2018 Wine Goals

WINE TALK
41
  • 1, but I made some headway at least in 2017.
42

  1. Have hardening of the impulses.

  2. Help Dennis drink more Rousseau!

43

  1. Quit most if not all of our wine clubs

  2. Focus our buying more toward N Rhone, German Riesling, and Champagne

  3. Backfill French wine that is more in its drinking window, buy less current release domestic wine

  4. Find an Italian wine we actually like

  5. Try and drink at least as much as we purchase (I have no confidence we can outpace our buying but ending the year flat would be great!)

44

Only buy if needed. Reduced income and 1 college bound child (and 1 still to go) make it inevitable .

45

[cheers.gif] One problem here far as I can tell…

46

Nice, Scott. I have been thinking about this all day, and will add mine shortly. But can you clarify #2? Do you want to focus on fewer high quality bottles? Or focus on fewer bottles, with the ones you purchase being of higher quality?

47

I love this. Can you define “if needed?”

48

I am enjoying this thread. Can you explain what a “lower remodel” is? flirtysmile

49

I have been thinking about this all day, too. Sharpening my professional pencil.

50

1 - drop all but 2 or 3 of my winery direct mailing lists. sucks to leave some good lists, but i’m over-allocated on young new world wines
2 - backfill mature vintages of burgundy, n. rhone and piedmont (yes, this will be expensive)
3 - figure out my Champagne preferences and strategy, as my current purchases are all over the map
4 - focus purchases on on higher value per bottle wines
5 - stick to my 2018 wine goals!

51

As a consumer:

  1. Cellar more Champagne. The merchants who I purchase from will be happy, indeed.
  2. Learn more about Champagne. I love it but know little about it.
  3. Locate some of the older or more obscure bottles in my cellar, and open them. Whenever.
  4. Buy less Pinot Noir. I have enough and would prefer to drink Champagne, Cabernet, and Chardonnay that pleases me.

As a winery:

  1. Donate more to charitable causes. Because it feels good, and it is a good thing to do.
  2. Reduce my Library. I was told years ago that I would never have enough of my older stuff, but with more years in the business, the bottles add up.
  3. Replant unproductive vines. AXR-1 vines, although few, are not productive.

And one that spans my two entities: Attend or arrange more wine dinners. Because it’s fun!

52

Goal is to only buy cabs next year. Have way too much Zin in the cellar. Will be almost impossible to buy 0 bedrock, Carlisle and ridge though so I fully expect to fail.

53

As for #2 under ‘As a consumer’; sign up for Brad Baker’s Champagne Warrior newsletter. His notes are also integrated with CellarTracker which I find to be extremely helpful.

54

[quote=“Merrill Lindquist”][/quote]But can you clarify #2? Do you want to focus on fewer high quality bottles? Or focus on fewer bottles, with the ones you purchase being of higher quality?

Focus on fewer bottles, which are of higher quality. And they must all be <$30. [kidding, I wish!]

55

Sell everything and invest in bitcoins. Too late?

Bruce

56

That would be tough. I wish I could put out a bottle at under $30. But I can’t.

But as we were discussing (I think last week on another thread) does a lower price make a wine taste better? I’m pretty absolute on this. But there is a point, I think most of us agreed, where the buck and the palate align. Kind of like that with a lot of things! Hotels, clothing, food items…you name it. How much does the item in question please you, and what are willing to pay for it? Kind of simple, when you think about it. pileon

57

Two varieties / geographies which can serve up a superlative wine experience at a really good value are German Rieslings and California Zinfandels. It’s extremely satisfying to drink the best of something at <$50 per bottle.

58

I don’t have a wine cellar nor offsite storage . I have around 50 bottles in a kitchen wine fridge and around 25 in the basement . I live in the metro NYC area and my basement isn’t too cool. That’s the backstory .

So the Gronk lover wants to know how this Jets fan defines “if needed”???

  1. Do we have Rose and other summer wines as summer approaches ?

  2. Do we have 1 normal size bottle of some sort of bubbly wine?

  3. Do we have at least 1 single serving of some sort of bubbly wine?

  4. Do we have at least 1 bottle of daily drinker Pinot Noir?

  5. Do we have some sort of daily drinker of Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot ?

  6. Do we have at least 1 nicer bottle of Pinot Noir and 1 nicer bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon ?

If any of those conditions are not met, that means they are needed .

59

I think that is a great explanation. Trust me, not everyone here on this board has an extensive cellar. I am assuming EMH Black Cat is one of your nicer bottles of Cabernet. Thanks for your vote of confidence! And if I am wrong, well, I am wrong.

60

Have regular dinner parties at home once a month and drink at least 6 bottles at each.

Convince my wife to have another berserkerfest in the back yard and forbid people to bring any wine that they leave at my house unopened.

Bar code label everything in the cellar.