Too much wine...

After another trip to Envoyer and Legend Cellars, and trying desperately to find room for my wine, I’ve found out that I simply have too much right now. Far too much ‘Old World’, as I’m the only one who drinks it, and I’m right around 400 bottles, which is a LOT for me, given how fast we go through California Cab (Jen mostly) and Champagne. I spent 45 minutes deciding what to open tonight, and ended up with a village Burgundy (2006 Domaine Jean Tardy et Fils Nuits St. Georges Au Bas de Combe Vieilles Vignes) - it’s ok, but certainly I’m not buying more of it. My cellar is ‘valued’ at $30,000 and that blows my mind.

I want to buy Hanzell, Smith Madrone, and probably some more Northern Rhones, so you’d think I’d be able to plow through my cellar quickly to make room, just drinking everything as it’s already paid for, but I struggle mightily. Anything ‘good’, or great, I don’t want to open yet - there’s always some mysterious ‘special occasion’ that I imagine I’d rather open it for, but why?

We have a ‘casita’ outside our house - an enclosed room, no house access, no bathroom - that I keep thinking would make for an amazing cellar, as it already has its own HVAC system installed, and it’s more than that little room needs. Then I consider that I have ‘only’ 400 bottles and it makes no sense to spend a ton of money turning that unused (it’s got gym equipment in it now - but I go to 24 hour Fitness 3-4X per week, so it doesn’t really get used) room into a nice cellar. Then I’ll likely get MORE wine, to fill it, and have even MORE trouble picking a damn bottle. My 200 or so ‘saved for a better day’ bottles will probably double, and the sickness continues.

Whoa is me.

Build it and the bottles will come.

Go for it, please!

I feel your pain Todd. I’m in the same position but with 500 bottles. It’s a lot of money and wine with lots of bottles that I hope to open on that special day. Whatever that means.

The best part is you get to declare when it’s that special day!

2500 bottles give or take, I dont put value or purchase price in CT (Im too scared to think about it), my wine merchants have even told me its time to stop buying. Every time I think Im out, they pull me back in

About a year ago I made the decision that every Saturday evening was a “special occasion”. I’m now about 10% of the way thru my stash of special day bottles. It’s actually quite liberating and we really look forward to Saturday nights!!

It’ll only take about another ten years to get thru the rest, assuming I don’t buy any more.

Todd, don’t make my mistake, start drinking them now!!!

above my desk at work is a cartoon given to me by the owner of a wine store where I was once a big player. It shows a man standing at a counter in a hardware store being shown a hammer by a salesman. He is naked except for ropes tied around him draped with dozens of hammers. He looks with awe at the hammer being presented, and says, “wow.”

I can’t even fathom that. With 2500 bottles, if you have a bottle a night, that’s 7 years of solid drinking, assuming you never buy another.

If I’m having this ‘problem’ right now (and we have over 400, slightly, as I don’t count the cheap Cab I get for Jen, the ‘everyday’ wine - 2013 Beringer Knights Valley - great value) yet I can’t wait until I buy a CASE of Hanzell Chardonnay, or a half case of Smith Madrone - and not just once, I plan to buy many times.

Then, at Legend today, I’m looking at how many freakin’ bottles of Ridge I have IN THE OFFSITE! That means it’s wine I put away for aging, not to mention the 20-30 bottles in the Le Cache…even I was blown away. Had no idea, as I just started buying Ridge maybe 3 years ago? I bought a few dozen bottles of Burgundy because everybody said that’s what you end up liking the best, and that’s still not been my experience, so I’ve not purchased a bottle of Burgundy in well over a year (I think…I hope), so at least I have halted that one tiny aspect of my buying. I still love Bordeaux, and I love Northern Rhone more now than ever, probably, so that’s on the ‘list’ to buy…but I shouldn’t be allowed to buy until I drink what I have, as plenty of it is probably in a great phase right now. I have dozens of bottles from 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, etc, which SHOULD be in the perfect drinking windows for me, as I’m more of a ‘end of primary, beginning of secondary’ guy when it comes to my ideal state of wine, yet I don’t touch most of the better bottles.

Who the hell got me into this mess, anyway?

make the wine the occasion and just open them.

Jen believes that, for sure. It’s some random Tuesday and she pulls out Monte Bello or something - I freak out, because it’s ‘just Tuesday’ and she argues ‘why the hell not?’

It’s all paid for, it’s purchased TO BE ENJOYED yet the biggest problem is doing just that. Crazy.

we’ve got Braydn’s family birthday dinner tomorrow, and he requested red wine braised short ribs as the main entree, so we’re definitely pulling out special bottles - at least I’ll have two gone.

give it another 10 years and you will think 2500 bottles is normal, I have another 300 arriving over the next 8 months, its probably time to stop. I was strangely happy when I thought 2016 was a blow out in France, now I start reading some notes and think hmm maybe i need to keep buying. I know its crazy.

use the same wine that you are drinking for cooking, that gets rid of another pesky bottle

This place is a great enabler. I’m embarrassed at how many bottles I’ve accumulated in what I consider a very short amount of time.

I only wish I had a bigger cellar.

It started with a small passive cellar. Then we got a 500 bottle Vinotheque and I said, I’m stopping when I fill that. Then we got a temperature controlled home cellar that added 1400 bottles or so and my wife said, you’re done when you fill that. Then my company stopped allowing wine to be shipped to the office, so I got offsite storage to receive shipments. Then I got another bin there. Now everything is full and I have boxes sitting in the cellar.

This was the year age was supposed to make it stop, and then I went to the Piemonte this summer. I’ve been buying 2013 Barolos I might not live to drink. 2400 plus bottles overall at this point and I bought more earlier this week.

Face it, it’s an addiction, but it’s a really enjoyable one.

YUP

Such a timely thread. I had this self-realization smack me in the head today. Arrived back from the airport to a message from my secretary that six new cases had arrived in my office. Add to that what came in last week and what is being shipped next week, and that’s 11 cases and 5 mags. And 3/4s of that is 10+ year wines. My storage lockers, including the extra one I just took down, are now over 100% full. I have no place to put any of this, my fridges are full too. I spent 2 hours tonight packing the lockers. Some of the bottles are so pretty. My precious.

Kidding aside, I have no reservation popping anything, whenever. That’s the purpose, to enjoy life.

That’s true. Cheap wine on Saturday night? OK. Great wine on Tuesday night? OK. I now have wine spread across a few states. Moved about 1500 bottles cross country, got storage for about 20 cases more. Moved again and carried the trusty wine fridge for another 200 bottles, but there are 8 cases in the living room at the moment. Then I got a letter that some schmuck was shipping 7 cases they’d been holding for two years.

The thing is, at some point it no longer matters. You have a lot of wine. So drink it. If I didn’t buy another bottle for a long time, that would probably be OK. But other people spend money on a lot of things I won’t, like Apple products.

Todd wrote: ‘Whoa is me.’

Woe is you. Whoa is your horse.