Palates change, but so do moods. You have to be able to distinguish where you are on that spectrum.
I was able to recognize that my palate had drastically changed to a point where there was stuff I was 100% positive I would never enjoy drinking. So, I sold it on winebid.
Then there was stuff I decided “Well, I’m not in the mood to drink that right now, but maybe someday,” which I kept.
I think that’s more accurate, it’s a ‘mood’ - I don’t think it’s a permanent change. It’s always variable, changes all the time, I just am more aware of the differences now, I guess
I’m betting it’s permanent. The disdain for oak milkshakes doesn’t go away.
I went through what you did about 25 years ago.
If anything, I’ve become more anti-cab, not really interested in Bordeaux anymore unless it’s 20+ years old and not modern.
Not the ones I know and drink with. I’ll turn 69 at the end of the month. I joined my first tasting group in 1979. I despise that style of wine (SQN, Saxum and the like). I do drink a fair amount of CA wine (ESJ, Sandler, Sandar & Hem, Ridge), but those don’t fall into the overwrought, overripe paradigm.
I don’t think the portion of Todd’s cellar which he has monetarily cooled on are “oak milkshakes,” but I’ll let him clarify.
Yeah, definitely not
@J.Vizuete Took me a bit, sorry! I usually try to read a whole thread before commenting, which I haven’t had a chance to do in this case. So forgive me if I’m repetitive. And for some generalizations. And typos.
The basic answer for me is that I’m not worried about my tastes changing, leaving me with a cellar full of wine I don’t like anymore. I allow for the possibility it might happen, but my level of concern is pretty low. I’m also pretty confident I’m going to want to be married to Jonathan for the duration, though I know there’s a possibility my tastes could change. 
My level of confidence versus concern has to do with my own process over the years and what I’ve observed in others. First, to repeat a caveat I’ve always included when lauding case purchases: I don’t think anyone should start by buying only in quantities. I don’t think anyone needs to end up this way, either, but I really don’t think it’s a good way to begin for most people. Absolutely some time spent exploring is important. And tastes will change, for many or most of us. But I don’t think that needs to heavily influence how you buy, once you’ve established parameters of preference.
A bit on my own journey – my tastes have certainly evolved. When I started seriously “collecting” wine (quotes because it began as a few bottles huddled in a closet hoping something great might happen), I got excited by what I read about cult cabernets from CA and, later, some those early ooze monsters from Australia. I owned 01 Integrity at one point! But after a few years of exploration, I moved away from that style, and started on the inexorable journey to, well, where I am now. I drank, sold, or gave away the remaining bottles of wine from my earlier days that I no longer enjoyed. Granted, I didn’t have ton of them, but I felt very confident that I wasn’t going to go back. They didn’t go well with food (more on that below) and they made my palate very tired, which wasn’t fun for me.
So I do know about tastes changing, and it is very common. The question I would ask is two-fold: at what point in your development has the change happened? And how have your tastes changed? Some changes, to me, are more likely just fancy or current crush on something, which I think might be passing, while others are true palate evolution. If your tastes are changing after a good deal of exploration and development, I think that’s more ikely to be permanent, or close to it. Also, while tastes can evolve in any direction, I think it’s more likely that true evolution will be away from high alcohol, highly extracted wine rather than towards it.
For me, the last 15 years, at least, my focus has been on high acid, moderate alcohol wines that are extremely food friendly. I have a lot of Riesling, champagne, nebbiolo, Loire whites, and red and white burgs, plus a smattering of mature, classically styled Bordeaux, Rhones, Tuscans, Loire reds, and old CA cabernets. These wines go with the food I eat, which is for me a driving force behind how I think about, buy and drink wine. I think these kinds of wines are objectively more food friendly than some others – not trying to tell people who to eat and drink together, just stating my strong opinion about food friendly wines. I don’t expect I’ll start eating differently, so I’m pretty comfortable with the idea that, as long as I want wine, I will want these kinds of wine. Within this incredibly broad stylistic category, I have a lot of variety and choice. Of course, it’s always possible that I’ll suddenly think 07 CdP is a great match with sushi. But I doubt it.
I buy age worthy wines in general, which helps me be comfortable with ebbs and flows within my cellar. We might forget about chenin for months at a time. Or go a year without pulling a Rhone. I’ve gone through periods where sangiovese doesn’t do it for me at all. Have gotten into a rut where we’re only drinking Riesling, champagne and red burgundy. I’m not worried about what’s sitting downstairs – it’s going to be fine for longer than I’m likely to ignore it.
Part of this lack of concern probably has to do with my emotional and mental landscape. I am not inclined to let fear of what might happen have undue influence on my choices and hobbies. For instance, when I got into cycling, I started with a very modest bike, rode it a lot, got a better one. Rode that one a lot. When I bought a MUCH better bike, and invested in some upgrades and gear, I had fleeting thoughts about “what if I get bored of cycling?” But I didn’t let that stop me. As it happens, I did move away from cycling. I now live somewhere it isn’t as easy, and it just doesn’t thrill me as much as it used to. I ride a lot less. I even skipped last season entirely. I feel a little guilty about having spent all that money on equipment that’s now just sitting there most of the time, but mostly I remember how much more enjoyable my time with the great bike was than it would have been if I’d decided not to invest, because I feared not sticking with it. Not a perfect analogy, I know.
