Cellar? I hardly know her.

R

Roger LaMarque

Roger LaMarque
I typically shop at the same NYC stores and drink mostly the same wines reflected in the Disorderly Zeitgeist. Boring, I know. I happily moved to Ditmas Park this year and bid goodbye to my much loved (reviled?) Coat Closet of Wine. I turned the root cellar in the new basement into a wine cellar and now I spend my free time hugging it. The question: now that I have the damn thing, what do I do with it? Other than buy cases and cases of 2009 Gamay while laughing maniacally. Seriously, do people buy cases of their favorites to enjoy over the next decade? Or perhaps do they buy 2 or 3 bottles of recommended bottles and enjoy them over time? The sudden shift from a buy/uncork/drink/sigh drinker to someone with space has left me stunned. I'm sure I'll figure it out over time but that wouldn't give anyone the opportunity to pile it on. And where's the fun in that?
 
I have a small cooler at home and professional storage. I still almost never buy more than 3 bottles of anything. I like to see how wines develop but I also firmly believe that there will always be more good wine coming.
 
Another thing I broke all the rules about and still ended up happy. I bought by the case early on, still do. I bought based on reviews and vintage rep. I followed Parker and then got led astray. I have had disappointments, but there is always some one I know who thinks they are wonderful and is happy to have them with dinner. On the up side, wines I liked I was able to drink over a long period of time, numbers of times, and learn how they lived, changed and sometimes died. There's probably a better way to do it. But buying wine is like pitching in baseball. When it's good, it's very good and when it's bad, it's not really that bad.

Break rules. Do what you want. Try not to go into poverty. Keep your loved ones on board.
 
One other thing--I try very hard only to buy wines that I think will have a long life. This helps a lot--no panics.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
One other thing--I try very hard only to buy wines that I think will have a long life. This helps a lot--no panics.
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I'm with SFJoe, mainly, but it is always nice to have a few 6 packs of fresh wines (the lighter roses, come to mind) that will be better in the 6-18 month range than longer and that are great for pouring for groups of friends.

I also happen to hate buying less than 6 of a wine (unless it is one of those super rare things - like the '45 Le haut Lieu that SFJoe turned me on to) because I do like to see how it evolves over time and I hate the anxiety over opening the last bottle of something. You may have better mental health than I.
 
Unless I walk into someplace closing out something really good for like, no money ($4/btl for Serego Alighieri Valpo was a good example), my collection if pretty much all onsies-and twosies. It enables me to have lots more variety in a smaller amount of space, plus I'm bored easily and don't really care about drinking the same wine over and over again.

On the other hand, I've got lockers in two locations plus about 50 cases stacked around the house, so I rarely actually find the specific bottle I'm looking for. This leads to frenzied trips to one or the other locations (or both) and even then I don't return with the bottle I sought. At least there are enough choices that I often come back with something that I still want to drink. And it also means that most of my wines receive proper aging, attaining a level of evolution that they wouldn't if they were easy to get to. I kind of like the randomness of it all. Factor in the chance that TCA or premox or wine spiders will enter the equation and wine becomes something fit for Las Vegas.

-Eden (your mileage may vary using this method. Perhaps one day it'll be me shouting "cellar-tracker, FTW!!!" and I'll know where everything is)
 
Eden reassures me with the onesies and twosies. I used to have a "real" cellar. Now, I don't collect. I have a few stray bottles that I hope will go away. One day, I will have only the bottles needed for a specific evening.

A wine collection is the heaviest baggage on the planet.
 
I started off buying 12-pack cases. Then as I neared capacity I dropped off to 6-pack cases. I don't like to buy less than 6 of a promising or worthy wine.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
A wine collection is the heaviest baggage on the planet.
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My house has three armoires, a 9' tall bookcase (full), a piano and two harpsichords (one is a French double). You talkin' load....
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

A wine collection is the heaviest baggage on the planet.
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Au contraire, mon ami. You fail to take into consideration phonograph records and ex-lovers...

-Eden (sometimes one is the result of the other)
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Eden reassures me with the onesies and twosies. I used to have a "real" cellar. Now, I don't collect. I have a few stray bottles that I hope will go away. One day, I will have only the bottles needed for a specific evening.

A wine collection is the heaviest baggage on the planet.
Click to expand...

I saw that movie. George Clooney didn't end up happy. Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose." Weigh your self down so you don't float away.
 
I'll usually buy one to three. There are a few exceptions (Clos Roche Blanche and Huet Petillant and a recent steal of a purchase on 1993 Rollin Pernand Vergelesses to be precise) where I'll buy 6-12. But only where they are wines that I know I'll want to follow over a number of years, are reasonably priced, and I've previously regretted not buying more of.
 
I don't buy case quantities of anything. For wines that I want to age, I generally buy in quantities of 5. One bottle is for drinking in the very short term so as to gauge aging potential for the other 4. I never buy single bottles of wine for aging unless there's no choice (recent example being a sole bottle of '99 Nuits-Saint-Georges "Les Saint Georges", Chevillon which was offered at a price I couldn't refuse).
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

A wine collection is the heaviest baggage on the planet.
Click to expand...

Au contraire, mon ami. You fail to take into consideration phonograph records and ex-lovers...

-Eden (sometimes one is the result of the other)
Click to expand...
For those of a certain age, the two are often closely related.
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

A wine collection is the heaviest baggage on the planet.
Click to expand...

Au contraire, mon ami. You fail to take into consideration phonograph records and ex-lovers...

-Eden (sometimes one is the result of the other)
Click to expand...

All my vinyl was stolen by ex-lovers. I live a lightweight life on that account.
 
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