'Horizontal/Vertical Portfolios'

Whatever you can afford, stick to the highest-quality wines. Ideally, this will mean classic French wine from the "first growth" red Bordeaux (claret) vineyards, including Châteaux Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan), Lafite-Rothschild (Pauillac), Latour (Pauillac), Margaux (Margaux), Pétrus (Pomerol) and Mouton-Rothschild (Pauillac). In addition, Chateau d'Yquem is the king of Sauternes dessert wines.

Popular long-term portfolios include building up "horizontal" or "vertical" collections. A horizontal collection is when you collect every size of bottle offered by a vineyard on a particular year. This means collecting a complete set of, say, Chateau Margaux 2000, namely, half- bottles, normal bottles, magnums, jeroboams and nebuchad-nezzars. The larger bottles take longer to mature and will usually yield better profits over time.

A vertical collection is when you collect a running sequence of vintages from a particular vineyard. There is a school of thought that some vintages have a certain allure, such as the year 2000. Just as the 1900 vintage tends to command better prices than 1899 and 1901, some feel that the 2000 vintage will be a stronger seller because it marks the turn of the millennium. Of course, you should always stick to the perceived best vintages as determined, predominantly, by that year's weather conditions.