My current top 10:
Puffeney (stocked up as retirement approached)
JJ Prum (per another thread, one of wine’s best values if you like fruity Riesling)
Mount Eden (my favorite American domaine)
Donnhoff
Produttori (another strong contender for great value, although prices seem to be rising)
Huet (stopped buying when they booted Pinguet – hope to have enough to last me)
Schaefer
Clos Roche Blanche (also stocked up as retirement approached)
Edmunds St. John (my favorite American winemaker)
Gonon
Baudry (tie, so 11)
These constitute about 20% of my cellar. Over the years I have consolidated my buying in certain core domaines, which is reflected here. But the largest holding in my cellar is Burgundy (25%). There, I have much more diversity because (a) there are so many strong domaines and (b) pricing makes me hunt out bargains, rather than just presume to buy a wine year over year.
Looking at what’s moved out:
I’ve sold my Rhys, which used to be in the top three. As the wines escalated in price, I couldn’t justify them relative to Burgundy or domestic wines, like Mount Eden, that I like as much or more. Once I decide not to continue to buy a wine, I often have less interest keeping it in my cellar.
I’ve also sold a good bit of Bedrock, even though they’re still a substantial holding. I just don’t drink Zin blends that often, due to the alcohol levels, palate preference, and the food I eat. As a Californian, I do like having the heritage wines around from time to time, though.
I’ve sold European wines that really increased in price. Goodbye to Rougeard. My few bottles of Truchot. Most of my Juge. If you wouldn’t buy a bottle at the price for which you can sell it, then… It helps that I’ve enjoyed these wines already, and have pleasant memories of them. I’m comfortable leaving them for others at the vastly higher pricing. I’ve still kept almost all my Overnoy/Houillon, however. I genuinely love those wines, and have since before they were famous outside the (then small) world of Jura fans.
I also love Beaujolais, but have been trying to cut back my cellar holdings because given how fun the wines are young, I only need to keep so many aged bottles (and I do like the aged counterpoint). Moved off all my Metras because the wines got expensive and were just too variable. Have been cutting back my holdings of even core wines, like Coudert, which used to be in my top 10. I still have a lot of Beaujolais collectively, though.
Only a few things have moved out because my tastes changed. I suppose Sherry would be number one. I used to have quite a bit of Equipo Navazos and others, but have let them all go. I just wasn’t drinking them.
Basically, I’ve been trying to learn to approach my cellar like this: What do I open each year? What do I expect to open in 2035? The number of bottles annually has gone down, which is a good thing. But that’s led my default purchase number of bottles to move down and to cutting the number of wines. There are only so many days, and healthy drinking (to the extent one can) has become important to me.
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