That could well be true, but there’s also a large extent to which people who aren’t part of the zeitgeist post far less about it than ones who are.
I would guess there are postings about a far lower percentage of Big California wines bought and consumed by WBers than wines that are fashionable on the board.
But I’m just guessing based on my observations about human nature. I can’t prove it and I could be wrong.
I do hear testimonials about people who migrate back to stronger / bolder flavored wines later in life as taste buds weaken.
Of course everything you say may well be true. But I don’t think there’s been a shortage of people who post about liking bigger CA wines and thinking that Italian wines taste like battery acid and Burgs are thin and weak, etc. - though maybe more in the old days on some of the other boards and less so here. A lot of winos start out with those tastes and stay that way forever, from what I can tell.
What there has been a shortage of, anecdotally and to my eye only, is people saying that they used to be really into Burg and Barolo but now they prefer big Napa cabs with lots of Parker points in the bottle.
I’ve heard the same saw about the faded taste buds and it makes sense, but I haven’t come across it too much in the wild - and I’ve been known to taste with some serious alter kakers.
Lots of good advice here. Whenever I hit a funk, I try to visit a region or a producer. Getting some fresh memories usually goes a long way towards rekindling the passion I had when I first fell for the wine. My first loves were Sonoma Pinot and German Riesling. After half a decade, I kinda stopped drinking either. I might have thought I was done with them. But I got back into those places and my appetite for those flavors (and those memories) came roaring back.
I find that there are some wines that I used to love but can no longer sip on, I have to consume them with an appropriate food. Are you pairing them with a meal, or just sitting down for a glass?
Of all the good advice presented in this thread, I rather like Noah’s take the best. Do it in tranches if possible - a gradual evolution toward the cellar you have grown to enjoy, little by little.
When I am reading berserkers at night on my phone, and my wife turns out the light, sometimes she’ll tease me by asking if there is a “wine-mergency”, as in, “oh no! did the 1982 chateau X finally turn a corner?!? Is it ready tonight?? Well get out your Durand honey, we don’t want to miss this!”
The point is, we aren’t in a hurry. Play the long game and get there bit by bit. A lot of that Ridge and Carlisle I suspect you are holding may turn out to be more interesting to you later than it is now. But if there is something that just gives you no rise or joy when you look at it, send that out or give it away! Some ennui with this hobby might be a good thing from time to time.
@Sarah_Kirschbaum has explained her approach to case purchases well in multiple other threads, and she knows what she enjoys. I’d be curious as to her insight here, but wanted to mention that it’s one scenario where buying small quantities of varied wines might be an advantage. If I wanted to liquidate all my Napa cabs, that would only be about 2 cases worth.
Lastly I’ll mention that learning/visiting or studying intently about a wine (a form of investment) may draw your interest back to it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also…
Downsizing and becoming an empty nester quickly changed many priorities.
Only popping about 4-6 bottles a month, I want to drink better stuff
Also while moving last year, did I want to move a few hundred bottles I know I’m never going to drink. Add in the new need for offsite storage, did I want to pay to store them.
At worst, I could re:buy some of them but would only be a few. Don’t need 6 x 8 year verticals of the same wine anymore
Another thing I’m noticing personally is that I’m slightly migrating back to the middle from having enjoyed really lean, racy reds for many years. I suppose the Cab interest goes hand in hand with that. In the old days in California, they all picked at 23-23.5 Brix pretty consistently, which in straight conversion is around 13.5-14% ABV. There’s something to be said for that range, it seems like everything converges elegantly there - acid, flavor, tannins, aromatics.
Yes, a few reds can deal with 12-12.5% (and I think PN needs to be in that region, it’s not at all built for higher ABV’s), but the majority do well right in that balanced middle spot.
I went on a Napa cab kick. I came to realize I just don’t enjoy it enough relative to my first love, Pinot. So I sold almost all of it on WineBid. Problem solved.
A similar trajectory here. After settling for Burgundy (and Riesling, and Northern Rhone and now Loire) some craving for Bordeaux has reemerged. But we drink them like beer, without agonizing over labels and vintages, just forthe claret kick!
As long as Jen still digs the Cabs, go crazy on your Chambolle journey.
I am in a similar situation right now as well. For me its Barolo. What I know is when presented with an amazing Cabernet Sauvignon in my glass it all comes back to me why I fell in love with it over 40 years ago so there’s that.
I gave away scores of bottles of Barbaresco a few years ago. Mostly Produttori from 1999-2014. It’s not that inwould never drink a Barbaresco if offered one but I knew I had no interest in initiating the situation.
I’ve been on similar journey and have done some needed thinning. I’m a right brain guy so I didn’t approach it methodically or rationally.
I took the Marie Kondo approach. I looked at a bottle in cellar and asked if it brought me joy — either the thought I’d love to drink this right now or I’m so happy to have this for down the line or for trophy purposes (my baser self ).
It’s amazing how quick and binary the process went.
The heart knows what it wants.
The first to go were areas that do nothing for me, eg Rhone whites. Then producers that I thought made me a cool kid but really do nothing for me, eg Metras bojo.
But here’s the key thing. I still like the idea of my cellar (about 1k bottles) being a bit of a world Atlas. I keep 3 bottles of “the best” in various major categories that do speak to me, eg white Rioja, just in case the mood hits or I’m making a specific dish, eg seafood paella.
So I’m still “overweighted” in Burgundy and that’s OK, that’s my jam. But I can still dabble elsewhere when need be.
@ToddFrench given my semi-absence I didn’t see this. I think this is a really interesting post. I have this experience fairly frequently but it ebbs and flows. I drink a series of wines, often reasonably priced and solid, and while I have some enjoyment, I’m rarely excited. I find that when that happens, I start buying fewer but more expensive bottles. While I then really dig some of those wines, I begin to have oh shit moments where I get uncomfortable with what I’m spending on a per bottle basis. Then I slow down, start buying more reasonably priced wines, and reset the cycle.
What I’ve started doing is buying wines in threes (with some exceptions), so that I don’t sit on a bunch of wine if I don’t really love it. That also results in a pretty big variety of wines across regions and vintages. I’ll also buy a legitimate mixed case, especially for something like champagne, so that I have that intellectual investment in trying a set of something new over the next series of weeks. That spares some of the same “ho hum, another bottle of X”. There is some excitement in new.
I’ve been amused a bit by the traffic in our text thread on that because I know you’re not really a Napa guy at all and I probably have more of that background than you (rather, I know I do). But I’ve shifted really pretty firmly away from Napa, with a few exceptions) and tend only to buy when I take trips there, which are frequent enough for various reasons that I don’t ever “run out” of really good bottles. But I maybe pull two or three a year for personal consumption on a whim without company over. The rest are opened with company, for tastings, etc. Beta-Jasud was a big yen for me given its description, the praise it was receiving on the board, and from whom. It was on of my most disciplined no-buys in a long while. I had to remind myself that even if lights out, it wasn’t going to be a buy that I’d really want to pounce on for drinking purposes for like 15 years. And if I’m inclined to wait that long, would I prefer burgundy or something else? So I passed, but each time an offer email hits my inbox I struggle.
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