I had to vote retailer but that’s not the real connection. We are primarily drinkers. In 2002 as I prepared to retire, we decided the best way to support our love of wine would be to open a wine store to broaden our access to the wines of the world, share our bounty with like individuals at the best price we can and make a few bucks if possible. The most difficult obstacle was to teach a retired cop the real meaning and delivery of “customer service.”
You would be surprised, possibly amazed, by the number of ITBs/Winemakers who read these forums as lurkers. Numbers are way higher than you would imagine.
Brian,
The conversation seemed to focus on money rather than passion, and that just rubbed me the wrong way after a long day of canning.
BTW, we are brewing a smoked version of that Modern Times collaboration with them next week on our system.
I think the 25% mark says more about the pollster and their position towards wine. Which is fine. We all come to this through a different lens.
I’m a partner in a restaurant, but I don’t work there so I’m not sure if I’m ITB or not. Many of my friends are ITB and I’m certainly ITB adjacent but I voted consumer since that is what I primarily am. I sometimes sell wine but I don’t buy with an eye towards selling although I guess you could characterize Burgundy as an alternate asset class.
In the biz when I was younger (tasting rooms of a couple of WA wineries and a now-defunct Seattle bottle shop) but now just a 34-year-old drinker trying to lean further into my already-existing hobbies.
Deleted.
Ooooh! Can’t wait for the smoked version, Rick!!
And I’ll be upfront with you, as I always am.with everybody: my viewpoint is based primarily on money, not passion. Not saying it’s the only viewpoint, to be clear.
I’d like to think that (nearly) every winemaker or high-level ITB person (read: not tasting room staff, for example) has an incredible amount of passion for wine — after all, they chose to make their living on it. Furthermore, to be clear, I know many tasting room staff are super passionate about wine. So, with all of that as a given, does that mean the only folks whose primary connection to wine is ITB are those few folks who are not passionate about wine? I see the merits in both “Yes” and “No”; you seem to be saying “Yes,” and I’m saying “No.”
In my eyes, the decision to make wine (or anything) your chosen profession brings things to a different level. My wine enthusiasm does not pay my bills, provide me with money to buy wine, provide me with a means to buy food, water, and shelter. And so on and so forth. ITB’ers on the other hand, generally, answer those questions in the opposite.
We just see this differently, and that’s okay. Yes, my view is money-based, but it should not be read as a dismissal of passion. Heck, I’d be the first to say that ITB’ers likely have more passion than the average non-ITB wine enthusiast— after all, they have devoted their lives to it, and their well-being depends on it, and the well-being of their families depend on it.
25% was arbitrary and not reflecting any position on how to own wine. I do not think a handful of wines owned for investment makes one a speculator, but a majority would. So I just used 25% (between 0% and 50%).
Ha! Are you saying cops don’t have good ‘customer service’ skills?!
I’m thinking a restaurant is peripheral to being in the trade. Related to wine, but really in its’ own orbit.
You certainly can, as one could use their Burgundy collection to buy a car, remodel a house, or even buy a house in certain parts of the country with it. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Wine educator here and occasional restaurant wine list contributor. Does not really influence what I drink for myself. Does get me a few good invites though.
Drinker here but I have sold wine when I needed the money or when the bottle appreciated so much in value that I simply rather have the money.
Wow! I didn’t realize how weird and unusual it is to be a wine importer and a Berserker!
Of course I also own a vineyard in France, but I’m not a winegrower or winemaker, although I am a wine blender.
Dan Kravitz
If I was still wearing the camera, there’d be a lot footage of Carrie giving me stink eye, hands on hips, while tapping her foot. It’s a whole different world of customer service. In retail, you are supposed to make the customer happy by guiding them to the product that will please. She wouldn’t let me cuff them first.
Exactly what Lee said minus the kid 
I don’t intend to leave a single bottle of mine for anyone to inherit—the purpose is to buy and then drink with (many) friends.
I have about a thousand bottles and I like it that way, so an empty cellar when I arrive at the checkout is not happening. I’d be glad to leave it to my kids, but they are both teetotalers. So in a codicil, certain bottles go to certain people. As for the rest, Jesus turned water into wine and my heirs will turn my wine into money. And the people who pay the money to my heirs will enjoy some fine bottles. It’s all good.
Dan Kravitz
At the risk of being pedantic, you might clarify “for financial investment, for eventual resale“. I look on my cellar as a flavour investment as it were … being able to eventually have mature wines that would be otherwise unaffordable or unavailable. (I’m referring to the part that is not short term storage for convenient access).
To the extent that one is prepaying a future consumption, its all an investment, strictly speaking.