The Wine Thread

I've been into California wines since I live here. I have developed my taste over the years by going on tasting tours to local regions and tasting bars. I tend to like wines that some connoisseurs turn their noses up at because I like flavorful fruity strong alcohol wines like Paso Robles Zins and Pitit Sirahs and our Cab Sauvs from around here. They call them "jammy" or "porty" like that's a bad thing.
In my travels I have tasted great Bordeauxs, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese wines but I cant seem to find those wines locally as good as the ones I've had abroad.
Why is that? I am now wary of wines I haven't tasted or if I don't feel good about the vintage.
Also, I've noticed that sometimes a bottle doesn't taste as good when opened later then as it did when it was tasted.
On the other hand I just had a bottle of 2000 David Bruce Russian River Pinot Noir from the Windsor Garden vineyard that was soooo much better than I remembered it when I tasted it.
Some wines go through a "dead period" when they taste bad like some flavor is overpowering it. I leave other bottles of it alone for a few more years and usually they come back around better.

100 bottles of wine in a cellar at an average of say $22 a bottle is $2200. 200 = $4400. Throw in those special $50+ bottles here and there plus a few bottles of Port and Madiera and it can get worse than a cigar habit quickly.