More likely to buy wine by the case or a few?

I now look at my cellar tracker and think “what a mess”. :astonished: ones, twos, threes of a lot of different wine. I’m wondering if more people here are more likely to buy their wines by the case and have fewer varietals or if this practice is more standard of singles and doubles.

A lot of times I know what I want now but see that single bottle of it and I know I’m going to pull something else from the wine fridge.

So does your collection look more like some sort of random drive by or mostly a few select labels with different vintages?

Assuming quality/price is similar… for the VAST majority of time, i prefer 4 wines, 3btls each, then a 12 btl case of one wine.

once in a while it’s nice to follow a wine in its evolution.

of course i don’t have 5000 btls in my cellar such that i can have cases and cases of every wine that’s desirable. :wink:

Both. I have a ton of singles and duos, but also a substantial number of larger lots, with the top end being 20 bottles of a specific 2012 German Riesling.

Lots and lots of 1s, 2s, and 3s in my cellar. It’s pretty rare for me to buy more than 3 bottles of any given wine…at least at any one time. I think the only regular exception to that is Bedrock Old Vine zinfandel, of which I typically buy 6-8 bottles each year. I’d rather drink broadly (across producers and cuvees) than repetitively.

Of course, when I find something I like, I’ll typically buy 2 or 3 bottles every vintage. So, there’s depth in the cellar, as well.

Rarely cases, mostly 3 - 6 bottles.

My relatively modest cellar capacity prevents me from buying cases of any particular bottling. Occasionally I’ll take a case of daily drinkers, but those stay in the upstairs wine fridge for the most part. Seems like a lot of ones and twos when I look in CT for something to drink, but I’d take variety over a more concentrated cellar. I’m still working on winnowing down producers, but will probably continue to diversify within producers as each tend to have a number of good bottlings.

I imagine we all have that same issue drinking a single bottle of anything, but if it is reportedly drinking well at that point in its life, then why not? My SO has the reverse problem - if its the last one in the store, she feels strongly compelled to buy it (regardless of what it is and whether she needs it or not).

Quantity purchased is a direct function of how much we like it. Cost is secondary, but certainly a factor.

Nice, but not nectar of the Gods = 2 or 3 bottles.

Wow, really good! = 4 or 5 bottles.

Oh my GAWD! This is KILLER! = 6+ bottles.

Of course, if several family members are in agreement on one particular vintage and producer it’s an automatic case buy - or more. ('01 Arrowood Reserve or Monte Rosso cab, '03 JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreich auslese, etc)

Rarely purchase a case of the good stuff, more likely to purchase a case of cellar defenders. Last case purchase was 07 AuBonClimat Sanford Chardonnay…wish I had bought ten cases.

I don’t always do it, but when I can, I buy 4-6 bottles. As time goes on, I know better and better what I am excited to see in my cellar, and am more likely to go a bit deeper. But deeper might mean backfilling vintages from a certain producer, because I like “learning” the label.

The key here (for me) is to be excited by the options presented by your cellar, not to feel limited by them.

It is rare that I buy a case of anything. Very rare. Too many stores give big (huge) discounts buying in case lots. I tend to buy much, much less from those stores than I would if they discounted the bottle price. They may think they are encouraging me to buy more, but in reality I am buying less.

I buy in twos and threes for almost everything. I only have a 300+ home cellar capacity and do not want off-site storage.

I have pretty few cases, mostly buying 1-4 of things. Usually 1 is a “tester” and I have a lot of those. If I like it I’ll buy 2 - 4, depending on price, availability, phase of the moon, or whatever.

Check out this thread for more on this subject:

When you have an advanced and apparently untreatable case of WAD, then buying in 3-4 bottles vs 12 should (“in theory”) slow down your rate of purchases…

In truth this approach leads to buying a greater range of wines which is good as well…

So cases of 12 are extremely rare (Donnhoff excluded)

Brodie

2 or 3 bottles is fine when you buy year in and year out. So if you buy Spottswoode every year, for instance, you would have 20-30 bottles in your cellar dating back a decade with the opportunity to open 2-3 bottles per year. That is my approach.

Tom

Wow. I’m actually shocked by the overall answer. I was really waiting for people to say that they know what they like and although they have singles and doubles they buy cases of their favorites.

Seems like the opposite is true here thanks for the input.

I buy cases of everyday drinkers.
One case each of a couple of different roses each spring summer, a case of Gonon’s Feray when available a case of Drouhin St Veran good value everyday white

  1. Rarely purchase cases.
  2. Predominantly 3-6 bottles.

The key here (for me) is to be excited by the options presented by your cellar, not to feel limited by them.

Yep. And when I had more space, I would buy a case or so if I liked something or got a good deal on it. And then when we drink through a few of those, we end up with one or two or three left. Then I buy a bottle of something I want to try and if I don’t drink it right away, sometimes just leave it and end up with that sitting around. So in the end, we have lots of singles.

Seem to be right in line with the majority here. One’s, 2’s or 3’s unless it’s Scherrer zin futures or PG Beserker Pinot.

yearly cases of a couple of CdR’s, rosés and summer whites