Drink to keep up with your cellar

[Roy Hersh]

Many folks desire or actually have wine cellars built in their homes. Some do it themselves. Either way ... size, temperature, humidity, racking, type of wood, type of cooling unit, flooring material and many other dynamics go into the decision making during the planning stage.

One of the least talked about criteria (which should be a key priority) in deciding how many bottles should be factored into the cellar design is one's ability to consistently drink up their cellars. In other words, we all buy lots of wine and most gets put away into the cellar for short, medium or long term storage.

Unfortunately, when planning the appropriate size of the cellar or after the fact, the amount of wine purchased ... rarely do wine collectors aka "geeks" have specific plans for consumption. Why is this important? Well how often do you open a bottle and say, "damn it, I should have opened this one a few years ago"!

The issue is simple. We don't necessarily pay attention to all of the wine that is reaching its peak drinkability. In fact, many friends with cellars that I have talked to about this ... have no specific game plan for this.

Lets say your average purchases are 15 cases of wine a year (pretty modest number for most of us). These 180 bottles are from mixed vintages with various peaks of drinkability (plateaus are another discussion). If you purchase this way over five years you have 750 bottles. In time these bottles will need to be consumed within a window of 2-3 years. That time may be 3 years away or 20+ years away but ultimately, the time comes.

So to cut to the chase, do you have a plan for this. Minimizing bottles heading over the hill and drinking them past their prime is something that most people don't enjoy as much as when the wine is showing at its best. Having a formalized plan in which you know when to drink that bottle of 1999 Pinot Noir or 2001 Chardonnay for example, is important. If it is something you don't take into account, you may just squander much more money than you would like.

Begin with all new purchases and keep track of what you believe is the proper window of drinkability and keep track and have some way (spreadsheet or calendar or more sophisticated tracking system) of being reminded when it is time to pop the corks. Why plan a 4,000 bottle cellar if you only drink three bottles of wine per week.

Take a hard look at the number of bottles of wine you consume per year and then look at how many bottles you currently own. Do the division and see how many years of wine you have on hand. Now if you have wine that is from 20+ years ago and have managed your cellar properly...it probably is not as much an issue (but MAY BE!). If all of your wines are from the past few vintages, will you ever be able to drink it all before it goes into the vinegar barrel?

Just something to think about.

[xxxMonique Heinemans]

It's a very good suggestion, Roy, just came to late for me.
There was this time when I realised that I would have to empty almost 1000 bottles of wine mostly on my own, as my husband only drinks (special) beer...........
At that time I forced myself in decreasing my winepurchases and started to buy more port
But don't/didn't we all get at this point one day?
Now I keep several cellarlists on excel, with all kinds of (for me) valueble information.
But unfortionately it still happens sometimes to come across an over the hill bottle.

Monique.

[Andy Velebil]

About every few weeks i go over my list to see what is reaching or at its peak. Then I pull several (depending on what events I need to take wine to) and put them in the front so they are easy to get to. This also helps for those impromtu "I need a bottle, quick" days. I started using "Cellar Tracker" early this year and it helps out because I can enter the drinkablilty dates and then print out a list. It also organizes them by several other factors, such as region, type of wine, etc.

I also try to keep my buying down to a closer level with what I consume. Obviously with wines that need years of aging I will still accumulate more than I drink at this point. But I dont go overboard anymore on my buying for the reasons you stated.

[Jay Woodruff]

Very good suggestion, few follow this though.


I think that most collector, if they do consider it much, look at what they already own and consider drinking windows. They don't make the leap to using this same information, and filling gaps, for purchases.

Wine is one of those funny purchases where collectors spend a great deal of time and money getting wines they want, yet often the purchases are still spur of the moment, what can I find today, "wow that was good so I need a case", kind of buying.


I also think that many have tastes that have evolved so much, and continue to that it is difficult to plan far ahead as to WHICH bottles they should buy to fill that drinking phase 10 years from now. And of course many leap from location to location as they learn about new wines/grapes.

[Roy Hersh]

Andy,

That is just one of the zillions of great features of CellarTracker. Having a software program that helps in reminding you of when to drink bottles coming of age is a great idea. I wonder how many bottles get poured down the sink each year because folks don't keep track or know what is in their cellar and is ready to drink.


Disclaimer: Eric LeVine is a good friend and we are in a tasting group together too. Did I need to use a disclaimer of that sort on my own Forum?

[Derek T.]

Take a hard look at the number of bottles of wine you consume per year

Do any of us really want to know what the answer to this question is !?!

[ryan opaz]

This thread is somewhat related to an old post that I put up on Parker's BB about a year and a half ago. I never got a great answer from it, so I thought I would see what people think when I post it here.

Recently on this board, and in my store, I have heard this type of dialogue: The trick to a good cellar is to know when to stop building so that you can drink down your cellar and die with little left. For a long time, I agreed and lamented with customers, regarding parents and friends long gone who never had a chance to taste all of their wines. Consequently, I see more and more people lamenting that they might not be around to make buying B2K’s worthwhile or the recent Port vintages. As for myself, I agreed with this argument, until I was in Portugal back in 2003. A friend of my family’s was gracious enough to invite my new wife and I to his “castle” and treat us to some of the warmest hospitality we’ve had anywhere. His great, great, grandfather was at one time the owner of Quinta do Noval. So, on our first night there, we were graciously treated to some ancient ports from the 19th century. Needless to say, I’m sure glad his grandparents before him did not feel that they needed to “drink down” their cellar. As my fascination with wine has led me to nurture my growing and thriving cellar, I’ve wondered when I will stop buying great vintages, knowing that I will not outlast them. And lately, I think that I might not stop growing my cellar. It seems that if done right a cellar can last far past your lifetime and continue to provide enjoyment for all those to come. Wouldn’t it be great if I could secure something now, and take care of it, for those in the future to enjoy. Haven’t we all wished that more people had taken the time to preserve some of the classic vintages of the past in better condition? Shouldn’t we also try to pass on some of the great future vintages for those close to us? In the end, I’d like to know if anyone is currently buying for someone else’s future enjoyment?

