Apologies if this has already been covered for the upcoming buying season.
I’ve come to realize I’m on too many lists. An earlier thread about “what wineries do you always buy” made me think about “which wineries are on the bubble for me”. My situation is too much wine in the cellar, not enough money to entertain past buying habits. Also…too old to think about putting wines away for 25 years. So, with all that, I popped a few tonight, and they are all going to be “passes” next year. Wines I like, but don’t quite love:
Eric Kent (kicking the reds…I still kind of dig the whites)
Macphail (though if they come out with some more Cab, I’d be in on that. But I just had another $60 btl of undrinkable Pinot, and that’s just inexcusable)
White Rose Winery - I like these guys, but not feeling “love” with my new more discerning filter. A good, but not great bottle tonight. Acquisition cost - $60. Done.
Other questions marks:
Scarecrow - this may surprise some, but…when I can buy Continuum for a fraction of the price…or Maybach??? And with scores down (AG), the rationale of resale isn’t there.
Lewelling - I loved these guys, but the '07 vintage was so “out of bounds” for my tastes that this one goes into the penalty box for me.
Seasmoke - I’ve had such crappy luck with other big, full throttle Pinots after 4-5 years aging that I worry about this one as well.
Turley - they don’t like me cuz I don’t buy more than a case a year anymore. So…maybe I don’t like them.
Copain - I still like these wines, the Pinots. But with the new allocation methods, which I still don’t understand (and don’t have the time to), they may fall into the “too hard” category.
various “big” Cali wines - Buccella, Pride, Corra, etc. I like all of these, but too many lists with $125+ btls. This area is going to be hard, because I while I like them all, I can’t afford and don’t need them all.
And to be honest, rather than cutting acquisitions, I’m thinking that cutting breadth will allow me to go deeper on those wineries I’m emphatically in love with. It’s going to be an interesting and challenging buying season for me:).
As far as domestic mailing lists, I have five, in chronological order… Arcadian, Mount Eden, Rhys, Copain, and Anthill Farms. That is too many for me going forward. Copain was “on the bubble” for wine style reasons before they changed their terms of service and rescinded the agreement we had, so I’m done there. Have also cut back on the others, because there are only just so many bottles I can or will open in a year. My cellar is mainly Burgs, and I’ve bought very lightly since the 2005 vintage. I already have more than enough Burgundy by a factor of at least 2. I’ll cut that to zero after 2010, except expect to dabble with a few Maison Ilan wines going forward. And I’m sure I’ll pick up a few bottles for immediate consumption from future Burg vintages, but nothing to cellar.
I said in the other thread that I was only buying Copain and Rhys every year from now on. I’ll probably continue buying Cabot too. In the past I regularly bought Maybach, Lato, Anthill, Saxum, and a few others. Some I ditched due to stylistic preferences (don’t drink that much big, modern Cab or Saxum), others due to escalating prices. But in the end the main reason for reducing my list purchases is to free up more resources and space for Chablis, Alsatian and German Riesling, Cru Beaujolais, and Loire whites and reds. Along with Copain and Rhys wines, these are the ones I want to drink most of the time.
I’m going to need to see what happens with my plans to only buy from one of two annual offers from Anthill. If I get dropped so be it, but I’m really not a fan of most of their Sonoma wines.
Like some others I probably won’t be buying Copain in the future as I still don’t understand what they are doing with their new allocation system. Rochioli will, i guess, be dropping me. I have passed on the last two offers because they don’t ship to Maryland and I will only buy from those who ship here. Finally, I joined the JC Cellars wine club but they have yet to ship to me and have not answered my emails as to why. I had to call them to join the club as they ignored my emails back then.
Might be bailing on Marcassin. The up front costs are too much. Secondary market prices aren’t what they used to be either which made holding them worthwhile. I can buy some serious stereo gear with that kind of cash. I dropped Shafer and Araujo 10 years ago.
That leaves the only must buys as Carlisle and Paloma.
Although I still buy Edmunds St. John, Cedarville, Rulo, and a few other Walla Walla producers. But these wineries don’t have closed lists. I’m not even sure Paloma does anymore either. I’m buying more from my favorite retailer as well.
Didn’t buy from Sea Smoke last year, probably won’t buy from them this year. I’ve gotten away from mailing lists as there are just too many new wines I want to experience and not enough years to drink them all… and I’ve got way too much in the cellar now as well!
Scarecrow and Harlan. I had outrageously bad customer service at Harlan recently, and they didn’t have much left of anything by the time I got around to ordering. Scarecrow increased their already extreme prices in an iffy vintage following a less than inspiring 2008 performance.
I switched to Maybach, and will pick up some Ceritas as an alternative.
I dumped
Maybach
Bedrock
Virage
Because they don’t ship to MA or NH I had to cut somewhere and the added cost of using All ways cool or 55 degrees seemed to make these the likely candidates.
Biale based on price.
Kapcsandy (price), Aston (style for me). Debating Rudius as price is ticking up there. Jury is out on Copain with the marketing mess and departure of Jim. Not sure what direction they are heading.
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