Recent vintages you went long on

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
Jim and Jayson's discussion in a nearby thread raises an interesting question: What recent vintages did you go long on? (If you want to talk about past vintages that's fine, too, thread drift is a way of life around here.)

I'll start. I'm 61. I'm not laying-down any wine that needs a quarter-century to come around. (Even if we both make it to 2046, I'm going to guess my wine consumption will be way down, if not outright forbidden by physicians.)

But I can see a 10-year window. So, I've bought into 2015 German riesling and 2016 Barbaresco and will now switch to ready / near-term / somebody-else-long-stored-them bottles. That was a lot of my purchasing, anyway, because I'm a thrill-seeker in wine and always preferred two bottles of 6 different wines over a solid case.

How about you?
 
I’m not sure “by the case” qualifies as going long but I buy very little now that isn’t a case at a time. I know what I like, I drink with dinner every night and I’m not all that interested in expanding what I buy.
And I’ve got a cellar full of my own wine.
At 74, that should do me.
Best, Jim
 
I started slowing down at 50 (no more new vintgage ports) and 55 (no more new Bordeaux, though the ones I used to buy were pretty much out of my price range by then anyway). I continued Rhones (south and north) through 2016, when I was 66. I hope to still be drinking in my 80s, at least, but I expect I will drink many of the northern Rhones I bought too young. Now I only buy wines I will drink in the immediate future, or I back fill. And I buy much less than we drink. I'm 71. I don't buy annuities but I do still buy green bananas.
 
I’m in the same boat. For the last year, I’ve restricted my purchases to Champagne and Beaujolais for the most part. My last major vintage purchases were 2016 in piedmont and the Rhone, though I buy some 2017 whites.

Mark Lipton
 
My buying habits are always scattershot so deep isn't something I ever did or do (relative to those who buy by the case). That said, probably the deepest I have gone of late were 2014 Beaujolais, 2015 German Riesling, and 2016 Barolo. No one region/vintage combo since 2016 Barolo has lured me in to, say, buy 2-3 mixed cases worth.

At a newly minted 55 years old and with ~1,450 bottles stored I am probably good to go. But I like buying new wine (current vintage releases) and it's an itch I am unlikely to stop scratching soon. My rough goal is to add no more than six cases a year and continue meaningful culls from storage at least twice a year.
 
I stopped buying much to age when we moved and I lost my passive cellar. I just can't justify the carbon footprint of conditioned storage.

If I were retired, a pet project I've wanted to do for decades is turn one of the bomb storage bunkers at Magnusson Park into a community wine cellar.
 
Most recent deep dive: 2020 German wines. Especially Riesling. Especially Falkenstein. Too much. Summer party? Post-Omicron? The mags are especially good for parties.
 
Going long doesn't mean what it used to when I had fewer other responsibilities (and you could buy better wine for less money too), but 2016 Bordeaux was the last one, 2015 Burgundy to a lesser extent. I'm at the age where this doesn't make much sense considering how old I'd prefer to drink them, but, like Hanes, I just get too many thrills from the hunt to stop. I did stop with Piedmont though. You folks buying 2016 Barolos and Barbarescos are nuts!
 
I went pretty long with 2019 German wines and before that 2015 (and way too many from 2018 considering I am not sure how much I like the style but that is my grand niece’s birth year - yeah, that’s my story and I am sticking to it!).

The last Burgundy vintage I have bought deeply is 2010. I am trying to not buy new vintages - or anything else for that matter.
 
originally posted by BJ:
It's honestly super depressing to actually think about all this.
Click to expand...
It's supremely rational. Modern Medicine is truly amazing but each of us still has only a finite portion of days. It is fundamentally interesting how we spend that limited and non-renewable resource. It is a reflection of how we see the world and what 'furniture' exists inside our heads.
 
As I approach 51 (which seems bizarre to write or say out loud) with an overflowing cellar, I'm starting to think this through. Fortunately, I like wines younger than most here (and most wines are made in a more approachable style these days).

I've been going "long" the last few years on several fronts. I weaponized the restaurant wine list to get allocations of stuff I want and it worked almost too well. Allocations for many things have gone down the last 18 months or so and I expect that to continue.

