ favorite phrases related to wine, like Marcia’s favorite “Wine makes old wives wenches” and Howard’s pick, “Who’s the scoundrel who stole the cork from my lunch?”
Like other collectors, the two share accumulated knowledge gained through years of taking pleasure in wine, focusing much attention on French growers and the strict traditions they face, such as not being allowed to irrigate. That French interest is reflected in their current collection, which has evolved with their changing palates and taste preferences.
“Almost all serious collections end up going French,” Howard said.
Added Marcia, with a laugh: “Friends (who aren’t as into wine) say, ‘Don’t give us your good stuff,’ so we don’t. We save it.”
They restock their collection mainly through buying direct from wineries; for instance, they endured a five-year waiting list to be allowed to purchase Peter Michael wines from Napa Valley. Among the favorites they own are a vertical collection of Joseph Phelps Insignia 1984-current.
Howard is a retired software author and executive, which is evidenced in his high-tech, essentially hermetically sealed wine cellar. The racks are double-deeps for additional storage capacity and a motion sensor shuts off the cooling mechanism so it’s quieter when someone is in the cellar. Trouble with properly maintaining wines in the past led him to take extra steps in this cellar, though he said the distribution process itself — wine in hot trucks, for instance — can mean less than ideal conditions.
Keeping track of which wine is where can also be daunting, since the bottles are drunk and replaced with new varieties. He divides his collections into regions to at least narrow down the process.
It’s those regions, after all, that define a wine collector’s palates and preferences, he added.
“Too many people expect the wine to come to them,” he said. “You need to ask, what am I tasting? Where is it from? The more you know about a wine, the more you’ll enjoy it and understand it.”
See also: "Master Sommelier"
It takes all kinds ... of grapes
There are six traditional, core, “noble varieties” of grapes that create the world’s best wines:
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Chardonnay
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Pinot Noir
• Riesling
• Merlot
Different countries use either the grape variety (i.e. Chardonnay) or the region (i.e. Chablis) to identify the wine, with no consistent international identification protocol. Americans typically use the grape variety, the French rely on the region, and the Italians do it both ways, according to wine aficionado Bill Bugera of Harbor Springs.
Cheers!
For those who would like to become more educated and involved in great wines and food, the local Taster’s Guild is one resource.
Call membership director Sharyn Tayler, 526-6105, for more information, or visit www.tastersguild.com.