The Best Cellar is indeed a bestselling book in its category, and easily the funniest book ever written on the subject of wine cellars and wine collecting. It is, admittedly, a rather short field. Author Jeff Smith’s adventures in the wine trade are insightful and riotously funny.
“The Best Cellar demystifies much of the pomp and pedantry of the wine trade."
"A must-read...Jeff Smith has put together everything you need to know about starting a wine cellar…accessible and filled with info for every collection."
"This is an informative, well-written, and fun to read guide for anyone with an interest in wine. This book is a must read."
Wine collectors are a breed apart; they build up their cellars with the notion of whittling away at it as they go. Every bottle of wine you open literally becomes a part of you, and it means there is one less bottle of that wine left in the world. I've met many different types of collectors since I started this business, and they are an eclectic, eccentric bunch. People who spend large amounts of money collecting perishable things have to be a little nuts. The definition of a collector is someone whose purchasing outpaces his consumption. Every collector is a combination of these twelve basic characteristics. Which one(s) are you?