Hobby or OCD

Im having issues with this new wine hobby. I wouldnt actually be having this issue if it were not for cellartracker. The number of bottles I own is ok. Im at 189. My problem is twofold though when it comes to value.

1. I have passed the $10,000 mark. Yikes!
2. CT value is not the amount I paid for wine. Yikes!

A related problem I am having with CT is their value from auctions. It never adds into the value the fees and taxes associated with auction wines. A $100 bottle of wine on winebid, for me, is actually about $124. That is the actual value. Which would not help me with my issue #2 above.

Just ranting a bit.

I think its still a hobby for you unless you are thinking about wine all day long which is what I use to do about 15 years ago. I don’t think it really matters how many bottles you have, its more about how much you are consumed by learning, talking, tasting, and possibly wanting/or already working in the wine industry. That might not even be OCD but more of a calling.

An interesting read started by an interesting dude.

I think there may be a correlation between the number of times I check WB each day and the not so healthy level of OCD-ness of this “hobby” of mine

I thought that there was a thousand bottle minimum to be in the OCD club.

This is NOT an example of clinical OCD. OCD behavior for the afflicted, be it obsessions and/or compulsions, is not ‘pleasurable’, as it seems that your wine collecting hobby may be. Could wine collecting be your way of ‘dealing with’ some strong emotions, such as fear or loneliness? Absolutely. Whenever I’ve gotten ‘bitten’ by the wine-purchasing ‘bug’, I’ve had to to ask myself, “What am I not facing right now?”

Re: Value. The ‘Value’ of a particular bottle can range from full replacement cost (so say either auction hammer with all fees and delivery costs included) or what you could get if you chose to sell the bottle (so auction hammer minus all the selling fees the auction house charges). So ‘Value’ is a wide spread based on whether you’re a buyer, an aggressive buyer, a seller or an aggressive seller. Hard for CT or anyone else to use one number to encapsulate all these possible streams.

A full cellar?

I’m between a one and two. But a few things in three resonate.

I am definately using this hobby as a crutch to not face some issues though.

Never stopped me.

Joe, what you have to keep in mind is that $10K is long since spent. Worrying about is like me staring at the plantation shutters I was talked into installing throughout my house years ago and thinking about how that could have financed my first boat!

Couldn’t have expressed it better.

You have a second boat?

Im looking at off site storage. Looked at domaine but the problem is that i dont live in the city so it is not like i would usually go there for any of their events. Plus it is a bit of a drive. Trying to find something in the north suburbs. Closest i can get right now is chicago wine storage which is still in chicago but closer. Price is right though.

Joe, solution is simple. If you have a house, dig a hole in the ground. Then install 5 times as many racks as you think you will need for storage. When you fill these up with 500 bottles, start stacking the cases on the ground. Periodically start rooting around in half filled styro shippers for that lost bottle of 1999 Spanish Grenache that you knew you had somewhere. Begin hiding all wine receipts from your spouse/significant other, preferably in a second charge card account that is under an alias. Better yet, start paying cash…Then calculate that your daily average consumption should about allow you to have 3x your expected lifespan in wine drinking capacity.

At that point you will have a lot in common with 95% of the Berserkers community.

It’s not OCD if all your friends think you are normal.

That last part is probably true. I worry about how much i may drink though. Not so much about how many bottles i have. I do have a house but no spare room until the kids grow up and move out. And i am unfortunatly single. Widower. So i dont much worry about receipts.

Dennis wins.

Me too.

correction

THEN get an offsite

At that point you will have a lot in common with 95% of the Berserkers community.

It’s not OCD if all your friends think you are normal. >

Joe,

I will say that Domaine Wine Storage in the city is awesome and so are all the people there! It is great to be among other collectors and have a resource for questions…they also organize tastings in the evenings. To have travel from the northern burbs in this city would be quite a stretch.

Have you checked out whether the local Binny’s has storage available? I had no idea the one at Clark/Halsted did until I was talking to one of the guys there and he mentioned it. Not sure how they are as far as service.

I started with one storage section and now have doubled it within two years. I have stacks of wine books and seem to read nothing but these days. I too often feel it is a compulsion but it is an enjoyable one where I learn about history, culture and people as well.

Mike