I am in transitory mode in my wine purchasing life.
I have been priced out of some favorite producers that I purchased forever, but that’s ok because my cellar is full of them.
I m now trimming back my purchases of older wines as well as I’ve seen the hit rate suffer a worrisome dip as prices rise. More thoughts on that here: Simply Better Wines - Blog
I just checked inventory, another problem/joy I have to look forward to shortly is the consolidation of three cellars into a single location right under where I live for the first time ever. Super exciting but it requires a certain amount of calculation and tidying up of inventory.
Which leads me to the question. I started with magnums, I have one a month until I turn 89. That’s a lot. I do use more and more over the holidays as children become wine drinkers and we have to start to deal with their adult problems. They’ll come in handy.
I have almost enough bottles to last to they very same day, I fall 29 days or so short of my 89th birthday drinking a bottle every other day, which is not far from my daily consumption.
How much will I be drinking in my 70s, much less my 80s.
Am I buying wine to drink a this point, some of course, but in general what will happen to all this wine?
At some point I will have to stop, or nearly stop buying wine.
Barolo is becoming expensive, so that might help ease the transition.
So, has anyone actually been able to stop buying wine? I am sure I can slow the rate of accumulation, or even begin to drink down the cellar but I am having a hard time imagining not buying any wine!
Check out I am done: I'm done* - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
I opened a heavy duty WA Cab the other night. I thought from comments here that as you age you need more fruit and body. I do not buy these wines any more and spend half the money on lighter AFWE Pinot and Loire reds these days and give away and share the bolder fruity wines. About half my cellar just sits and ages now while I mostly buy and drink the afore mentioned wines of the Willamette and Loire valleys.
I try my hardest to stop, but we all know the fallacy of that argument unless we throw our computer away.
I only buy whatever I get a great deal on, mostly because it’s more fun to try something new than it is to drink the same thing all the time.
It is kind of dumb to buy wine you may not ever get to, but it’s not a rational past time for the most part. I have no idea how much wine I’ll consume in my 80s, if I even get to them, but as Dan Quayle once said, there’s only one word we need to know, and that one word is “to be prepared”!
You know the answer already. Your wine, like your other assets, becomes the property of your estate. You need to leave proper instructions on what to do with all of the assets you leave behind, wine included. You do this via estate planning documents. Some common issues include: Should all the wine be sold and the proceeds included as inheritance to your beneficiaries? Should certain people get certain bottles? Who should oversee the wine and what happens to the wine after you?
I have cut down a lot but my drinking has been declining at a similar rate so I’m not getting ahead of myself. Total bottle count is holding steady (which isn’t bad) rather than dropping (as I had intended). But at least it isn’t growing anymore.
Huge buyer of burgs, champagne and German Riesling until 2 years ago. Stopped going to all the London EP tastings and have bought almost nothing this year except some 08 champagnes. Given up all my burg and German Riesling allocations.
Stopping is difficult. I have reduced my buying to about 200 bottles/year but really need to get down to half of that. I have dropped off of several mailing lists and have stopped buying “daily drinkers”. I am focusing on wines I really like and higher value wines. I have also tried to match my purchases with what I actually drink. In other words if I drink 50 bottles of syrah each year I try not to buy more than that. i have also completely quit buying large format bottles. 750’s are so much more flexible. Since my primary consumption pattern is to enjoy a bottle with dinner each evening, I rarely have occasion to open a magnum.
I’m impressed by the people who can stop buying and still be present on a site like this. If i wanted to stop, I think I’d have to cut myself off from most things wine except cellartracker.
I have 3 years, 10 months and 27 days until I stop.
I have planned to stop at 55. After that I will only buy if I run out of something (or if Laura wants something). This has been the plan for about 10 years.
I am cutting back only because I am out of space. I anticipate that I will continue to buy, at some level, so long as I am drinking. I like ages wines, but I also like to taste them when they are young just to see how they evolve.
62 with too much wine. Trying real hard not to buy. But it is real hard. So far, I have bought nothing in February, first month that has happened in decades. Trying to mentor a couple friends so I get the vicarious thrill of passing on deals to them. The chase is so ingrained, the curiosity so deep—makes it hard to stop. A few 08 and 09 champagnes, occasional whites, and some daily drinkers for the wife—and I hope that’s it.
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