Berserkers,
It’s been two years since last I checked up on my cellar composition and this seems to be turning into a bit of a bi-annual thread so here we go. The percentage on the left is my current 2014 cellar composition and the one on the right is what it was in 2012. Have a look at my percentages and notes and feel free to post your own composition and comments:
14% German Riesling – Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese (7%)
13% Italian Passitos, Reciotos, Vinsantos (15%)
12% Alsace (includes VTs and SGNs) (3%)
9% Sauternes (6%)
8% Vintage Ports (6%)
8% Icewines (14%)
5% French Fortifieds (4%)
5% Late Harvests (7%)
4% Aussie stickies (4%)
4% French Loire (4%)
3% Fruit wine (including iced fruit wine and iced ciders) (7%)
3% TBAs (5%)
3% Tokajis (1%)
3% Ratafia/Pineau/Angelica
3% Tawny Ports (5%)
3% Sherries (4%)
2% Fortified Muscats (3%)
2% Rhone (nil)
1% Madeiras (2%)
1% Marsalas (nil)
Some notes, thoughts and observations:
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Cellar increased from 298 to 370 bottles
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Biggest single gain was Alsace wine which quadrupled from 3% to 12% makeup of my cellar, indicative of just how much I’ve flipped for the stuff
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German Riesling was next doubling from 7% to 14%
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Sauternes went up by a third from 6% to 9%
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Icewine took a steep drop from 14% down to 8% due to less purchasing even as I consume bottles up
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Fruit Wine which I have championed many times on the board in the past dropped the most from 7% down to 3% losing more than half of its importance to the overall cellar, somewhat indicative of how hard they are to acquire unless you go out to wineries that produce them; this said, I did consume over a case of the stuff over the past two years
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Two new categories made their way into my collection this year – Marsala and French Rhone
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Rhone is also the only categorically and unequivocally dry wine category in my entire collection
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Vintage Ports rapidly outpaced their brethren Tawny Ports whereas they were much more equal two years ago with only one percentage point of difference; mostly due to too much older Vintage Port at good prices available compared to Tawny Ports and my preferences towards 30 Year Old blends and colheitas which has made my purchases of the latter very picky
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Aussie Stickies and Loire wines showed no variation in overall composition as just enough new bottles were acquired to keep their overall importance steady
Interestingly, I was this close to adding a new category to the collection this year – Amarone. A whole slew of great ones came into the LCBO earlier this year.
The only thing that stopped me from buying up a bunch of them and getting that category started was that the 2011 Vintage Ports made it onto the shelves this summer and I decided to chase after those instead. Because, you know, nothing says refreshment during the long hot summer months more than a high-alcohol fortified red wine best served at room temperature. Actually, I shouldn’t mock, if they had done that during winter they would all be sold out so I’m kinda glad they did it this summer instead.