Do you ever feel that you have to buy from a release just because you might one day regret not buying, you are effectively trapped on that list.
Do you just accept it and buy again or do you say f**k it and not worry about being on the sexy darlings lists and just move on knowing there is always good wine available
Just move on. It is liberating.
Didn’t SQN release a wine called Stockholm Syndrome?
I’m in this position now with Saxum, Rhys, Cayuse, and a few others. Hard to wrap my head around it yet I know it shouldn’t be.
It really is. I just went through this.
Buy from retail.
Buy from auction.
Some wineries sell from their websites without a limited buying window.
Some wineries have a limited offer window, but it’s ok to skip.
The downside (which I am over) is that you won’t be able to buy the wines that everyone is talking about…the “hot new thing”. There is a lot of good wine out there.
There is so much good wine out there. Easy to pass on lists if I need to.
We could probably use a poll on how many people have found that, as their experience broadened and their tastes changed, they gravitated toward Old World wnes and away from New World wines. Thst is not the case for everyone, of course, as some never drink anything but New World wines, and others nothing but Old World wines. As a fellow who got in on the front end of all of the hot-ticket California mailing lists and whose palate did shift to Old World wines, I can tell you that I sold or traded more mailing-list wine than I drank, and ended up dropping off of all mailing lists, including Screagle, Harlan, SQN and the whole lot. It got to be a pain in the ass to flip the stuff or let somebody else have my allocations…
Gone from being on about 7-8 lists a few years ago to just one now. Freed up a lot of cash for random wine purchases and exploring of different regions/varietals. I prefer this pattern of buying. I think it might have been more difficult to drop the lists if my palate hadn’t shifted toward France, Italy etc. If I still was primarily focused on US wines, I think I’d have had to stay on those lists just because most of the US wines I like are small production and allocated.
For me, my palate didn’t shift away from New World wines - I just felt trapped (as Alan put it) by the mailing list cycle. The credit card had too many wild swings and I didn’t like that either. Plus, if all of my wine budget goes to these certain lists, I couldn’t explore anything new. I still buy from my old faves, if they offer me anything - it’s just a little more balanced now.
I’ve never been on a single list and still have far more wines to choose from than I’d ever be able to buy.
Wendouree was the only one where I ever thought “That might be cool to be on” I think it might have been the crayon marking system to say who was getting what.
The ones that seem to be trapping me are Denner and particularly Kosta Browne, if you dont buy Kosta then you are gone from next years list. As i just posted elsewhere though i feel that KB is becoming a bit boring, good but boring.
I just cant help but think that my 6 Kostas can be a mixed case of all sorts of weird and wonderful things from a Bedrock, Carlisle or Turley list as well as great mixed case of whatever takes my fancy at LWS, i could do a case with Syrah, bubbly, Riesling, port and wahtever and still save money over 6 bottles of pinot that i will feel like ive had before.
Strangly i dont feel this way about Saxum or Monte bello but that could change.
Disclaimer - It will always be easy to find contradictions in my posts, i do change thought processes regularly !!!
With the prices, there are usually some BB members willing to share part of their allocation to maintain their level. Very minimal regrets of dropping everything.
Bail on lists. Best feeling ever. I’m dumping left and right. Let it happen, it’s natural.
My palate started Old World, but with a tolerance for New World that faded, which combined with price increases led me to drop off lists such as Araujo and Colgin.
Then many of the Old World wines shifted to more closely resemble the New World wines I didn’t care for anymore (I’m thinking Bordeaux and both northern and southern Rhone in particular) and the prices shot up for those that didn’t change their styles, while at the same time there are more New World producers making wines that appeal to my old-style Old World preferences at reasonable prices.
Thus, I find that I’m on a number of California lists, but with some significant differences from my past CA mailing list experiences. First, the wines are made in a style that time has proven that I like and I don’t expect the style to change dramatically because it reflects a deliberate choice that in most cases I know reflects the style that the producer personally enjoys. Second, I don’t expect in most cases that the wines will be highly rated, high demand wines that the world will chase and drive pricing through the roof or appeal to flippers. Third, in almost each case, the amounts available and price points are low enough that I don’t feel pressure to buy more than I personally expect to drink just to stay on the list. Finally, I’m finding enough options that if one list gets to be too much, I can switch to something else that I will also enjoy.
I can understand the pressure from some of the lists I see (and one that I’m on) that offer so many wines in large enough quantities and high enough prices that they would create pressure to buy more than one is really comfortable with. But with at least some of them, the wines are also distributed through three-tier channels, which can be an alternative way of getting at least some of what one wants without having to make a large commitment.
Judging by the topics on WB in the last couple of weeks, this is a widespread affliction.
I have approx 250 bottles at the moment of new world reds, all good wines and all to my liking however the last three bottles ive drank are, Slovenian chardonnay, Trocken riesling and a Serbian Cabernet. The Trocken was good but the other two not so much yet they were fun for nothing more than trying with a new flavour profile
The more i read about being stuck with a bunch of wines that you no longer like the more im inclined to drop off a lot of the lists.Even with like Bedrock i am planning on the next release to go big on the whites and rose instead of the usual zin or syrah
Skipped a bunch of lists this year… probably will keep Cayuse / Rhys… and everything else- pass to others or straight drop.
I’m on Carlisle, Bedrock, Rivers Marie, Sandlands, Tensley and Ridge Monte Bello. I don’t feel trapped nor have considered dropping any of them.
If you feel trapped on a particular list, you probably don’t care enough about that winery to be on the list. Just drop it. Every time I think about dropping a list, I do…but there are plenty I’m still on because I want to be.