If I were in the mood of Tran I would sell every bottle and then I would buy from shops what I want to consume according to my mood of the moment. Zero bottle in my cellar.
Because to have in front of my eyes all what I will drink until my death would be extremely depressing.
Imagine that you are at the end of the process with the ten remaining bottles which are certainly not the best because you did not choos them in the 600 previous weeks. You will be obliged to drink a wine that you do not cherish. And you will tell yourself : “in 10 weeks I can die”.
Actually I’ve been trying to do a similar thing for the past few years. Not stop buying ‘cold turkey’, but really limit purchases to things that are really special, not just a ‘great deal’ on something just ok. Also I’ve been selling off my ‘good deal, normal drinker’ wines to friends as I seem to have way too much of that category. I’m down about 15% over the last 2-3 years and hope to continue this trend in future years, where all types of consumption, every year, outmatches purchases in that year.
It helps that Burgundy has gone to crazy price points, that older Barolo is hard to find in any real volume, and that I have a cellar full of older Bordeaux so no need to buy more (and they make so much of it, you can always find it if you want).
This year, to date, I’ve only purchased 7-8 cases of wine. So little!!! And only 1 of those cases requires long term cellaring (2010 Cavallotto ‘Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe Riserva’)
This year, to date, we’ve consumed 27 cases (lots of parties helps!) and sold off 16 cases.
The battleship is turning…
Aww, quit your whining!
Think of this “hobby” as purchasing food: sometimes your store sells venison, or aged steaks, sometimes it doesn’t. Or sometimes you can buy freshly canned, height-of-season, tomatoes, but only in early fall and not other times of year. If you want to have these elsetime in the year, you need to buy NOW in order to have it LATER (remember those candies: “Now and later”? Chew some now, save some for later). I can see slowing down your purchases, but if you are truly smitten with the bug, cold stop will not work.
I think people are just having fun with Tran, and perhaps revealing a little about their own buying compulsions.
For about the last year or two, my buying habits have changed pretty dramatically. My first love is bdx, and in the past I bought in every decent vintage, sometimes more and sometimes less depending on QPR. From 14-16, I have bought maybe a total of 10 cases, and I really do think that’s it. I will still buy the odd bottle of aged wine when I see a bargain, but I am too old now to wait 20 years to drink a new vintage. Same for barolo and most red wines for that matter. I have bought more burgundy in the last year than before just so I have some in the cellar for aging; my collection was very thin there.
I have been buying tons of champagne for current consumption and for aging both. I find that my consumption of red wines is pretty steady (~2 bottles a week max) but my consumption of champagne has gone up dramatically.
Long story short: I am aiming for stasis over the next 5 years or so, and then will be drinking the cellar I have amassed and buying only the rare (and more or less ready to drink) bargains.
Interesting thread. I wish you well, Tran.
While I can understand your feelings, I can’t share the same end-game choice.
I am on a similar journey so I well understand. In my case it’s 36 years of enjoying wine with family and friends and in that time period I have gone through many cycles; the one I am currently in finds my children and brother in the early parts of their own wine journey so its fun and interesting experiencing their journeys with them. I also see it as an opportunity to share my deeply planned and carefully purchased cellar with them while maintaining my wine friendships I have made through the years which are quite important to me. I have an early diagnosed health concern of pre-diabetes and I thought of cutting and running a few times in the last nine months. I decided that I will work through it and keep my hand in the game purchasing at a fraction of what I once did. Worst case is my kids get some good wines if I find I still have to much when the time comes. I am constantly calculating/recalculating my needs and am just finding a comfortable place, or my zone. Will that zone be the same in two years? probably not, it’s a process, but isn’t life? As long as wine keeps giving me enjoyment and my ‘rent’ is paid I will buy what I enjoy. I have purchased more one-offs from local retailers in the last year as I had in the previous ten years. To me it’s fun again; walking blindly into a shop and purchasing a bottle to take home for that night or with F&F in the immediate future. Happily I am still learning and enjoying after all these years.
I am feeling it at 475 bottles. Cellartracker does not help at all when I see how much money I have spent. I fell like I have too much wine now and yet, nothing ready to drink when I am in the cellar.
Well, I agree with François that it is depressing … that´s why I chose a different strategy …
I have enough wine in my cellar for 20 years of drinking … and most will certainly hold well beyond that date …
I do not plan to stop buying (well, slow down a bit …) because it is fun … and I also love to taste from barrels and the new vintages from bottle … in well organized tastings …
I do also not regret to leave a lot behind me should my time come sooner - I have heirs interested in wine, so I cannot (don´t have to) take bottles with me … but neither could I do it with with any money left … so what !
