This is a very reasonable stance to take. I am at virtually the same age and have decided the following…
Stopped buying ageable Bordeaux at 2010 vintage. It is amusing to see the circus going on by but now i just wave. Got an offer for ONE bottle of 2015 Margaux at $1,000+ USD (like this really needs to be tightly allocated?) Silly really to think of buying.
No more long aging Hermitage.
Limited CA Cabernet acquisition. Have lots but diet increasingly skewed to fish, lighter foods. Bunkered away tons of the stuff for pace of consumption. One advantage in this category is that they taste great at every point in the aging curve for me. Never worrying about closed phases much.
Champagne? Small number to age for special occasions. Supply is HUGE, and seems to expand over time. When i run out it can be bought everywhere.
Burgundy? Drinking early 2000’s and savoring the time to start on the 2005’s. I cannot seem to pass up Burg deals but village wines can be very satisfying in short run. Wait in a few years when all the speculation dies down and idiots are chasing weird Bourbon and Chinese single vineyard wines. Will buy old vintages of good stuff comparatively cheap and enjoy immediately.
When i am old i won’t need lots of bottles
Rhys… can’t stop buying. Maybe the DRC of California someday. Everyone has that secret vice.
I support your resolve comrade! Think of those places you will go instead!
“The older i get, the younger i like 'em” -Robert Parker
So as someone else here so eloquently put it your store is closed? I wish you all the luck in the world! Sadly I tried this a few weeks ago and then I caved and bought some Levet yesterday
I desperately need to join you in this endeavor, so maybe we can start a support group as neither of us are likely to be that successful. We both probably need to request to be dropped from Envoyer’s email list to have a prayer. My short term goal this year is to drop my mailing list to 3 and only purchase ‘some’ champagnes I enjoy from Envoyer. If I can pull this off then I will consider this year the beginning of a new wine journey. Stay strong!!
In a lot of cases wines are becoming more accessible. I was thrilled to hear Aldo Vacca say that his newly released Riservas will be ready to drink in 8 to 12 years. I am buying 2013 Barolo, but only Normales.
I’ve never been a real wine collector, more of a wine drinker, I rarely buy more then a couple of bottles of any wine, so I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I am the same age as Neal. I keep my inventory between 400 and 500 bottles.
I hear you Neal. I have 170 bottles in boxes on the floor because I have no more rack space, with 178 pending delivery, and I just responded to another Envoyer email yesterday!
I stopped buying agers after the 2014 Bordeaux and even wondering about those. I’m 70 so my drinking window may be narrowing faster than the wine’s drinking window.
I am almost ready to make the same call as you Neal, chasing and obtaining great wines has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I am very happy with my collection, I have limited 2016 BDX to 36 bottles on pre purchase, Burgundy will be about the same and then I am out.
I have just turned 47 and my case of De Vogue Musigny 2015 will arrive this week, I store all my wines in Climate control at 55 degrees so I am guessing I will be around 75 when this wine hits early maturity.
My guess is that a lot of the wine you, Neal, Robert and hopefully me buy that need time to mature will be worth more (possibly much more) when we die than they are now. The one piece of advice that we should all start thinking about is giving instructions to our spouses and children how to get the value of the wines we don’t live to drink. Unlike saying we won’t buy anymore wines, hopefully this is one thing we actually can and will do.