Empty slots = death

[Dav3_Dyr0ff]

[Jim_Friedman]

My cellar is about 40%full. It looks odd but I still have too much wine. I stopped buying about 10 years ago.

I once told a friend we were on the back 9 of life. He told me he could see the clubhouse.

[Frank_Murray_III]

Wonderful post, Neal. I still remember when you sent me the Switchback Ridge wines way back in 2016, to be used for the Falltacular silent auction. I appreciated your generosity, your sharing then as you did here.

Several years ago my own cellar was full–no slots at all, and wine had started to get bumped into the garage fridge. Now, all those years later, my same wine cabinet has lots of ‘death’, with almost half the cabinet’s slots empty. What we value changes.

Keep enjoying, and keep sharing. Look how many people your sharing here has touched here, me included.

[Jonathan_Loesberg]

I got my nephew and his partner interested in wine. I consider any bottles I leave a gift to them. I am reducing my cellar, though at a stately pace. I’m happy to think that if it’s too stately, it’s more wine for them.

[Chuck_Miller]

@Ken_V

Save your empties and put them in those slots.

Or just go to Trader Joes and pick up cases of Two Buck Chuck. For a few dollars per slot, you can cheat death, and impress others with how much wine you have.

[Fred_Bower]

I am in no way suggesting that I have more time left amongst the living than you, but empty slots = room to unbox something that is on the floor in front of the rack at this address. It doesn’t have the succinct catchiness of “death” but is a more life-affirming perspective.

And this is gold:

2. Now that I am superannuated, most of that wine is ready to drink. It’s fantastic! Whereas I used to pull bottle after bottle, rejecting each as not ready (or “too good for a Thursday night”), now pretty much everything I put my hand to is entering or right in its wheelhouse. And (for the most part) I no longer think about the day of the week or the occasion; it is always the right night to open a “good” bottle.

[Dav3_Dyr0ff]

Does this mean that all slots full plus box after box piled on the floor in front of the racks = immortality?

Asking for a friend.

[GeorgeHs]

Neal - I really like your post. I have often joked that my wife and I needed so many bottles to have 1 good bottle per week until we die. When I think about mortality and seeing my own collection eventually shrink as my time here shrinks, it makes me think about living in the moment. I am glad you grab any wine you like - even if it is a Thursday. Very meaningful thoughts you shared here. Let me know if you are ever in Portland, and I will be happy to share one of my bottles with you.

[JohnCummings]

@Neal.Mollen - As others have said, thank you for theses wonderful thoughts, words to ponder to be certain.

[David_Glasser]

@Neal.Mollen

Now that I am superannuated, most of that wine is ready to drink. It’s fantastic! Whereas I used to pull bottle after bottle, rejecting each as not ready (or “too good for a Thursday night”), now pretty much everything I put my hand to is entering or right in its wheelhouse. And (for the most part) I no longer think about the day of the week or the occasion; it is always the right night to open a “good” bottle.

Ain’t that the truth!

Those decades of patience are paying off. One of the additional little joys of retirement is that any night is a special wine night, and most of those bottles we’ve been sequestering are special.

It was a little tough to stop buying, but a quick trip to the cellar washes away the pangs.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

I deny being superannuated, although I suspect that I am at least 6 more years annuated that you. My wine collection is also reaching a level of maturity where I no longer have to struggle to find wine that is ready. BUT that’s where the similarity starts to fall off.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Having faced a conversation with my oncologist that started with me saying, “OK doc, just deliver the death sentence and get it over with,” to which he responded, “No, you will outlive me because you have managed to dodge the worst bullet in the magazine,” I decided that I will continue to rage.

My advice to the rest of you out there is to enjoy your collection, and maybe buy a little less if your kids don’t want to inherit it, but do not succumb to the threat of death. I do not focus on the bottom of the hill I may be sliding down, and you shouldn’t either. Pay it forward and open great wine every chance you get, but don’t think about the fact that it may be your last one. That’s just depressing and if you drink wine to reduce depression, STOP. That’s no fun. AND if you want to see how it’s done, come here:

Reverse Berserkerfest in the New York Burbs - Saturday, August 17, 2024 - Now with details

If you want to know the history of why, you can read the lower half of this post, but if you are just forward looking, here are the details. Following the lesson of Mike Grammar’s periodic cellar cleanings and the fact that the biggest burden of a Berserkerfest at home is cooking ten hours of meals for a bunch of Berserkers, we are going to have a reverse Berserkerfest in our back yard in White Plains on August 17, 2024, with Sunday the 18th as a rain date if there are so many people that we ca…

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

And I should add - - - My uncle, who had been collecting wine since the 1970s, bought a case of 2009 Montrose at Calvert and Woodley as a future. He refused to drink a bottle with me. He died about 8 years ago, never having opened the wine. On his death bed, he assigned to me the job of dividing his collection among his nieces and nephews, since he had never married and had no children. Only then did I realize the importance to him of not opening a bottle. It allowed him to ignore the inevitability of death. He could always say that he needed to live longer so he could eventually drink that wine. I feel the same way. If that creates a delusion, I see nothing wrong with it.

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

Unfortunately, it didn’t work

[Anton_D]

@Dav3_Dyr0ff

Does this mean that all slots full plus box after box piled on the floor in front of the racks = immortality?

Asking for a friend.

So far, so good here.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

@David_K_o_l_i_n

Unfortunately, it didn’t work

I don’t know. When he died, he was the most senior employee at the IRS and considered to be one of the world’s greatest experts on US taxation of international transactions, notably including FIRPTA (which he wrote) and the repatriation tax. IMHO, you can’t live a great life if you focus on dying. You also don’t have time to plan your annual New Years Day Champagne Bash, which featured a case of DP for New Years’ Day 2017, the year he died.