State of Your Cellar

Just curious, over the last four months or so, has your cellar grown, remained the same, or contracted? If it has grown, what did you add (and did you add because you found better buys out there).

Mine has grown but it was small to begin with (now have close to 200 bottles) and mostly added California PN and rhone varieties. A few mailing lists that I was previously waitlisted on and now open contributed to some extent.

Cheers,

Clem

Good question, Clem!

I would have assumed that mine had shrunk, but alas, not at all. I believe at the end of last year I was down to about 210 bottles, now I’m at 250 with 17 pending delivery.

For me, it’s been grown with mostly European wines and older wines. I’ve got plenty of the new ‘let it sit a while’ CA stuff, Pinots, Cabs, etc.

I got myself all into Barolo, and 15 bottles later, or so, I have at least a bit. I’ve also been heavy buying into Rhones, because they are consistent, inexpensive, and very high quality. I have also been doing far more bartering, given the economic situation before us, and buying cases of Italian whites for daily quaffing…

Contracted.
But not by as much as I’d have thought.
Best, Jim

Grown. Mostly due to purchases of Riesling (Germany) and Chenin Blanc (Loire).

Being a few thousand kilometers away from it means it has definitely not contracted. And given that I don’t get a lot of deliveries at this time of year (only 06 Bdx futures which was 3 bottles), I guess it has not expanded either!

Heavy buying in the last 6 months has precluded any more heavy buying for the next x amount of months as my Amex Card (Green) has been excorcised from my wallet by the boss. No, not Springstein.
Had to pass two great offeres this week alone.

The State of the cellar is nice by my standards, standards which are normally to drink at a higher rate than to buy. An increase of about 80% in size, but lets face it, size is not everything. Having it in your own spare bedroom where its is out of view of my wife is. Glass doors can be detrimental. My daughter just the other day asked “Dad, wow, how many bottles are in there?” whereas I had to do the ‘turning of the key’ thing on my lips…

I have received most of the remaining ridiculous number of bottles of 05 Bords I purchased as futures. My large cellar is now over stocked by hundreds of bottles. It cannot physically grow more until I consume severl hundred bottles. Since I have no boss, (Springsteen or other) it is more a matter of practicality than affordability. I am still looking for a lot of 89 HB to share with father Sax, that is it.

I think I am up a net 50 over last year. I have gone below 600 bottles after being around 800 for a long time (never did break that 1K level [nea.gif] ). My age requires me to cease Bordeaux (unless we get some sick deals in price) as I like em with age on em. I guess I will be in consume rather than accumulate mode. Not a drop will be left, that’s the goal.

Groan. I mean grown.

Mine has been shrinking. Money is tight, the new job deferred my start date by three months, and now I have a wedding and honeymoon to plan/pay for. There’s enough stuff that is at peak/will peak in the next few years, that I can be selective in my purchases.

My drinking quantity has significantly decreased as well to try to stretch this out.

I’ve managed to level off growth a bit. Probably gone up about 5% this past year. It fluctuated throughout the year though. Lately good deals have been hard to pass up.

Ours has grown in the last two years. We have amassed quite a bit of WV Pinot over the years trading with other winemakers up there, as well as Cal Pinot and Rhones. We have been stocking up on 07 CdR’s as everyday drinkers- so we can let the others live to fight another day. Been trying to buy lots of German rieslings to age, but we keep hammering them on a regular basis. Damn!

When everything already on order arrives, I’m going to have over 200 bottles that won’t fit into the cellar (950 bottles).
I hope to retire in a few years, so I’m trying to stock up on wines that I can drink when the revenue stream slows down. [rolleyes.gif]

Grown a little. Has remained flat in the New World categpry as I’ve bought a tiny bit from mailers this Spring season that basically replaced what I was trying to drink so I expect New World to drop sharply between now and the Fall. Old World has ticked up quite a bit, especially Italy and Spain where I’ve been focusing most of my dollars. That’ll continue through the end of the year as the cellar plan continues to be implemented.

Slowly growing smaller, since we are buying less than we’re drinking. But that’s ok. Since the cellar is still just under 4000 bottles, we’re not going to run out soon.

I don’t know exactly how many I have, but it is probably around a thousand. If you have as many bottles as I do, and you know exactly how many you have, you have way too much time on your hands to count.

Sadly, my collection is growing by leaps and bounds, even though I am on an extended wine buying holiday. Because of various issues such as my migraines, my wine drinking has been very limited lately. so, I’ve got stuff coming in, but very little going out.

Going down! By design.

Whites - Probably flat, but do need some Greman Reislings.

Reds - Haven’t bought CA wines in a while. Buying top 07 and late release 06 WV pinots but not in volumes as before. Still picking up 05 CdP and BdXs on good buying opportunities.

Purpose of this is to make room for 04 BdMs when they come out, probably this fall, along with 08 WV pinots that will start shipping a year from now. I foresee signficant purchases in these areas and need the room.

Except for perhaps a case total of 07 CA cabs, I don’t see a return to CA wines in the coming years. It would require both a stylistic change, which I don’t see happening, and a major rationalization of pricing, which is likewise doubtful.

Gordon, have you had much of the '04 Barolos? Insane.

Declining . . . .

One more year of undergraduate tuition for my daughter, after which my cellar should begin growing again.

Todd;

I picked up a few 04 Barolos this past weekend at a big LWS sale. I’ve had one in the past. Needed time, but these guys are huge.