Hard to believe I had been buying from Rhys for 14 vintages. I really enjoy the wines most of the time, but I have a ton of them.
Today I hit the “unsubscribe” link, and ended it. Nothing against Rhys, as they were the fifth winery that I unsubscribed year to date, but they felt like one that was a big deal.
More to come in 2023, but this felt like a milestone in cutting down the $$$ spent on wine.
Interesting. I’m in the exact same position - with Rhys and other mailing lists. I just have too much wine. So, time to start cutting.
Yep. I have enough to last me until I am 75 if I buy zero from here. I have a plan, a real plan to drop purchases by about 90% before the end of 2023. We’ll see how I do.
How many lists are you on? I’m on 8 and I’m starting to feel overwhelmed…
Way more than that.
It’s not so much FOMO, as for most they are small businesses, and I like supporting them. Going to try to take it down to no more than 5 by mid-2023.
I know. It’s been hard for me to cut the cord on some. Ceritas, Arnot-Roberts, Enfield, D&R/Extradimensional, Liquid Farm, Rhys, Bedrock, Clos Saron, Wm & Mary, Greer, VHR. All great wines, passionate winemakers, but I acquired too much over the years. I think all I’ve kept are Ridge Montebello (which I should probably drop due to my age), Ultramarine and Kelley Fox, and small amounts of each.
Yeah I’m down to Macdonald and Kelley Fox with William and Mary a game time decision?
I’ve never been much of a list guy. I’m currently on 4, of which 2 don’t require you to buy. As long as I can offload my Ridge Monte Bello allocation (I currently sell it to a friend and I keep my membership), I’ll stay on that one. The other list, Sandar & Hem, is only one case per year.
However…
I just checked my calendar for 2022. I did 11 days of bottling (11th day next Friday) as well as 2 days helping a winery with sales when they decided to shut their doors. No, I’m not in the same league as Ken Zinns. I pretty much get paid a case or close to it for each bottling day. 80-90% (SWAG) are from wineries whose wines I like so there’s ~12 cases that have been added to my cellar this year. I don’t plan on stopping this activity in 2023.
But wait didn’t you know 2021 was the vintage of the century!
FIFY 
I hear ya! I have enough wine to float a battleship, but I see an offer, both from the higher-end lists I am on (Rhys, W&M, Greer, etc…) and also the discount sites (WipeSpies, Last Bottle, etc) read the description, and say “that wine sounds incredible, oh, what the hell, I’ll grab 6-bottles of that wine”…and so it goes…I have definetly showed my purchases this past year, but not enough…The other issue I have every year is BerserkerDay! There are so many awesome offers on BD that are too hard to pass up that I end-up buying tons of wine, both from producers I know and love (Riverain, Saunter, Vincent, etc…), but also from newer wineries that I am intrigued by and want to try their stuff…And then you add-on De Negoce, and…I need help…
As I often say “Hi. My name is David, and I have a buying problem.”
This site should be renamed “WineEnablers” 
Jus curious, Larry. Why do you stay on the Ridge list if you sell your allocation every year?
Slowly and steadily I’m cutting my lists back. 2020 was my last year buying Ridge, Rhys and Realm. 2021 was my last Littorai purchase. This year I still bought Beta, Occidental and Rivers-Marie. Next year? Not sure yet. I actually like - even adore - all these producers. I have plenty of wine, enough to last into my 70s, and my storage is overflowing.
Just had a troubling thought. What if I persist well into my 80s and can still drink the stuff? Dammit, better get another couple of storage lockers!
I definitely need to cut back in a big way. This year I bought from
Aeris
Beta
Kobayashi
Kinero/Royal nonsuch
Mt Eden
Linne Calodo
Turley
Bedrock
MacDonald
Turley will definitely go, and as much as I hate it, I should stop buying all the wines that need 10+ years of aging.
That way, I keep my Ridge membership for member-only events and other member benefits. This is the first year I’ve sold my pre-arrival allocation. It’s only four 375s. That friend doesn’t buy 375s as part of his allocation so he was quite happy to take mine.
I’m thinking of cutting Monte Bello. I have 12 vintages of it now, and I’ve opened almost no bottles of it. I do like it, but between the long aging needed and the cost, how much more do I really need?
That’s the same mental exercise I have been going through - how much do I own versus how much do I drink. Despite the fact that I drink a fair bit of Rhys, I still have like a metric ton of it. There’s no need for more.