My cellar is so out of whack

B

BJ

BJ
I've hit that point in life where I know what I like and don't want to mess around with other stuff.

I have a strange cellar. It's about 1,000 bottles, with a high concentration of Rhone and strange odds and ends that aren't exactly what I want but that I picked up cheap along the way. For example, that Laurent in the other thread, single bottles of 10 year old Bordeaux, lots of 04 Burgundy that I bought cheap, etc. It's all French. A lot of it is stuff that is in the sub $25 category, that makes it almost not worth sending off to auction by the time I pay for shipping and commissions.

Now I buy Roilette by the case each year, and am looking forward to my case of 08 Brun CdB. I wish I could start all over and just have a nice cellar full of Tournon St. Joseph, 10 year old cru Beaujolais, really old Chablis, a nice balance of Loire whites and reds, an eclectic mix of Burgundy, along with a bunch of old Talbot and Gruaud.

I am bummed about pre mox because I love white Burgundy but it is showing through way to often.

Anyway, I guess that's all to say I am becoming a lot more selective about what I'm buying. A good deal doesn't necessarily mean you want to drink it.
 
As someone just starting to collect wines, I appreciate your posting. So far my cellar is small and off-site (my apartment doesn't include much cave space,) but it sounds like I'm building something close to what you say you would have built. I'm relatively young, and my income (while good) reflects that. So when buying for the cellar I've focused on Loire, Cru Beaujolais and Austrian wines. There is a small section of Barbaresco (just a smattering of Barolo) and a small but growing section of "affordable" Burgundy (think Lafouge, Barthod, Mugneret-Gibourg etc.) Oh, and a growing collection of Oregon pinot noir, since that's my backyard and all.

The point being, I often wonder what I'll think of this down the road, what regrets I'll have and what bottles I'll wish weren't taking up valuable space. One never knows.

Ultimately, I'm just happy buying and storing wines I intend to drink.
 
It has taken me a while to figure out what I like, so from that standpoint it makes sense. I think for me the issue is that as I've explored I've bought a lot of stuff and jumped on the deals, but in a lot of cases didn't really know if I really liked it or not. I'm not talking about radically off kilter stuff...it's more like, do I really want that half case of 99 St. Cosme Gigondas or do I really really wish that was some Roilette? Maybe this is what it took to get here, but last night as I was looking around the cellar there was just a lot of stuff that had no appeal. That combined with the fact that much of my cellar is about 5-10 years away from prime time is frustrating.

I think this fall is time for a major cleaning and just lose the stuff that isn't what I really like.

It's easy to build a cellar over the years and suddenly realize it isn't heading in the right direction. But in some ways you never know if you're on the right track until you're there, which is I guess true in general.
 
Key for me (other than knowing better what I like) is not to cellar stuff that goes off quickly. It's a comfort not having too many things to worry about.

It also turns out that great Vouvray is a good bet, but you probably knew that.
 
with where I am at. I don't really have anything in my cellar that I'm not interested in drinking anymore. Although I do have some modernist Barolo from 1996 that I don't think is going to work out, that's about all I would sell now. I was able to clean out my cult cabernet from the early 1990s (when I first became legal and was working in the wine business).

In retrospect, I wish I had bought more 70s and 80s Bordeaux (hell 60s and 50s) back when it was cheap. I like Bordeaux, I just figured it would always be around and always be reasonable, just like most commodities. I didn't foresee the spike.

I also would have bought more higher end Burgundy. When I first started in the wine business, you could buy all the La Tache, Rousseau, etc. that you wanted at reasonable prices. I wouldn't mind some 1988s, 1991s and 1993s in my cellar.

