1000 bottles of wine but nothing to drink

WINE TALK
21

Wine is the panacea

22

I was having a similar issue not knowing what to open, when.
I decided to combat this, that I needed yet more wine, but nothing I had a hand in choosing.
I joined a small wine program that is run by an ex-chef/ restaurateur who picks wines each month to send you based on a subscription value. Could be 1 bottle worth the subscription cost or several that add up to the same $ amount. I just received my 1st two orders. All wines I’d never seen, never mind would ever buy.
I now have some Etna based wines, including an older Riserva & a few mags of Barbera to open.
It’s the wine equivalent of using my left hand…

23

My fiancee and I just decided to be fancier more often and it’s been working out pretty well, we’re less reluctant to break the $40 threshold on a Tuesday and honestly I’ve felt no regret (on the contrary, it’s been pretty great!)

24

We can all have these moments sometimes. What I have been doing for a while now is to keep a ‘drink now’ stash of anything up to 40 or more bottles that I choose from for day to day drinking. To fuel this I do regular cellar culls taking out 20 or more at a time. I find that if I look at my cellar list regularly as I do my cellar culls, that I ponder some wines two or three times and then often just think, damn it, I’ll drink it. I’ve long since given up any concerns as to the price or rarity of any particular bottles. I bought them to drink them and I’d rather have something a little young than past it. Make the wine the occasion any night of the week and luxuriate in it, rather than waiting for an occasion for a wine.

25

I actually enjoy opening that special bottle if someone asks for it. Otherwise, it would sit there forever

26

Up until about 18 months ago I was cursed with the “but I’m saving that bottle for a special day” syndrome. No more. But for a rare few bottles from my daughters birth year, I will open ANY bottle from my cellar ANY day.

Trust me, it was a long road to reach this point. Staring at my inventory day after day with analysis paralysis trying to decide what to open and coming up with “excuses” for each bottle as to why I should wait. It was a combination of three things that led me here all with a common theme: Life is too damn short to wait!

  1. A good friend on my cycling team was hit and killed by a semi while training one morning. 36 years old;
  2. A fellow wine lover that I’ve drank with for 11 years recently came down with a bad sinus infection… so bad that after about 3 weeks he had lost his sense of smell (other than a few distinct scents like “burnt toast”), which dramatically changed his sense of taste. For over a year now wine has not tasted the same and may never again;
  3. I met another incredibly generous wine lover with a cellar much larger than mine and a willingness to open any bottle any time. This has had the most effect on me. He has opened countless bottles that I would have thought were “too special” for a random Monday night dinner or Friday night with pizza.

Open it. Tonight! champagne.gif

27

I guess one thing I should note that is contributing to my reticence to open many of my better wines is that I have two teenage girls: one is a high school sophomore and the other is in 8th grade. I made a decision years ago that I would build a nice collection of age-worthy wines so that when I was broke and putting them through college I would at least have a nice body of wines to drink through, even if I didn’t have the cash to buy as much wine. I am definitely slowing down my wine buying so that I am in a better financial situation in 2.5 years when the oldest graduates, and I am feeling like I ought to be a bit more stingy. But I do love the “zest for living” posts I’ve seen here. I think that makes a lot of sense, too.

28

Thanks Brian. That makes me feel better! I don’t need any more reasons to expand the cellar. We sometimes send the kids down to pick something, but usually pre-select a dozen or so wines for them to choose from or give them a little guidance.

One thing that might help is to buy better daily drinkers. I happily drink those wines in my cellar that I put in that category. Also, remember is that it is just wine and it is supposed to be fun. Sometimes that means opening a special bottle on a weeknight and not overthinking it.

29

I brought a small wine fridge And put it in my kitchen. Every few weeks I go down pick out a mixture of bottles and bring them up stairs and fill of this fridge. When I am picking wines to bring up I always bring a couple special bottles. It makes it much easier to choose one bottle out of 30 than one bottle out of a very large cellar at least for me. When you have to pick that special day in the context of a month rather than a lifetime it is so much easier to pull the trigger

30

That’s a good idea. I have a wine rack in my dining room that holds about 2 cases. I like to call it my “open anything you want, indiscriminately” rack for my wife. We often keep inexpensive wines in it from Costco trips and every month or so I cull wines from my cellar that are somewhat inexpensive and getting some age (2008 - 2010). Perhaps I should bring up a higher proportion of nicer wines.

31

I certainly know that feeling, but I only have a four-case cooler at home. I curse the fact that the stuff I want is across the river … or upstate. If I had a 1,000 bottles at home, I hope I wouldn’t be complaining.

But I might well be.

32

I have the same issue looking at my 900 bottles of wine but last night i just bit the bullet and grabbed a 2011 Corra Cab. I really enjoyed the freedom of not sweating the decision once the cork was popped. And the wine was in an awesome spot.

33

One variation of the same problem is that for most all of the wines I truly enjoy, an hour or two minimum of air time is needed for them to start to show their stuff. A weekday night when you get home at 7 or later and want a couple of quick glasses of satisfying not too simple wine–it just doesn’t work. You know many times you’ll be wasting a wine that will be showing it’s best at midnight, even if you are quite interested in opening it that night.

There are two solutions. One, aside from buying wines that you don’t have a major emotional or financial investment in, is to go out of your way to buy some wines that you’ll like that you know are pop and pour, and will show right away. particularly important with reds.

The other strategy that works, which has already been mentioned, is to grab 3-4 of those bottles that you are sure are over the hill, or that have been gifted to you and you think you may not like, and pop them–dump if not any good, and drink if ok. It can be surprising now and then.

34

[welldone.gif] [thankyou.gif]

35

The answer is German Kabinett. Good young, good old, not expensive.

36

Fixed it for you.

37

I couldn’t agree with this more!
Life is too short.
Consider this, if you will.
If you are in a place where you have 1000 or + bottles then you bought them to enjoy.
My 220 or so pales in comparison but I do constantly keep my 4 wine refrigerators stocked with the better wines.

If you could afford the first thousand, why angst about enjoying the very thing you devoted all the preceeding energy to aquiring.
A couple years back I received some sage advice.
(I like to think that I recognize something significant in the moment)
“Just don’t wait too long”, he said. “I have ruined more bottles by doing that”.
Not that …That, is the issue.
But, there is something to be said for trying an age worthy wine (when you have a few) and seeing how it is now and then you have something else to look forward too as the
remaining ones evolve.

Remember. …you can always replace that particular bottle with a new bottle.

Why deprive yourself.

Enjoy!

38

I can relate to almost everything in this thread. I don’t want to keep repeating the same points, but just one thing to add:

My paralysis is greatly compounded by my tendency to buy 1-3 bottles of things. If I were one of those case buyer types, it would be much easier to just open one. Then, since I’m more comfortable opening wines I have more than one of, my cellar keeps migrating towards lots of singles, further compounding its issue.

39

In theory: I buy wine to drink. Therefore, drink it and enjoy it, any bottle, whenever.

In practice: I need more wine. Like, a lot more. Damnit. I have literally nothing to open.

40

I completely understand having a young cellar and thinking most of your wine needs more time. Otherwise I can recommend buying a few more wines that you love and feel fine opening at any point. Like many I’ve found that opening a great bottle of wine during a weekday and sharing it with someone is fantastic - there’s no need to wait for the perfect occasion.