As I’ve said before, I’m more worried about running out of things I love than I am about dying with too much wine. The same could be said for my tastes changing. I am pretty confident that some of all of my cellar is going to make me happy for the rest of my wine drinking life. If part of it doesn’t, that’s okay. I can sell it, give it away, or just know that I got a lot of pleasure from buying it and having it as an option.
This. Despite the fact that there is no more room for anything, I am glad I bought all that I did. While the total number is beyond anything remotely sensible, it ensures a decent sized stash of all the things I truly enjoy. Some of those are now totally priced out of reason, and if I hadn’t previously stocked up I would have no chance of getting them.
Thanks for your nuanced response I think your point about not going too deep before one has explored broadly really resonates. I feel largely the same way as you do, regarding food friendly wines and the long trajectory of my collection. As my cellar is pretty varied and I like to think “balanced” (whites/reds/sparklers, many young, and a few old wines in a multitude of categories), I’m actually more worried about losing interest in wine altogether than I am in a particular style no longer appealing. That could even happen for a decade or two and my hope is that most of my wines would be more interesting and better than they are not (who hasn’t wished for a fast forward button for some of their wines!) But were I to want or need to stop drinking entirely, I’m hoping that an admittedly cherry-picking approach with respect to producers will ensure that the cellar holds its value should that occur. It hasn’t in 15 years though, so I’m not too worried either.
I just finished reading this whole thread. Thanks to everyone for all the responses. I’m in my late 30’s and I have nightmares about this (mostly joking). My cellar isn’t big but it’s definitely 80% percent Burgundy. Hopefully my tastes don’t change too much. I don’t plan to buy less burg but I will try and start branching out a bit. Lately, I’ve been gravitating towards Beaujolais and natural wines for daily drinkers. But at the end of the day I still am most in love with Burgundy.
As I understand you saved a lot of time and money by arriving at mecca without the hardship journey
Don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone changing tastes from burg.
Think this is normal early on. I have collected for seven years now and replaced part of my collection a few times as I was still learning and found new things i just liked better. I still love trying new things, but i have found a few things i simply don’t get tired of now and focused my cellar on that.
Burgundy was absolutely one of the things i adored most early on. I still like it, but it is maybe 1% of my collection now. Sure if i had the money to fill my cellar with Coche-Dury i would do it. But i don’t. But most of the Burgundy i taste when people serve it for me is just okayish. I know i am probably a rare bird, but it happens 
A thought occurred to me that it could be when you’re opening what you used to enjoy…perhaps some of it has to do with cellar time changing the character of those wines? @Brian_Tuite had a great thread about popping corks to enjoy certain wines younger because that where the enjoyment was with those wines, for him.
I was thinking about this recently because we had a 2019 Bedrock Esola Vineyard and 2019 Limerick Lane last weekend and immediately was happy I didn’t wait 5 years. We felt the same about the 2018 Geyserville - loved it fresh and now I hope we like what it becomes as much over the next 5-10 years.
There are so many good ideas upthread on how to proceed (I like Noah’s because you can still have bottles to check in on as it suits you) and keeping a few things to share with others who enjoy those.
I find that I let others opinions influence my wines drinkability calendar more than I should. When I’m opening a Zin to pair with a burger or some BBQ I should be pulling something fresh and gulpable rather than tertiary/leathery/tobacco-laced. When I do it reminds me of why I loved Zin for in the first place. While there are some that really do show better after 5-10 years and beyond the majority are very enjoyable on the younger side.
I used to do that a lot and sadly sometimes still do. I think there’s a lot of wonderful wines that can age into even more wonderful wines. There are also just as many that are delicious when they are released, and while they can “age” they become something completely different from that delicious, young wine. It’s not always better, but rather just different. Whether someone likes that different wine is entirely personal.
FWIW this is mostly how I feel about Bedrock. I love the young wines. Yes they change with age, but I prefer virtually all of them young.
Many years ago, I gave up the pursuit of “cellar diversity.” Happy for others to chase that goal, but I know, and buy, what I like. At this point, my cellar is quite narrow and pretty much exactly what I want.
I do have some wines that seem destined for auction, but it is just too much bother; maybe my executor can take care of that for me.
I would put it similarly. All of the following I have probably said before, but I raise it again here because I find myself drifting away from Burgundy for all these reasons in combination.
I don’t find Burgundy (speaking Côte D’Or here) moves me more or more deeply than wines from regions (and grapes) I really enjoy - and in all of them it is particular producers and even then usually particular wines I like. So from this viewpoint and even more so when I taste (very expensive) Burgundy that is merely good to me (even putting the ones aside that are touted that I really don’t like) or that doesn’t move me to that higher plane, I question the price elevation of the whole region and the notion that Burg is the zenith of the wine world in many people’s minds. And two more points that are price related as well: the producers and wines I truly adore have gone beyond my means unfortunately, and the wines have become too expensive overall to be a region to explore above the most basic level of wines.
I also think attending La Paulee in New York several times accelerated this process. So many of the wines you taste there are just fine or not good, even from highly touted producers. (I haven’t done a visit to Burgundy or any other wine region directly in years, but we are fortunate to have large and small tastings in NY often.)
When you combine such factors, among others, it is not so hard to drift away from Burgundy.
This all resonates with me, including the drift. And one reason I buy an increasing amount of German Riesling is I find it fits as nice juxtaposition of what you said about tasting Burgs at La Paulee. Huge oversimplification here, but it’s like the highs are higher and the lows are higher with my favorite Riesling producers.