I have a cellar about the same size as Brad's and according to Cellartracker, these are my top 20 producers who represent ~60% of my cellar:

1 Domaine Bernard Baudry
2 Clos Rougeard
3 Fratelli Brovia
4 Catherine et Pierre Breton
5 Domaine Ghislaine Barthod
6 Thierry Allemand
7 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
8 Domaine Georges Mugneret/Mugneret-Gibourg
9 Geantet-Pansiot
10 Domaine de la Ppire
11 Coudert
12 Domaine Fourrier
13 Desvignes
14 Bruno Giacosa
15 Giacomo Conterno
16 Hut
17 Marcarini
18 Nol Verset
19 Weingut Knoll
20 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville

I feel pretty OK about that.

I have a lot of folks to thank who turned me onto stuff along the way.

David Lillie for Foucault, Baudry, Breton, Pepiere, Coudert, Desvignes.

Josh Raynolds for Barthod and Fourrier.

Freddy Vifian for Mugneret.

Etc, etc.

I no longer by Hut cause I can just drink Joe's...
 
I do wish that I had more random crap in there that I bought in an irrational or weak moment.

My father is not nearly so anal in his buying, so he always ends up with some pleasant surprises.

I remember unearthing a 15 year old Taltarni cab, opening it with him and being totally blown away.

I never get to experience that because I'm way too fucking OCD.

I just spent 4.5 hours in my friends shop (it's more a gourmet/cafe than a real wine shop) reorganizing the wine section, for free. I'm so fucked up.
 
My cellar is down to less than 400 bottles, most of which were purchased when I actually had money. Thus I drink nice old wines, some new ones that others introduce me to and buy almost nothing.
I may fulfill the old ideal of drinking my last bottle on my last day - which frankly, I find pretty comforting.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
That's a pretty red cellar you've got there, VLM.

I thought you had more Austrian stuff too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, stopped buying white Burgundy a while back and scaled back on Austrians after 1999. They became hard to get in my market. That's first on my list to rectify when I get the funds.

Besides, I can always visit you and drink great old Vouvray and Gruner, right?
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
My cellar is down to less than 400 bottles, most of which were purchased when I actually had money. Thus I drink nice old wines, some new ones that others introduce me to and buy almost nothing.
I may fulfill the old ideal of drinking my last bottle on my last day - which frankly, I find pretty comforting.
Best, Jim
Click to expand...

I wouldn't mind leaving behind something for a son or daughter and if that doesn't happen for my nieces and nephews.

But yours is a noble aim.
 
As long as there is still some Pesnot abouriou my cellar will be perfect.

And ten year old Cru Beaujolais is lovely . . . should have bought Burgundy.
 
I've bought more B'x than I can make sense of, even though I stopped five years ago. But it will keep and I can slip bottles in here and there as comfort wine over the years - unless I can sell enough to buy a couple of kayaks. Also way too much MSR and not nearly enough Alsatians. I'd like to learn more about Austrians, but they are expensive. Word on the street is that great Vouvray is a good bet. For the moment, modest red burg and chablis have me in their thrall.

It's a bit tricky when you have to buy good wine five-to-fifteen years before you drink it, since tastes will meander.
 
Still in the middle of inventorying though I've had some surprises. I own more 2004 Allemand than I thought (that's not a bad thing).

There are lots of wines I wouldn't mind having more of or wish I had bought back when I could afford them but since in aggregate I have enough wine it's hard to get seriously annoyed. The only really big hole that I've noticed is gruner. One bottle? What sort of idiot am I anyway?

There are bottles here and there which I'm skeptical about, but I'll see.
 
Life is full of these disconnects. Our cellar is way too red, with too much Bordeaux and Grenache and not enough Burgundy, Nebbiolo or Riesling. We're doing OK on Syrah, but how much venison and wild boar can one really eat? To accurately reflect our eating habits, our cellar would have to be 50% Muscadet, Vouvray and Riesling. Fat chance, given how quickly those wines get consumed around here.

Mark Lipton
 
I wish I had known more about Burgundy, Germany and Southern France when I got started. Luckily, I have never been one to pull the trigger in case quantities, so at worst I may be stuck with three or four bottles of something that seemed like a great idea at the time. Too red, and too conservative, I think. In the Detroit market, it takes some diligence to learn about and accumulate d'Angerville, for example. Unless you are a person of very substantial means, you're going to have to trust your impressions of a few young wines, and make some investments on faith. The ratio of age-worthy:plonk keeps getting better, and the weekday plonk keeps improving.

