Things you don't want to do on CellarTracker

One thing you don’t want to do is click on “Purchased” and see how much you’ve spent cumulatively over the years. I love this hobby and greatly value the friendships and experiences I’ve had, and I’m a small fish compared to most here, but even so I was taken aback.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I stopped doing that years ago…

Alan,

Yes, a few months ago, I clicked on “Purchased” to see how much I’ve spent in the past 10 years, since I’ve started to collect more seriously. It’s a little frightening – but here’s how to make it more palatable: After seeing how much you’ve spent, take a look at your current cellar valuation and then subtract that from the amount spent. If you then divide that net cost by the number of years you’ve been collecting, perhaps it won’t seem so terrible. For me, the average annual net cost was about equivalent to a nice family vacation.

It’s probably the only good thing that can be said about a cellar that continues to grow in size, with no realistic path to consuming it all in your lifetime.

Of course, your mileage may vary…

Another thing you don’t want to do is create phantom purchases. For instance, don’t “purchase” a case of 1990 Trollat St. Joseph and tie that purchase to a real-life store. Because there are some of us that track that type of activity (to the best of our ability) in CellarTracker and will call the shop and politely ask if they have anymore 1990 Trollat for sale. Usually this results in an awkward, albeit short, conversation about how they never had 1990 Trollat and to let them know if I ever find 1990 Trollat 'cuz they’d like to buy some too.

Is that for 2 or 4?

Regards, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Who knew people could set “geek traps.” Always bait with unicorn meat.

I am definitely going to add some ghost wines now.

People seriously do that?

Why? Is it to seem more impressive to themselves? Anyone who has needs like that needs to spend their money on counseling, not on wine.

I once worried about the wine I bought. Then I spent a lot of time in assisted living centers caring for loved ones. I worry less about wine these days. There may come a point in life where you can’t enjoy it any more. So if it’s something that makes you happy in life, enjoy it while you can. The saying is that if you make purchases, it’s better to purchase experiences than things. Wine is essentially both. You purchase a thing, but you do it for the experience you’ll have, hopefully with friends. So it’s a good thing.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!