As I cull through my late father’s cellar I see an excess of daily drinkers of wine styles he rarely drank! He had close to 100 bottles of middling Burgundy. I had never seen him open a bottle of Burgundy. Never. My mother could not recall him ever doing it.
Daily drinkers are fine if you drink them. He went through close to 100 bottles of Crivelli Ruche over the last 8-10 years. He couldn’t keep it in stock. I blow through tons of Idlewild Flora & Fauna Red Wine & Selbach Riesling Halbtrocken. No reason not to buy a lot of them.
Can be, sure. Want to open at any time? Nope. I put special in quotes, as it can mean more than special occasion. I don’t want to drink serious wine all the time. I’m often not in the mood for it. I greatly value wines in the cellar that can have going in the background, that ask nothing of me.
Of course. I don’t want to open a lot of them at any time, but I wouldn’t be disappointed or upset if I did. I mean I’m not going to open up a ‘16 Brunello right now, but if I told a friend to go and select something out of my cellar, and he picked a ‘16 Brunello, I wouldn’t be upset
Interesting thread. I know others have said the same thing, but really the OP is overthinking it.
Cellar defenders? Defending from what? Who?
Special occasion wines? What kind of occasions? When?
One problem is that people save a special bottle but then they take it to some event where there are a few dozen people bringing their special bottles, none of which are really enjoyed on their own. That’s cool and I’ve participated in some of those but I’m decreasingly so inclined.
I guess I’ve been “collecting” longer than some folks, as I started in the 1990s entirely by accident. And entirely by accident, I now have a lot of Italian wines that are in really good shape. I also have a lot of wines that are probably past and will be turned into my vinegar collection.
But really, don’t worry so much about having a wine at its “peak”. If you listen to people talk about some wines, Burgundy for example, you’d be forgiven for thinking that “peak” lasts about five minutes.
It’s so often “Oh, this is good but it’s ever so slightly past - if only we could have tasted it four years ago.”
Alternatively, “Oh you can tell how much potential this has and it will be great in five years!”.
That way you can sound like you have something to say while really you are just spouting some vapid nonsense. However, if you do it with a very serious face and state it very gravely, you may become known as a wine expert! That opens up possibilities! You can become an influencer and go on Tik Tok and post stuff and you will be a respected wine expert!
OTOH, you can just enjoy your wine and if it’s too early for a bottle once in a while, so what. The point of having wine isn’t to add stress to life.
When I got into wine in the 1980s, I often was told to buy three bottles of any age worthy wine (assuming you weren’t buying by the case): one to try right away, one to try in its midlife, and one to try at its hoped for perfect peak. So of course at least one in three would be opened “too early,” but it was about having fun and following the wine through it’s stages of life. I agree that people way overstress the timing.
I know you’re a big fan buddy, but those are broad strokes to say that you won’t be disappointed by de Negoce. I only dipped my pinky toe in the water but bought what was supposed to be ‘some of the best wines that he ever sourced’…and they have been pretty disappointing. Prob worth what i paid, but just that.
I almost never buy anything by the case. It is far too easy to accumulate a massive number of bottles in a cellar this way. Say one is interested in 10 regions, with 4 producers per region. That is 480 bottles a year if buying in case quantity…which is almost a 2000 bottle cellar in 6 years at a consumption rate of 3 bottles a week.
The rule of thumb I try to go by:
Only buy the numbers of bottles that I can likely be bothered writing a proper tasting note for;
A short term wine: max 1 bottle purchase;
Generally try to stick to 3 bottles absolute max per wine;
One bottle for every 5 years needed in the cellar (so if a wine has 20 years of improvement in a cellar, then maximum 4 bottles);
No quaffers or “midweek wines” - save this budget for good auction purchases at deep discount.
Champagne is a exemption to the above. Also, if the price is “fall off the back of a truck”, then can buy more. I also have some favourites (eg Bartolo, G Rinaldi, Raveneau) where I get everything I can, but that would be obvious for everyone).
I have close to 20 years of wine in my cellar, so need to be fairly rigid and disciplined. I am also fairly narrow in terms of the regions and producers I buy, yet even so it is easy for the cellar to balloon out.
