I found myself in a slightly different situation a few years back; due to certain reasons I couldn’t drink alcohol at all (I was about 35 at the time). I contemplated selling all/most of my wine, as I wasn’t sure how long that state would last and it was honestly somewhat depressing coming home to a couple of large Eurocaves I couldn’t touch. But now after a few years I can drink again, and I’m glad I didn’t sell. And now my bottles have a few more years on them
Unless you want to spend the money you could get from selling the wine on something you’re more passionate about, I wouldn’t be in a rush.
it never hurts to unload a few things that are nearing the end of their likely enjoyable time. that still leaves you with plenty in years to come if/when passion returns, and makes it a little easier on the bank account to spring for as much Muscadet as you want in the meantime.
i always think the spreading the love around with friends is a nice touch too.
I generally agree with what you say, with one exception. A lot of people start out very excited about wine and buy a bunch of big “hit you over the head wines” that have real appeal to newer wine drinkers. Over time, their enthusiam for these wines fade, and they go for more subtle wines - like Muscadet. The issue with waiting is that time often is not kind to these big wines - they often do not age well. So, there could be a cost to waiting if the wines he would sell are of a type where values go down over time. Likely not an issue if the cellar has a lot of classic Bordeaux in it (I see he calls himself a Bordeaux nut), but I think this is worth asking.
I think the OP has to answer for himself whether it is his interest in wine that is fading or his interest in the types of wines he has been buying has been fading. The fact that he calls himself a Bordeaux nut hints at the former but the interest in wines like Muscadet hints at the latter. Don’t know what makes up his wine cellar, etc., but is it possible that the interest in wine is maturing, not fading? The OP has to answer this for himself.
I took the OP’s tastes to be more along the Bordeaux lines as he did call himself Bordeauxnut in his signature (as you noted). But you are correct, of course; if much of his cellar is full of, say, recent vintages of Pavie or cult Napa cabs and his tastes have evolved, I’d certainly sell some or many of those.
I agree with much of the above advice…it depends on whether you no longer enjoy wine or no longer enjoy your wine. I realized years ago that Bordeaux did not float my boat and I sold it all off, and now my cellar is almost entirely Burgundy. If your wine is in no danger of fading and, like Bordeaux, will hold its value and you think it may be a temporary disinterest, you can take your time in selling it off. If you have wines that have no reliable track record for aging, like the cult cabs and most domestic wines, sell it off now.
My experience with bringing wine home from an offsite storage is that the process itself can rekindle excitement a bit in itself. A bit of a rediscovery of what has been hidden and now you can be more spontaneous with pairings and find some of those wines that are in the perfect state at the perfect moment for the perfect pairing.
I also drink a lot more Burgundy than Bordeaux. I pretty much always like good Bordeaux, but my interest in it gets more intense and less intense at different times. I have on occasions sold Bordeaux that really is not in accordance with my tastes (wines of more modern style and 2003s for example) and at other times bought wines more in accord with my tastes.
I remember you from my time on Squires’s board, and maybe even Robin Garr’s before that. My tastes haven’t changed. My cellar is mostly classic Bordeaux with a good dose of Rhones, red Italians, and some Sauternes and Germans thrown in for good measure. Aside from becoming sugar-phobic of late, I don’t have any regrets. My issue is more related to the transition I’ve made to CT where I don’t hang in a wine circle any longer.
I really appreciate all of the advice. I’m leaning toward selling off a little and finally building a cellar so that I can move my wine back home. I finally bought a coravin and I suspect that plus proximity to my collection will rekindle some lost love for the hobby. Now I just need to find a few wine geeks to share with.
Hope all is well with you- I remember you from forums of old.
At 44, I have been through a preliminary version of the process you are considering now- plus in my appraisal work I have often dealt with people looking to downsize for a number of reasons.
In your original post you noted getting as much happiness from an off-the-shelf wine as a “gem”, and I see from the last post that you are not in a regular tasting group.
I have come across these sentiments, and similar, many times- and for my part I think those are good reasons to go ahead and do some trimming.
FWIW- you are approaching this like most everyone I know who has been through the same thing. No one ever gets rid of everything. But what they do is determine the amount of physical space they want to devote to wine (most give up offsite storage for a start, some convert DIY wine rooms back into living areas and buy a wine storage cabinet), and then cut down the collection to something that fits that space.
And the biggest consideration is when they are drinking nicer wine, and what wines they have best suit those settings and the types of food they like. I do not think I have ever had someone say something like “I am going to keep all the first growths and sell the rest” or “I am going to sell whatever is worth at least $XX per bottle and keep the rest”. They instead consider what they might regret getting rid of later- and that often ends up being a shorter list than they originally feared.
