Bright Shiny Objects

WINE TALK
#1

Am I the only one with this problem…

Putting aside truly high-end age worthy wine, I have a bunch of “daily drinker” wine in my cellar; stuff that probably needs to be drunk within 3 to 5 years of release. But when I go to look for a bottle, I’m always attracted to the newest thing that just arrived in the mail (or from the store). So I end up drinking that while other bottles continue to age (perhaps longer than they should). I know I need the discipline to drink the older stuff first, but I somehow always talk myself into trying the newest acquisition.

I know there’s no help for me, but I’m hoping that I’m not the only one afflicted with this problem?

#2

I am guilty of being a baby killer when new releases hit.

#3

And youve arrived at the reason why I stopped buying “daily drinkers”

#4

opposite problem, of a sort: I want to put more age on nearly everything in our cellar, and often find it difficult to find a baby I’m willing to kill – this is a weekly occurrence that isn’t getting any easier for me. [help.gif]

#5

Two thoughts:

  1. short agers aren’t daily drinkers and it’s easy to say ‘Oh I’ll let that go a bit more’ What I did when buying wine to age was really buy daily drinkers - $15ish wines that showed character, went well with the food I was doing and that really weren’t all about aging. Grillo from Sicily, reds from SW France and the Jura, Muscadet (which CAN age, but… ), Kerner from the Alto Adige, etc. Some of these might be better 2-5 years in, but they’re lovely on release an at $15ish, you don’t have the “I spend $N, I should let it age a bit to peak” thing. Keep no more than about a case on hand so you don’t end up sticking them in the cellar.

  2. Offsite storage. It’s enforced self-discipline which is what we’re really talking about here. It’s not that you physically can’t restrain yourself, it’s that you don’t have the discipline to… a common thing among wine geeks [basic-smile.gif] . So, move the stuff you really want to age 10+ years offsite.

#6

That’s my problem as well. Everything nice I own is way too young, so I need lots of cheaper good daily drinkers to let them rest. I’ll probably be set in about 5 years…unfortunately this means I’ll need a cellar about 3 times bigger than it is currently…or offsite storage. Actually…why am I even storing my daily drinkers(mostly CH) in the cellar?

#7

+1 here. I do not like going into the basement on a weeknight and grabbing a $50+ bottle of wine. I will say that some nice and deep discounted wines (like the Syrah from Hein and Miller sold through here) are helping me to address the problem.

#8

Stuff that comes in that I don’t want to drink yet, like the Sojourn and Rhys deliveries that just came in, I don’t even take out of the shippers. I just stick the boxes right on a shelf in my cellar. A year or two from now when I’m ready to think about drinking them, I’ll unpack them and put them in bins. Anything I want to hold for 5+ years goes straight to offsite storage.

#9

The key to solving this problem is to buy much more than you drink; once you have piles of wines (racks are completely full and wine is everywhere) then you will realize that there are interesting wines that you bought a few years ago that might be fun tonight. Simple discipline, buying say three times what you consume, will solve this problem in a year or two.

#10

I certainly suffer from this condition as well. I’ll buy a case or two of something as a daily drinker and just get bored with it and want something new to try. Case in point, a couple cases of 2007 Cotes du Rhone that I never feel like opening after having 6 or 8 bottles.

I’m not sure there is a cure that doesn’t involve buying more wine. I’m considering buying less bottles in large quantities to keep the variety up.

#11

I fell victim last night…

Opened a 2007 Larkmead Firebelle.

#12

Yep. Opened one myself last week. What did you think?

#13

For being 2/3 merlot, I really enjoyed it with a seared veal rib chop and duck fat taters. I think that it is still primary and needs a couple of years to really shine…at least for me. Merlot from that far up Valley can sometimes be green to me, but Larkmead nailed the 2007’s across the board.

#14

Randy Neugebauer was actually yelling that to Bill on his cell phone on the House floor. Whoops.

#15

I too no longer cellar “daily drinkers”. I buy these as I am in the mood for them. Works out much better for me. I really only cellar a wine if I think it will improve with age. For a wine Im “cellaring” Im pretty good at leaving it alone.

#16

This is a problem that, IMO, gets solved over time as you build your collection. Assuming your collection has a positive growth rate, you’ll eventually notice that some of those bottles that were bright shiny new objects are now perfectly aged with a lovely patina.

It also helps if you buy heavy of an allocation… even if that means that you pass on other highly desirable allocations. Just throwing out names as examples, but buy heavy on Maybach and pass on Scarecrow, or vice versa. Buy heavy on Corra, but pass on Futo. Whatever. Having just a couple of bottles of a lot of different collectible wines means that if you give in to that early temptation, you won’t have the bottles to try down the road.