Has anyone actually stopped buying wine?

WINE TALK
41

So no one had. Whoo. That’s a relief.

As Alan said, it’s the thrill of the hunt that really gets me. I’ve earned to fill my cart and then leave the page when I’m shopping on line. I keep doing that a few times before actually choosing to buy the wine. Seems to have cut my purchases by at least 20%. I still have some fun finding gems and putting together cases to get the mixed case discount, I just never get to drink those wines.

My plan is to soon be priced out of the markets I play in. It’s working really well, so in half a dozen years I’ll probably be buying the odd bottle of supermarket wine and nothing else! [whistle.gif]

42

If you want to clear some space in your cellar for new purchases so you can continue in the hunt, I’ll be happy to help you drink down your Barolo inventory.

43

Wow! That calculator is fantastic. My life expectancy comes up to 96. Now that gives me reason to continue buying!
I’m going to start hanging out in the Young and Spend-y Thread.

44

What about the heavy drinking factor? neener

45

I’m at 80. seems a little optimistic to me but I’ll take it.

46

If I were a heavy (or even moderate) drinker the consumption side of the equation would be more robust and I would still be buying. Fact is, I don’t drink anything (wine, beer, liquor) during the week. Usually a bottle with dinner Fri-Sat-Sun. And not always on Sunday.

That may change a bit when I no longer have to be up well before sunrise, but for now my buying problem was really a drinking probem. Not enough!

47

Define “stopped”
And “buying”. :slight_smile:

48

I stopped buying for the purposes of cellaring around 2005. I still buy plenty of daily drinkers (roses and whites mostly). I’ll buy one off bottles of champagne on a pretty regular basis. When looking for an aged red I dip into the cellar which has diminished by about 75% since it’s high water mark.

Basically I came to several conclusions, but one factor was involved in all my conclusions. It’s an expensive hobby and I have two kids and a desire to retire at a reasonable age. Add in that I have other hobbies that I love. I’m not willing to spend the time and/or money to compete with more serious collectors for the wines I love. And lastly, there is a bit of an obsessiveness to the chase (which admittedly is a lot of fun) that went away when I dropped off lists (both winery and retail).

I’m also lucky to have many great wine lover friends who are exceedingly generous.

49

I am in the exact same boat and in my mid 40’s. I have dropped off every list but Carlisle and Rhys and what I buy is down to a trickle. Priorities change…it is called life. I still love wine and have plenty to drink but my collecting days are pretty much over.

50

I’m down to Champagne and cayuse, after this year only Champagne

51

Neal Mollen wrote:
Fact is, I don’t drink anything (wine, beer, liquor) during the week. Usually a bottle with dinner Fri-Sat-Sun. And not always on Sunday.

Same here. Cutting back on wine purchases but not stopping. We bought some 2014 and 2015 Bordeaux, and continue to purchase from some mailing lists but buying much less than in years past. College tuition payments have also been a factor!

Thanks,
Ed

52

That would be some hard work. In reality I’ll be buying a new house in the next year or so, at which point I will consolidate the three cellars I currently have. There will be a lot of wine that is left by the wayside post consolidation. Low fills, odd single bottles, wines I haven’t seen in years and which are probably past peak. Sounds enticing I know, but the point is there will probably have to be a celebratory week to dispense with all those old bottles.

I will then need lots of help!

53

It told me I died six years ago.

54

Probably a result of this. [wow.gif]

55

Stand in line!!

56

Sorta…kinda

57

I have essentially stopped buying Burgundy (my first great wine love) as I find the prices unjustifiable for the Reds and even my careful purchases of whites have had horrendously high incidence of premox. Also, I already have plenty…

My primary focus now is Barolo and Barbaresco since I love the wines and the value is amazing. So I haven’t stopped but I have slowed down considerably.

58

At my age I have stopped buying Barolo and Barbaresco, my great passion. I have also stopped buying grand cru red Burgundy for the same reason. I selectively buy young white Burgundy at all levels. I now backfill when opportunities arise for older wines that I love. At the end of the day, I cannot totally stop buying wine. It is a luxury of having a large great cellar.

59

Yes, I did stop buying. In fact, I posted two different threads on closing off both my wine and spirits collection. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the seed for stopping occurred a couple of years ago when I bypassed the vaunted 2011 Porto vintage because the opinions of many wine lovers both in and out of the industry I respect felt they would quite literally not be ready in my lifetime and the time and money invested was much better spent getting older Portos that would be. Timing is everything in life, after all.

Basically, I decided at ~660 bottles of wine and ~50 bottles of varied spirits that there was no way I was going to be able to get through them in this lifetime due to my health-conscious lifestyle leaning towards more moderate consumption. And if it turns out I can convince my friends to drink and share more often and I am dead wrong about this, nothing stops me from starting another collection in my later years should I completely deplete the current collection.

I am very happy with what I’ve accumulated and love the fact that it literally takes me an hour to decide what bottle of wine I want to open because of all the available options. But as a single person without a wife and kids, I felt common sense had to take hold for both financial and space reasons. At some point, enough is enough and I’ve reached that point. The money spent on wine is also going to other interests which include building PCs for friends and family, martial arts, wine events and tastings around the city and travel. Hopefully lots of travel in the coming decade to – where else? – the various wine regions of Europe. So even though I won’t be buying actual bottles of wine, it’s not like I’m leaving the passion for it behind. It took the first half my lifetime to discover that passion and the second half is going to be spent pursuing it. I just don’t feel that more bottle accumulation is the way to go about doing it. At least not for the foreseeable future… which I’m measuring in bottle quantities, not years. [cheers.gif]

60

Stopped 100% when I turned 60 two years ago.