On my white burg Chablis days, which are frequent, I ignore Raveneau and GC Dauvissat, and pick the oldest Chablis I can find to stay a step ahead of the mox monster.
My cellar is 80% Zinfandel. I drink whatever my spreadsheet says needs to be consumed based on its drinking window. Those two facts make the decision pretty easy.
Sort of like the self-driving car. Enjoy the ride, don’t sweat the decisions.
Phil Jones
Frankly, I think this is one of the weaknesses of CT. As I browse thru my cellar, I want a simple and quick way to flag wines that might be on my short list, just for this browsing session. Then, bring up my short list to review and select. Yes, I understand that you can create a wish list and tag wines, but doing this is cumbersome, and when you are done, you have to remove wines and/or delete the list. I would love to see a ‘shopping cart’ type function, preview your cart, remove any items you don’t want, and then have your chosen bottle(s) removed from inventory with a click. Way too many screen loads and clicks in the current CT process
Ouija Board works well.
Wine that isnt ready to drink is in boxes labeled by the year I anticipate unboxing them. The wines in the racks should all be ready to drink and are sorted by by region or country (e.g. Burgundy, Bordeaux, American, Champagne, Italian, Jura). I generally know where to go. I try to have the oldest on the top racks with younger wines further down. Seems to be working so when I am getting ready to cook, I can generally find the wine I want quickly.
Sometimes I do the einee, minee, moe thing until somebody yells dinner is almost over, we’re drinking beer.
It’s easier with a bunch of people; a couple syrahs and BDX, a PN for me and let everyone drink what they want.
Decisions are not my strong suit. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Sadly I can visualize this far too easily! Great analysis of a decent sized cellar with some actual choice.
In practice, I choose based on the food and mood and what I have not had in a while. I go by region rather than variety.
I decide upon what the wine needed or desired are, then go to CT to see the options and then on to find where they are located.
In many instances, I have a wine theme pre-determined by my lunch group, dinner group or blind tasting group and that narrows it down.
If it is just something my wife and I prefer for the evening at home, we figure out the preference in conjunction with the meal and again, I go to CT to view choices and location in the cellar. Sometimes i/ were just in the mood for champagne, pinot noir or whatever regardless of the food pairing. Then its back to CT.
Totally based on mood most of the time.
Rough day: Syrah
Good day: Bordeaux
Great day: Burgundy
Sports day: Zin
Hot day: White or bubbles
Shitty Day: Gin
Mine is a two part process. I have most of my wine in storage across town, so step one is choosing the candidates to go into the wine fridge back home, which holds roughly 100 bottles. I generally pull out stuff I think is ready, and stuff where I want to have a look at progress.
For some of the more unusual varieties where I tend not to have the same knowledge of track record, they tend to end up straight in the wine fridge so there is a greater concentration of the unusual stuff at home than there is in my offsite.
Step two is a lot more random but I do take into account what I’d be eating with the wine.
I pull a Neal, it tends to be rather random.
This is what I like Vinopal on my iPad for, I can ‘look’ at what all is in my cellar with a simple side scroll. I often find myself going “oh! I forgot about that!” Then drinking it.
I have a rack just for these wines. Something different and interesting away from the usual.
Huh?
Why would I use CT to peruse “varietals”? Don’t you have any clue what’s in your cellar?
It’s not that hard. Go to the basement (or “winecellar” for those without true basements), look at the weird shit, pull one out and walk it up. It doesn’t require a doctorate.
I go to the cellar and grab whatever strikes my fancy and does not require moving 10-12 boxes out of the way.
Todd,
How often, when thinking of pinot noir, do we forget the CdP that’s in the cellar?
Here’s something I take a look at (in addition to drinking windows). I take a look at CT and see when the last tme I opened a Bedrock, Carlisle, or Sojourn. These wines are 35% of my cellar. Sometimes this pushes me in the right direction.
Because my cellar is very new, meaning the length of time i have been buying (four years) it gets difficult as those cellar defenders disappear and delivery dates are still a bit away. But my big four cellar is primarily cabs and zins with shiraz/syrah and pinot noir. I found that i dont care for most pinot noir and those will be moving along to auction. But that then limits me to a big three. During the week days if i want a wine it will be either a zin, shiraz or lower end cab. This usually means $50 or less so my cabs are generally off limits. So now the weekdays are done to zins and shiraz. Usually i pick the zin. Weekends can be anything depending on food. I eat plenty of bbq so it may still end up a zin but i crave that cab so it can be either except when i know my cabs need much more time laying down.
great palates think like. 
Yes, that’s my methodology as well.
I’m geeked out enough that I start thinking about what I’m bringing to dinner a week ahead. I always try to stand up bottles several days in advance as I tend to open older red Burgs and Rhones and want the sediment to settle. Always consult CT to see what people are thinking.