Deep or Wide? What's say you...

I used to buy fewer bottles of more wines however, I realized consuming my only bottle of something often left me wanting to try it again in a year or two. More recently, (last 7 years) I been buying more from fewer producers (focussing on Bordeaux and Burgundy). I’m thinking of going wide again as I’m seeing some new wines I’d like to try…

What are your purchasing habits and why?

I like variety. I rarely buy a case. I bought six bottles of a wine once this year because the price was right.

+1. Not buying much these days, but normally go with diversity. Think I’ve bought a full case on possibly 3 or 4 occasions.

Deep and wide. (like an old gospel tune-can’t exactly remember which one–‘the Jordan river is deep and wide’).

Deep in the few producers that you love or know you are going to buy every year, but wide so that when you need a bottle of something that goes with asparagus, or you get bored with your favorites, or when you just need to keep track of what else is going on in the wine world.

I’m learning that wide is probably the more important strategy. I love nebbiolo, red burg and chablis, but there are times when I just can’t face them, and need a change.

I have been trying to buy at least 6 bottles of wines that I have tried and liked; if the funds are there then I will spring for a case.

I want to be able to follow a particular wine over the years and only having a bottle or two doesn’t really give me that opportunity.

Really depends on the wine, but most of the time I like to have a broad selection as I tend to like my wines younger. Kinda like getting a couple bottle of each Carlilse or the RM Pinot & Chard mixed case. Of course there are exceptions like the big buy of 2007 Educated Guess.

If you buy for the short term, then wide makes sense. If you are buying for the cellar, then deep makes more sense for me. Especially if you have gone wide earlier and kind of established what you like. Having sampled pretty much everything from anjou to zinfandel, I have settled on a handful of regions and a few outlier producers that I truly enjoy (as opposed to find interesting or a nice change of pace) and I go deep with them. Maybe 10% change up wines in the cellar.

My primary buying is wide. My wife and I go wine tasting 4-6 times a year (Santa Barbara is about an hour away) and always try to taste at some new places. Usually buy a bottle or two at each. When I find myself going back to places because we like the wine, we’ll buy more (2-4 of each specific wine at a shot). But, I know the feeling when you drink the last bottle of something good, so I’ve been trying for more depth (while keeping the width).

Unlike Tex, I have a sophisticated palate so I go deep on wines I really like … oh yeah, and I like diversity too, so I go wide too!

BTW Tex, just a wee bit of weiner pullin.’

I like variety. I rarely buy a case. <<<<<<<

I am the exact opposite - I almost always buy by the case as I like to watch a wine evolve over time. The down side, of course, is periodically getting stuck with multiple bottles of a wine I end up hating, but I don’t take total “flyers” much anymore (although I did end up buying a case of that Evodia Garnacha recently because of a Board thread here - I figured for less than $100 all in, how much will I be in pain if it totally sux?).

Last “volume” purchase for me was five cases of the 2009 Pepiere Clos des Briords, which my better half treats as our “house white”.

Hey, why you callin’ my weiner wee

Why? Whadda’ you callin’ him these days?

What else…Little Elvis.

From Pete Seeger’s version of “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” which was a song of slaves.

From 1963:

It was also a hit for the Highwaymen:

(I love the photo of a sailboat on a song about rowing!)

What a sensible woman!

I’m a wide guy. There are oh so many good wines. Unavoidably, there’re a number I wish I’d gone deeper on. Any regret usually passes quickly as a sea of appealing prospects regularly floats by.

RT

Prefer depth as I age.

Wide for me. I like diversity. 3-4 btls is plenty of anything in my book. This year I plan to buy more single btls and fewer 3/4 btl buys. For me six of one cuvee form a vintage is way too many. I do buy verticles from producers I like though. I’ve never bought a case of one wine and never plan to.

How about going wide and deep in the styles/regions that you know you like?

I caution against trying to “buy the best” broadly as most people will find that they do not like some of the wines. Over time I have realized that I like many Barolo/Barberesco producers but just a couple of Brunello producers, so I can go wide in Barolo but not Brunello. Meanwhile I am stuck with several Brunello that I probably won’t open.

Another situation to “go wide” is when you know that a certain vintage’s style really appeals to you. For me this happened with 2005 Burgundy. I loved the vintage and bought many producers for the first (and possibly only) time. It was a lot of fun to try so many new producers (and some new vineyards) and the quality was uniformly high.

Meanwhile in more mixed vintages, I like to “go deep” and buy a case or more of my favorite wines if I am pretty sure I will like them.

Started off wide only, trending toward deep as preferences and the cellar mature.

Approach now is:
Buy single bottles to experiment with a new producer.
Buy two bottles if it is a known wine that we like (or really like but expensive)
Buy three bottles if it is a known wine that we really like (or a Premier Cru minimum 3 bottle order)
Buy six bottles for our absolute favorite wines or good inexpensive everyday drinkers.
Have never bought a case of the same wine.