The good news is that there don't appear to be that many real dogs down there (thanks, Putnam), and those bottles that my tastes have moved away from still make decent gifts for friends who are not as obsessed or opinionated.

It's a little like my music library. There's some stuff in there I never want to listen to again, but for the most part - and given the right context, I can haul out a Joe Walsh or Pat Metheny album every so often and it'll sound pretty good.
 
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Florida Jim:
My cellar is down to less than 400 bottles, most of which were purchased when I actually had money. Thus I drink nice old wines, some new ones that others introduce me to and buy almost nothing.
I may fulfill the old ideal of drinking my last bottle on my last day - which frankly, I find pretty comforting.
Best, Jim
Click to expand...

I wouldn't mind leaving behind something for a son or daughter and if that doesn't happen for my nieces and nephews.

But yours is a noble aim.
Click to expand...

Actyally, I do have a few cases set aside for my daughter - but at this stage, I don't really count them as part of the cellar. They are spoken for.
Best, Jim
 
The Mosel one is about 95% MSR and Franken - there are some Austrian bottles in there from the side trips I made. I think of it as my offsite storage for retirement wines, although I dip into the stash every spring when I visit. Still a lot of space left there as well.

In Singapore it's primarily Burgundy and Loire, with a couple of cases of port and sherry. Some Germans as well, but mainly those I can get through the local guys. Not sure what to do with it, since I probably go back every quarter or so.

Hong Kong's a strange one - lots of claret from previous owner of wine fridge, and about 3 cases of champagne - Peters, Bara, Clouet and de Sousa. Just drank a '99 Bollinger (from previous guy, very open and delicious with radishes), '98 Pian delle Vigne (surprisingly good, suave wine) and '94 La Mission (starting to hit peak, great fruit concentration and quite intense). So tonight I'll probably have a '95 Gazin and a sweet from Gunderloch.
 
Scott, a properly diligent (and driven) winemaker can utilize an amphora in the production of wine from any grape variety. It's just a matter of how much time it spends in the vessel.

I've recently come to several conclusions about the wine in my possession:

1. I've got too much of it.

2. What's there has precious little resale value because it's pretty esoteric stuff and the only people who might be interested in buying it either a, already own the same wines, or b, are such bottom feeders that they know that if they wait around long enough, they'll find these wines marked down in end-of-bin sales or in "buy one, get six free" lots at auction.

3. I really do want to taste each and every bottle I own.

4. Having the closest offsite storage facility 30+ miles away from the house certainly cuts down on the opportunity for spur of the moment wine selection. On the other hand, it makes it easier to let bottles achieve proper maturity, simply because you can't get to them in a timely manner.

That being said, I could be in a lot worse shape than I am. These days I don't have any bottles that were purchased to collect (rather than drink) and I'm heavy on the producers and wines I enjoy the most, given the indefatigable and seemingly indissoluble financial precariousness that defines the parameters of my wine collecting. The producers whose wines I own the most are Joguet, Allemand, Kalin, and Tempier, with more resources (albeit ultimately inadequate for my needs should I live to see the other side of the century mark) of other producers from the same regions. I also seem to amassed a fair amount of wine from the Mosel, Australia, Piedmont, Alsace, Austria, the Rhne (north and south) and from various nether regions of France, Italy, and Spain. There's even a smattering of Argentine and California wines, just in case the need arises for something along these lines (such occasions seem to occur somewhat regularly).

My goal has always been to have something available in the cellar with appropriate age on it should I be invited to a themed wine dinner. Thus far, for the past 20+ years I've always been able to come up with a good bottle to bring along. Thus the 7 bottles of Bordeaux and 11 bottles of Grand Cru Burgundy from "good" vintages that slumber along, awaiting the call.

-Eden (I want to be more like VLM when I grow up)
 
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