You Spent HOW MUCH ON WINE in 2021?!?!

How much did you spend on wine in 2021?

Also curious to hear the average bottle price and if your 2021 spending was higher or lower than the previous few years.

~11k 130ish bottles. Down from 28ish and ~380in 2020

I need to head in that direction… spending was up there but #of bottles was way higher due to all my baseman’s bargain hunting. I think the basement is full now

In no particular order:
-70% of my cellar is CA and ‘18 & 19 were highly acclaimed vintages.
-Lack of travel & eating out during the pandemic left extra $ to spend elsewhere.
-Joined WB in Feb 2021.
-2020 & 21 were big exploration years for me.

Yeah, I spent more than usual.

Those two statements may be connected

My collection has been in it’s growth phase and the bottle count has tripled since April 2020. avg bottle price has gone up about 20%. But spending went down by 34% in 2021 and I aim for a drop by about 75% from 21-22, since I now have more than enough to drink, especially as I am to decrease consumption. Let’s see if I can pull it off.

2017 < 2018 < 2019 < 2020 < 2021
I joined the Cellar Inventory Reduction Plan thread on July 22nd 2021.

2022 will stop the trend. For the first time ever, I actually wrote down targets for 2022 (number of bottles and dollar amount).

Why isn’t “I have no idea, and I prefer it that way” an option? It also give me plausible deniability should my wife ever ask this question, which, thank god, she hasn’t.

I’m in effectively the same spot as you in terms of percentages.

With no set plan to reduce the cellar, it’s happened naturally. Less than 2 cases of wine bought in total in 2021, well short of even $1k. I always anticipated that I would start reducing the cellar ‘sometime’, but after a drop in buying in 2020, 2021 has seen an even bigger drop.

I still have plenty of good cellaring wines, plus an idea of the sort of earlier drinkers I’m happy to top up with.

I bought very little and sold a bunch so on a net basis down about 325 bottles. I still have more wine than I can drink.

Probably touched 6 figures. But boy will I be drinking some fire from here on out.

This sounds like a good place to be.

I spent 25% more in 2021 than in 2020. Average bottle is $50.70.

Where is the ‘basically stopped buying’ option?

Far too much, my goal this year is 1/2 or less than I spent in ‘21.

2020 & 2021 were 50% & 80% higher than the previous several years as I believe the red burgundy affordability/ attainability/ global warming trains are all coming to a point where I won’t compete or be interested in, so I re-filled what I could with '14, '15, '16 & 17 vintages. I’m confident this past decades wines will be, along with the previous decade - the meat of my cellar for my lifetime. I don’t see my trying to buy much at all from the CdN this year or in the future and perhaps only very small amounts from some preferred CdB producers.
I also don’t want a cellar where the highest cost wines will only start to become mature in 20+ years when I’ll be 70+. With new red burgundy purchases out, I suspect I’ll still buy a fair amount from elsewhere as I chase my preferred style of wines from a suitable climate but the costs should be considerably less. I should drop one level in the poll this year and for another few years, then another level after that when I should only need defenders.

I spent more in 2021 than any prior year. Lots of reasons for that, but one of the drivers is setting up that “retirement cellar” that sets me up better 15 years out. Have also done a lot of backfilling and a little unicorn chasing. While pricing is up quite a bit, availability has appeared strong, I assume in light of so many strong vintages in so many regions that I buy. Gracefully, the economy was crazy strong last year.

I need to reduce the wine spending for both budget reasons (want to build a new house) and because I’m out of space but don’t want to add more until we get the new house. I’m trying to only purchase 2012 Dom (if I can get it at $175 or less), whatever Goodfellow releases on BD and in the spring and fall, and a couple of cases of Burgundy from Ansonia, mostly daily drinkers but a handful for the cellar.

Not sure if I can hold myself to this, but I wrote it down in my plans and goals for the year, which gives me at least a 10 percent shot at success.

Up significantly in 2021, primarily because of a spring trip to Napa, continued good De Negoce offers, and stocking of 2018 Napa vintage. Expecting a big cut in 2022