One thing though, long for me usually has to do with producers more than vintages. As I discover producers I add them to the list and others naturally drop off due to prices or lack of availability. I also find most wines to be fungible so there are few that I chase outside of my home market or retailers I've done business with for years.

What my focused strategy has done has been to reduce the variety that I have. While I agree with Jim to a certain extent, I would like to have a bit more breadth. I have been working on balancing consumption with purchasing and while more has been coming in than going out, I have the ratios much closer to synchronicity.

For 2022 I'm looking to take my foot off the gas with Nebbiolo based wines, Champagne, German Riesling, and will likely see red Burgundy continue to shrink.

What I will be adding this year are White Burgundy and red Bordeaux. I've barely bought any for years (except Magdelaine) and would like to have a bit around.
 
originally posted by BJ:
It's honestly super depressing to actually think about all this.
Click to expand...
In the olden days people used to keep skulls on their desks as a memento mori. Nobody who collects wine requires any such reminder.
 
The issue of right-sizing a cellar can be difficult, and is for me. My wife doesn't drink, so consumption is just me and bottles shared with others. I suppose the latter will pick back up after Covid (whatever that means) and as my kids get older. But realistically, I'm opening 150 bottles a year, or less. More than that, and I'm drinking too much.

My cellaring habits have drifted towards Nathan's, partly by his example and those of others here. I like the idea of having long relationships with wines. Problem is, there are so damn many interesting wines out there. Making cuts is hard. But also necessary. I'll be 46 next month, and I have enough wine really to last me for, well, as long as I last. But I don't want to stop buying the wines I most love. And I don't want my cellar to become some kind of time capsule. As much as I enjoy coming to know particular wines over the years, I also really enjoy the sense of exploration and discovery.

As Keith alluded, collecting wine forces one either to confront mortality, or leave a bunch of wine to your heirs. I've already culled my cellar a few times, but need to do it again. And it gets harder every time. Some decisions are kind of easy. With the Merkelbach brothers now officially retired, I'm done buying those wines. I appreciate that Johannes Selbach has taken the domaine and will continue their legacy, but others can buy those wines. That said, questions remain, like do I need to cellar both Falkenstein and Lauer. I drink maybe 25 bottles of Riesling a year. And I also cellar Prum, Shaefer, and Donnhoff. Sure, Riesling ages well (I still remember SFJoe's half-joke that he didn't have to worry about the size of his cellar because he didn't buy anything that couldn't age for a long time), but I won't last forever.
 
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
My wife doesn't drink, so consumption is just me and bottles shared with others...But realistically, I'm opening 150 bottles a year, or less..I'll be 46 next month, and I have enough wine really to last me for, well, as long as I last...
Click to expand...

Interesting parallels. My wife also doesn't drink and I open roughly 100 bottles per year at home. I'll also be 46 later this year.

But then comes the divergence. I definitely don't have enough wine to last me until the end! Moving around a lot and other financial priorities means that my accumulation has been very slow. So it's interesting for me to hear about the woes of your cellar. Seems like you're in a pretty good situation for your age, as you could still transition and buy more 20+ year wines if that's what you wanted.

At times, I wish I had a deeper cellar. And it is going to grow. But I don't get too bent out of shape about it either way. I'm enjoying wine, on a level that's deeper than most and that suits the balance of my life just fine.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
My wife doesn't drink, so consumption is just me and bottles shared with others...But realistically, I'm opening 150 bottles a year, or less..I'll be 46 next month, and I have enough wine really to last me for, well, as long as I last...
Click to expand...
So it's interesting for me to hear about the woes of your cellar. Seems like you're in a pretty good situation for your age, as you could still transition and buy more 20+ year wines if that's what you wanted.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to say woe is me. That would be a pretty extreme privilege flex. These aren't really problems, just reality coming home to roost. Truth is, I could stop buying wine today and manage my cellar in a way so that I could drink well for the rest of my life. I just don't want to, which makes "tough" decisions necessary.
 
Yes, I didn't mean to imply that you were complaining. Poor word choice but 'woe' is what came out. Still, there are tradeoffs with everything in life, which is more and more apparent as we get older.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top