congratulations AND commiserations
What is in the cellar? Top regions, producers, vintages etc?
What strange bottle shapes
Anyway, if that’s a good size cellar for you, ore power to you!
If it ever gets larger than you’d like you’re more than welcome in the inventory reduction thread.
It’s a matter of perspective and goals. 1000 bottles doesn’t seem like a huge amount if you are aging a good percentage of that, enjoy a fairly broad range of regions and grapes, and sometimes buy more than 1 or 2 of things you like. Consumption is also a factor. If you stopped buying right now, how long with that 1K last? Age enters into the evaluation as well.
I wouldn’t worry too much about tastes changing unless you just started out or are purchasing quantities of extreme styles. Most well made, balanced wines with reasonable acid are always useful even if your favorites/go-to’s shift. For instance, we no longer love Bordeaux as much as we used to, so we don’t buy it anymore. But we’re still quite happy to pull a nice aged example from what we have cellared when the meal is right.
What she said. Having passed 1000 a while back and having gone through a preference shift after having done so, I don’t see the issue. Most of those become things that we drink and enjoy when in the mood which just happens to be way less often. For the few bottles that are just too OTT now, well they get packed and brought with me when we vacation with friends who still like that style.
I just hit the under 1k for the first time in 15 years. I would never give advice on this as it all depends on your drinking consumption, $$ availability, interests etc. I drink less than I used to and my spouse no longer drinks. Plus I am moving in 2 years so slugging that stuff is a PITA and storage will be a real issue then. Wine prices for a decent amount of what I own have gone thru the roof and I’d rather spend that $$ on overseas family trips etc.
I find the majority of the time I am happy drinking new wines to me in the under $40 category. Quite a few of my “older” long term collecting friends are in the same boat but certainly not all. I was over 5k bottles for a while there.
Keep on keepin’ on.
well time to decide that you’re gonna try your hand at importing/distributing now for a while.
I don’t understand the medical emergency part, Greg. Can you clarify?
All I was trying to say was that this happened to me as I was filling my cellar in that I realized one day had wine in it that I no longer wanted to drink, that the style had passed me by. Looking back now, I ended up selling it all off and I am glad I made that decision. I don’t want to be the wet blanket for Scott but was asking b/c of what I had been through.
Everyone’s palate changes as they explore all the world of wine has to offer. And while it is a PITA, when/if that happens and if one has excess it is fairly straightforward to sell those and move on. This assumes it is not absolute swill and can not be sold. One needs to be willing to take a loss on some (or many) things but it helps to fund what one likes today regardless.
I know quite a few people who have had that happen and then refuse to sell at a loss. They then spend years drinking a ton of wine they really no longer care much for.
I don’t think so. I’ve tried hard to diversify over the past few years, really moving away from new world wines and buying a lot more (for me) of French, Italian, and German wines. I’ve also tried to emphasize a mix of mid-term and longer-term drinkers. I typically only buy 2-3 bottles of any one wine, so hoping that helps mitigate that risk as well.
My list days are mostly over. Save a very select few, I’ve weaned myself off and am much more focused on European wines. But yes, this board has been the single biggest influence! Y’all better have good palates!
Yep, agree. I can’t imagine my palate switching back to new world, and I still have enough of that wine from earlier purchases to tide me over. Some of the newer Bdx I’ve bought - hoping I can share with my boys many years from now when they’re well into drinking age.
Haha, interestingly enough, our consumption is way down over the past few years. With our busy schedules, we don’t entertain as much. Mostly just my wife and I popping a bottle or two on the weekend, and major holidays.
Yeah, I can’t keep up with that young man. He’s fun to follow on Instagram though!
Awesome.
Check me out on CT - my handle is BigTex22 and my inventory is available for anyone to view.
Thanks Sarah, good advice. My guess is the 1K wine we have will last us 8-10 years. At my age, that means I’ll continue to purchase for awhile.
Awesome, validation coming from WB legends! 
Yes, I figure worst case scenario (medical issues or even death), the wine could be sold at a loss but still a large percentage recouped. It’s not like a golf club membership or other things that have no redeemable financial value. At least that’s what I continue to tell me and my wife! ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
My validation for 4000+ bottles, at least the argument I use (often) on my wife, came from Richard Gold in his “How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar.” If you drink or open, say for instance 150 bottles a year, and you like wine 20 years old, you “need” 3000 bottles in the cellar laddered at various ages, bought on or near release, so that you control price, provenance, and availability—150 x 20.