I love to have a cellar where I can chose mature bottles from several regions (built up in the last 30 years) … it´s giving me pleasure I don´t wanna miss …
I would hate the thought that I´m down to the last few 100 bottles … and in a year or two I have to die because I have nothing to drink anymore …
This is my problem. Will be drinking like a king in my 60s, hopefully!
Was just at my lockers, and 90% of what’s in there needs much more time.
I’ve tried to recalibrate to backfilling, but seem to drink my backfills quicker than I replace them, and purchase them slower than I acquire new releases.
At least I’m not so terribly dogmatic that I cannot enjoy young wines, too. Cracked a 2014 Gonon this weekend that was delicious.
My last purchase, ever, was last Thanksgiving. Black Friday, actually. Getting older. Too much in the cellar and much of it hitting peak. Getting ready to downsize to a smaller house and cellar.
Then I bought 2 cases of 2016 Bordeaux futures. Best part is it was my wife who kept bugging me to do it.
I consider it rather a privilege to have “been with” Tran almost from the beginning of his journey—and it has been one for him—into the world of wine. There are lots of permutations in which I expect he’ll continue to enjoy exploring (e.g. attending OLs where he brings some of his unique and unusual wines in his cellar and gets to try the wines others bring as well).
The thread does cause me to think a bit about my own current buying. I haven’t stopped or slowed down, but there are also things I won’t buy. 2011 Port is one of those things—I can’t see myself as an immortal which is necessary to think about enjoying these. I have half of Tran’s stock (which might surprise some people here) and am trying pretty hard to more or less hold the line on that. I don’t think having 350 bottles or so in my inventory makes me any less passionate about wine or any less of a person in this community somehow–at least I hope that’s the case!
I will look on with interest as you continue your journey, Tran. But Francois and Gerhard make some cogent points. The only thing I will say is that I hope you continue to leave yourself open to some wonderful discoveries that you won’t deny adding those to your cellar if they happen. Mike P’s point of view is also well taken as he has indeed paralleled your course to a degree.
When one thinks that your journey has only lasted some 7 years or so, you’ve done a remarkable amount of exploring and (more so in some ways even than me) have been remarkably open-minded about trying this or that and finding merit in this or that.
Look, this is a very reasonable position. I too am at the point where I will be buying VERY selectively. There is about 1,600 bottles in my wine cellar and there is no need to rabidly collect more very expensive wines, especially when many of the them are as expensive on release as they likely ever will be priced. (see Napa Cabernet, FG Bordeaux) Makes sense to save money for other stuff that is cheaper than ever before (eg travel). Good on you Tran, but remember some “seasonal” wine buying is still OK, I don’t want to be drinking any 5 year old rose a few years from now!
Thank you Mike and Dennis. The rest of you… need some sort of intervention.
I would like to thank the members of the Wine Berserkers board and its founder Todd for this collection. I also would like to thank God, my family, the Internet, grape growers, winemakers, the Niagara Wine County region, Prince Edward County, the countries of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal and of course the American state of California.
I would also like to thank the Toronto Wine Elitist Cabal ™, all my Canadian and American wine drinking friends, CellarTracker, the iYellow Wine Club, the New Zealand Wine Festival, the California Wine Fair, the Austrian Wine Fair, the Wines of Italy Expo, the German Wine Fair, the LCBO, the SAQ and Premier Wines on the other side of the border.
A special acknowledgement to some special women I have met through this hobby: Jennifer, Molly, Tara, Ashley, Meagan, Sasha, Victoria and Ange. And to the godfathers of Canadian icewine, Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser, without whose seminal work and dedication I would never have fallen into this mutual hobby/passion/obsession of ours in the first speech.
Best thank you speech ever. I’m not crying. You’re crying.
I have a good stock of older Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Nebbiolo wines to hold me well into my mid 80’s and I am on the aging front as well so we have stopped buying long agers but still buy a lot of shorter-term drinkers. We tallied last year’s consumption and it was 675 bottles so no worries on having more than I can drink. Just changing patterns of buying and trying to drink a lot of other people’s wines.
While in theory I see no reason to go cold turkey rather than reducing to one in/one out in practice it’s rather more difficult. I’m sure everyone here can attest to that.
I’m trying to get my cellar down to a stable 600 bottle size which is about what I think appropriate for my drinking patterns. It’s hard…
I would swear that in the last 3 weeks I’ve managed to resist about a year’s worth of purchases.
![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
![[cray.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/853b6e76c6e8406be77a6727c2a27ad1672678b3.gif "cry"){kind=small}
![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}