First, I am struggling with being more of a collector than drinker. I know… you can help me with that -maybe.
Next, I love diversity. White, red, bubbles, CA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, AUS… as long as its not heavily laden with alcohol, not sweet unless supposed to be, not fruit driven, I will try it and generally like it.
Where has beaujolais been in my life? The 2014’s are singing. Magnums are good here because they go well at a party. Went from zero to 60 on these.
I have some of the best moments of my life enjoying wine with family and friends. I know, marriage, birth, graduation… all those are milestone great events. I am just talking about simple magical evenings where things all come together, you place some nice stems out, some appetizers and you pull that cork and experience a new place in time shared with others.
Finally, for me the most important, even though I exercise extensively as a trail runner, it does not offset wine consumption. Moderation at age 60.
Ditto to all the comments on champagne - significantly more of our consumption and my go to often when eating out.
Ended the year with roughly the same number of bottles in the cellar as I started, which was great and roughly my objective for the year. It really helps to have 15+ years of collecting under my belt as I have more wine that is aged.
No reason not to open a great bottle on Tuesday night - life is very short!
My favorite experiences this year were turning people on to the lovely intricacies of a bottle of wine that has been aged. Had a memorable dinner with some aged Nebbiolo - love seeing my friends smiles light up with that experience for the first time.
Love this thread, and thanks to Frank for starting it.
Life: Also had a milestone birthday (55), which has made me look at the shorter road to retirement and the need to cut back on purchases; business was great at the beginning of the year, and then in October God decided to show me my mortality again - though thankfully this time it wasn’t cancer but for about two months I was virtually flat on my back taking various medications which reduced our consumption and when I did drink I really did not enjoy it much - thankfully back on track… I cannot say enough about the value of great friends and a caring partner (my wife). Now its time to look after the body a little better, continue to diet and exercise which I abandoned for a while. That includes drinking less.
Wine: I planned to cut back on purchases, yet I may have spent as much but on fewer bottles. Crazy how the average cost of a daily drinker keeps raising and that has me looking at long term wine goals. Since we’ve been drinking less the past few months, the number of bottles in the cellar rose a bit which caused me to expand my cellar (something I wanted to do for a while). Definitely will cut back next year so purchases are less than consumption. The wines that wowed me this year were some that I had been saving for a while - older Saxum, Quivet LPV (2012), a revisit to 2007 Myriad Dr. Crane which was one of my favorites of all time did not disappoint, and some of my older (for me) 2006 to 2008 Sea Smoke and KB were all very rememberable.
Wine Exploration and Travels: Last year traveled to Spain and explored a bit. Learned that I really did not love their Rioja enough to collect here, but learned a bit of what I liked and did not like - ended up drinking Burgundy at the finer restaurants in San Sebastian. This year we traveled with great friends to Oregon and got to really explore their Pinot; a few really impressed me, but the beauty of the place was more impressive to me than many of the wines. Still, I felt I branched out and there are a few producers I will continue to purchase - iOTA, Domaine Drouhin, Brooks, Sokol Blosser, and Adelsheim come to mind.
Resolution: Next year I will reduce purchases of my current lists by half and will branch out with some of the savings to explore Riesling (which I admit I know very little about). I’m impressed by Frank’s exploration of Champagne. I may have to open a bottle or two and see if I can get into them with a meal or for lounging around.
You know, if this tide of love for Champagne continues to grow, I hope to god the pricing doesn’t start to creep higher, more expensive. I mean, look what the heck happened to really top flight Northern Rhone stuff–Jamet, Allemand, etc.
Rat, I am impressed with the Roulot and Roumier on you list, right alongside the Myriad and Scherrer. Nice diversity, man. But, but, no champagne? Either you are not drinking it enough, the right kind of enough or you’ve forgot to list it. Dude, get on it.
As always, Frank, you remind us that this is a community meant for sharing, enjoying, learning. Kudos to you for the spirit.
This year has flown by at warp speed for me. It’s been a phenomenal year in so many respects with business, celebrating my 20th with my incredible wife, and watching my 17-year-old son mature into a man. It’s also been a year of great reflection and some pain, with me feeling every bit of my 50 years (51 as of 11/26) with some serious sports injuries and sleep insomnia that progressively worsens (my doctor actually recommended less wine, but I decided I prefer less sleep!). I’ve never had a year where I reflect so much on my age, aging and mortality. I’ve always thought of myself as indestructible, and measure much of my self worth on athleticism. Couple that with the realization that my son leaves us in summer, and wow, what a wake-up call. I’m trying to learn to transition into a more positive reflection on the attributes of perhaps a more relaxed lifestyle, focusing on family, friends and enjoying the simple rewards of life. A major part of that is our mutual appreciation of fine wine and sharing it with fine friends.
I have returned full circle back to my core, narrow band of wines that love me, mostly traditional Bordeaux, savage Northern Rhone syrah, and elegantly rustic Chinon. Toss in some food-friendly Kabinetts, Beaujolais and an occasional Ridge to suit my sweet tooth. My recent deliveries have hit me dead-center that I have gone a little crazy on buying new releases left and right. I have enough young wine to hold me from 60+. I need to refocus on backfilling on more mature wines to fill a hole in my meager cellar. So easy to find mature or maturing wines that were well-loved but put for sale.
Looking forward to the holidays, taking some downtime.
Cheers and Happy Holidays to all my friends on this wonderful site.
Alf, that is a thoughtful post and I dug reading it. Well said, my man. Get out to LA so we can treat you to a nice meal and a bottle of acidic, dilute CA syrah.
Being slightly older than you, these words are going to sound cruel, but have to say get used to it, buddy! Nothing on Earth is change-less, except for the fact that mortality hits everyone of us, and it is not a bad thing.
True, true . . . But certainly you did not transition gracefully into that state of splendor, did you? I’ve always had the mentality of going down fighting. And I’m just saying, this year I’m struggling for the draw, lol. The cool thing is, I crushed the youngsters, MarcF and Corey N, when they came to visit with Tooch back in January, the poor fools could barely walk let alone function the next day. Rumor is, they want a repeat. Tooch is a big dude, the man can handle some bottles.
That bottle of 2008 Comte Liger-Belair NSG Les Cras I had at a birthday dinner with just me and my wife at Potager des Halles in Lyon that was the first major wine turning point for me.
Zalto glasses.
Beaujolais and the discovery that it goes with spicy Chinese food.
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Rumor is, they want a repeat. Tooch is a big dude, the man can handle some bottles.