You’re gonna love it Phil! I don’t listen much to Aphex Twin or Ian Svenonius but sippin’ romorantin makes me feel like I’m proper edgy. 
The thing that makes no sense in my wine life…
I feel like the differences in Champagne between cuvees and producers are so miniscule I don’t really get it— yet it’s the biggest increasing region in my cellar this year and I can’t wait for my RdJ allocation. 
It took me 50 years to get to where you’ve started out!
I love half bottles, I need half bottles, there are no half bottles (well, very few).
I understand that this is because a large majority of wine drinkers don’t want them. But I don’t understand why they don’t. Two good glasses for two people. How convenient if people want to start with a couple of good glasses and then split a bottle! How convenient if you only want two good glasses for yourself? Cutting back on your drinking? How about a half bottle!
Cost may enter into it: A half bottle should cost 55% the price of a full bottle (cork, label, glass, foil all probably cost almost exactly the same as for a full bottle… the wine costs exactly half the price). I get turned off when a half bottle is 2/3 the price of a full bottle.
And I get another point, which is that plenty of people want to taste the same bottle the next day.
Still.
The only benefit for me is that I really like wines with bottle age. And when I do find half bottles, they tend to have bottle age, because nobody wants them. I’m retired from the wine business, but still have contacts and can buy wholesale. I’m about to order a case of 375ml bottles of a 2021 Sonoma Zinfandel… and from the same producer a case of 375ml bottles of their 2019 Sonoma Chardonnay!
For a while it made no sense that I bought 2/3 White Burg and 1/3 Red Burg and 97% of the time I opened Red. But I have since resolved that discrepancy and stopped buying all the Whites that I probably will never drink.
Do you buy mostly singles or doubles? Fear of opening the bottle at the wrong time and then not having any when at peak could be why.
No, just general wine worry. A few times it’s my ‘last one’ but I have the same freeze when I have 3 or more.
I have gone completely full circle over the last 45 years. When I got into the wine business in the late 70s, I loved all the lavish, rich, oaky Chardonnays from California, transforming into white burgundies by the mid 1980s. Then it was a steady diet of Italian whites/ French whites that never saw wood (or minimal). Loved the grassy Sonoma Sauvignon Blancs, also fell in love with Santa Ynez Sauvignons.
Now I find myself going back to oaky Chardonnay for some damn reason. I just crave them. My partner hates them, so I don’t get to enjoy them as much, but every chance I get, I open an oak laden Chardonnay.
Don’t sell yourself short - you might grow up someday!
I know nothing about Riesling or Sherry and I know if I’d let myself into it, I would love’em. Please don’t enable 
.
That’s exactly it, the ‘flavour investment’.
My storage exploded when I realised that many wines in the 25-50 range really repay 5-10 years in the cellar. It’s not a financial thing at all.
Too much of the Good Stuff and not enough of the Great Stuff.
I also love half bottles. One of my favorites I have found in halves is Rossignol-Trapet villages Gevrey. Got most from the winery, but found some a few months ago at Morrells. Got them on sale, but they still have them. Domaine Rossignol-Trapet Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2022 (375ml) 375ML - Morrell Fine Wine & Spirits Merchants, Briarcliff Manor, NY
I’m with you on this. I’ve bought 25 half bottle cases of bordeaux the past few vintages and buy out any retailer that sells good champagne in 375ml!
I keep buying wine knowing full well with absolutely no uncertainty that I have zero space in the cellar to store it. I mean zero, zilch, not an inch. Ok, maybe I’ll be able to squeeze a split someplace, maybe!.
Yeah, that. But I have not bought any for at least one week. Does it count if I go to a tasting with my wife and she decides what to buy?
Same problem. For the last 30 years it seems like all I have drank are “cellar protector” wines and anguished over trying to decide which of these were my least favorites.
Now, at 73 and flush to the gills with NVDA money, I have come up with an answer. I have placed an order for 20 cases for about $20K. I don’t say this to boast, especially around you folks drinking Chambertins from the 60’s and casually popping for Coche-Dury Meursault. Mad props and kudos to you. Really envious.
This order, largely composed of Bordeaux, Barolo, Super Tuscans, and California Cabs, Chards and Pinots, is designed to last the rest of my life ( I can provide a PDF of the math I used). Its the last time I ever intend to by wines from France and Italy. I think I am getting out at the right time, and am a little concerned about the 4 bottles of 2020 Lynch Bages on pre-arrival.
I hope it will also solve the eternal problem of what to drink next. Its all good. No cellar protectors. There is a certain amount of thought needed to establish a consumption order to insure I don’t drink said Lynch Bages before a 2021 Cobb Doc’s Ranch Pinot, but that’s all baked into the process after this long in wine.
Wish me luck.
Super interesting to see the various approaches we have to cellaring!
Congrats on the big order, planning and NVDA investment.
On my end, I’ve learned that I enjoy the discovering, chasing and buying aspects too much to put it all aside. It’s a part off the hobby I enjoy.
No right way to do it. And there’s no telling if my approach won’t change in the future!
Add my name to the list of those who already have more wine than they’re ever likely to drink, yet keep buying.
Indeed. How have I never seen this before today?
You’re going to buy more. I guarantee it.
The mistake you’re making is failing to realize or to admit that the exploration, discovery, shopping and acquisition is a big part of the experience. You’ll realize pretty soon that the wine journey isn’t complete with solely the drinking part of it.
And it’s fine too. Being flush with money as you are, it will be fine when you inevitably start buying again. Enjoy the whole journey, don’t stress about being precise about any of it.