If you find yourself scrambling for wines at the last minute--whether before a dinner party or after a long day at work--consider starting a home wine collection. The obvious advantage is that you'll always have your favorite go-to wines at your fingertips. Yet collecting does more than that-it allows you to learn about wine at your own pace while assembling a personal selection that fits your lifestyle.

The first step is to find a good wine shop -- a store where the staff loves wine, knows their products, and enjoys sharing their knowledge with customers. Treat yourself to two or three mixed cases-a case is 12 bottles of wine, and many shops offer discounts on wines bought in this quantity. Choose a spectrum of styles, including sparkling wines, dry whites and reds, rosés, and dessert wines. Two bottles of each will give you a chance to try them with different foods and settings.

Varietal and Vintage

Start with wines you already know; then, round out the selection to include all the classic varietals (Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are some of the greats). Once you've homed in on your favorites, start experimenting with vintages--that is, the year the wine's grapes were grown, which is usually shown on the bottle. (Insider's Tip: 1997 and 2001 were great years for California Cabernets and 1998 was a great year for Oregon Pinot Noirs.) Play with geography, too-if you love Shiraz/Syrah, start collecting bottles from different parts of the world.

Taste and Keep Notes

Next it's time for sampling. Get in the habit of pulling a bottle from your new collection regularly - at dinner, cocktail hour, picnics, with favorite foods or specialties. You'll probably have immediate opinions on most wines. It's always a good idea to collect your notes in a wine journal and record your flavor impressions and pertinent statistics: Red or white? Varietal? Country of origin? Vintage? Soon, you'll be able to tell what styles of wine you like best-from young and fruity to mellow and aged, from low acidity to high, from big and tannic to smooth and light. Include what you ate with the wine and how successful the match was. It's intriguing to look back in your notes periodically as your wines and preferences evolve.

Stocking Up

As you begin to see results from your tastings, replace favorites with half or full cases to assemble a personalized mix. Try drinking the same wine every few months and observe how it matures with age. Some wines can fade pretty quickly, while others continue to improve. A lot of the enjoyment in a wine collection comes from sharing discoveries with others. Don't forget to pass your favorite new finds on to friends so they catch the wine bug, too.