Maybe I should make a poll and post it in another forum?

[Derek T.]

Ryan,

I agree with you. I started building a small collection of VP about 3 years ago and now have around 100 bottles. I probably only open about 12 bottles per year from declared vintages so at my current rate of buying I have no chance (or intention) of drinking the cellar dry.

For those who drink more true VP than I do I can see that it makes sense to drink each bottle at it's peak. However, a big part of the experience for me is opening and drinking something very old and very rare, regardless of whether or not it would still receive 100 points from the experts. I have yet to open a bottle of port that was not enjoyable as a result of being too old so I see nothing wrong in keeping some of these bottles for someone else to enjoy after I am gone.

What I intend to do is enjoy some of these wines throughout my lifetime and leave my son with a stunning collection of some of the greatest ports ever produced. If it turns out that he also enjoys port - hopefully in many years to come as he is only 12! - then I hope he will take as much pleasure out of collecting and drinking these fabulous bottles as I do. If it ends up that he doesn't enjoy port, he can sell it all and buy a Ferrari

Derek

[Al B.]

I'm with Derek on this one. I have absolutely no intention of slowing down the rate at which I buy my wine and will continue to buy declared vintages as they are declared over the next 40 years, nature willing.

I currently have two children, aged 9 and 11, who have no interest in port. I am hoping that by the time I die they will have developed an interest in the finer things in life and will enjoy drinking their inheritance and continuing its acquisition for their children.

And if they don't, then I won't care one bit!!

Alex

[Al B.]

Then, of course, there is the problem of those mysterious bottles that just materialise themselves out of thin air. These also have to be taken into account when you plan your cellar and your buying patterns.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

My wife and I drink a couple of bottles of wine a week between us. That's 104 bottles a year or 9 cases, as near as makes no difference.

We started the year with 407 bottles in our cellar.

41 weeks into the year we have drunk 82 bottles. So far this year we have bought 4½ cases so our cellar is now 379 bottles - right?

Wrong! I did a stock count over the weekend and we are now up at 462 bottles!

Still, it gives me great pleasure to be able to announce that I have now been able to scientifically confirm that bottles of wine - under the right conditions - will successfully mate and breed. Further research will follow to properly understand the answers to questions such as:
(i) are half bottles the young offspring of a pair of full bottles?
(ii) what is the average litter size of a pair of bottles and does this vary with the cost of this wine?
(iii) can I convince my wife that this is all true and that I am not secretly buying wine?

Would you believe that I was sober when I wrote this in the morning!

Alex

[Derek T.]

Alex,

I like this theory and would appreciate it if you convince my partner Jo that it's true when you meet at the tasting event in London. Jo has this crazy notion that I keep buying port and wine at an alarming rate whereas I believe that most of it just appears in the cellar unexpectedly!

Derek

[Eric Ifune]

Too late for me.
I have probably 10 years of drinking to catch up.

[Roy Hersh]

For the first time since late in the year of 2000, I took stock of my entire Port collection in my cellar. I must be careful because my wife reads the Forum.

From my spread sheet there was such a difference of what was listed and what was actually there. It showed me that I am much better about entering in wines, than I am about removing wine ... from my spread sheet of course. That is what has kept me from CellarTracker actually.

Anyway, it was a fun exercise to reposition all of my Port bottles once again and it took less than a week to do so.

All this to say, Port does not count in the overall discussion about drinking down your wines, as with 15-80 years of potential the risk is nowhere near what it is for most of the wines in our cellars.

[Al B.]

I'm exactly the same. I am terrible at entering the wines that I drink and taking them off my spreadhseet. In fact - I blame you, Roy, for making me even worse. :x

Before the forum, I used to keep all my tasting notes on the spreadsheet. Now I don't bother with my port tasting notes, just put them straight onto the forum.

Once a year, I take stock of what's in the cellar and its always a wonderful voyage of discovery.

Alex

[Roy Hersh]

An email today made me revisit this particular topic. I hope all of you collectors out there, take stock. Pun intended.

[Moses Botbol]

I own mostly Port, so I do not worry about the drinking windows too much, but my 2009 plans are for proper inventory & tracking. Some of my older white burg's I should get to the front of the queue...

[Eric Menchen]

I track everything with a PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint? Well, it was the easiest way at the time that I could think of to make diagrams that match the layout of my storage. I'm spatially oriented. That would have worked, but my plan, in regards to the subject here, got shot when my wife found she could no longer tolerate more than a glass of red wine in an evening at home in Colorado. This came after a trip to the Russian River area and three cases added to the collection. Now I hardly buy any red at all. We still seem to be accumulating it as guests bring over bottles faster than we can drink them.

[Derek T.]

I hope all of you collectors out there, take stock. Pun intended.

Are you really insisting that we Exorcise those demons?

I don't want to look :help:

[Moses Botbol]

Rose colored glasses make the cellar much more romantic.

[Andy Velebil]

I also try to keep my buying down to a closer level with what I consume. Obviously with wines that need years of aging I will still accumulate more than I drink at this point. But I dont go overboard anymore on my buying for the reasons you stated.

It is quite funny to come back to really old threads and this is one of those. My oh my have times changed quickly. My buying has gone way up since I posted in this back in 2005. But I think thats a good thing