Monthly check-in: Cellar inventory reduction plan

Ok we (well, the old farts among us) talk about owning too much wine, stopping buying, reducing our holdings, etc. So i challenge those of us to post on the first of each month whether during the month we increased or managed to decrease our holdings (or held stable). If you use CT, check your holdings today (including undelivered purchases) and record it somewhere (I won’t ask you to post it here but feel free to do so) and the on the first of each month tell us how you did. This will be hard for me as I don’t drink that much.

I will start. As of today I own 2545 bottles. Goal is to get down to 2400 by the end of the year.

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As of today, I hold 703 bottles. Goal is to get to 675 by year end. We consume about 350 bottles per year (two year inventory).

My major purchases (mostly through mailing lists) come over two periods: Jan - March and June - Aug. My strategy is to purchase fewer bottles each month versus what I did the previous year.

4/1/2018

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04/01/2018: 2898 bottles total cellared and pending
12/31/2018: 2680 goal to accomplish

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Wow, I feel like a piker. I was happy to go from about 750 in 2010 to 275 today. Mainly college expense induced frugality. The goal it possibly get to around <200 next year before we retire and relocate.

We stopped buying wines to long-term cellar a while ago and are only maintaining 1 mailing list.

Over the last year, I have cut back from 600 to 550. I hope to continue the decline. I am not getting any younger.
Phil Jones

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Some big dinners last weekend helped me in my goal.
Purchases in March: 0
Bottles consumed in March: 21 (counting a 3L as 4 bottles)

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19 bottles net negative so far in 2018. Goal is -80 by the end of the year, so actually very close to on track.

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Sent 670 bottles to auction last month and kept around 375. Feels amazing.

Not an old fart but 2227 and trying to reduce significantly this year.

1137 bottles

Goal is to get down to 1000 by the end of 2018.

BTW, I am 61

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1037 currently (985 with 52 pending)

Hoping to relocate from Texas to Oregon summer of 2020.

Would love to get down to 50 cases (600) but 60 (720) is more realistic. That would be a minimum of a net reduction of 12 bottles a month or 17 to get down to 600.

So how’s this. I have no idea how many bottles I have.

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The earthquake in 2014 reduced my cellar by about 200 bottles at home and destroyed my 500 bottle wine refrigerator. Haven’t bothered getting a new cellar and just keep the 52 bottle under counter wine refrigerator nearly full, replacing as we drink them.

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me either. And in no hurry to reduce.

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I have about 2400 bottles or so. I know why I am not looking to increase my total (I am 63, my total number of bottles seems like enough, I am somewhat running short of space without cramming in bottles in a less organized fashion, etc.), but I am not sure why I would be looking to reduce the size of my cellar. Reasons I could think of (I will be moving and want fewer cases to transport, I have no heirs interested in wine so if any wine is left after my demise it will go to waste, I need to fund an addition to my house, I have too much domestic wine that is less reliable to age and may be getting past its prime, my tastes have changed and I need to get rid of the stuff I no longer enjoy drinking, I am paying for offsite storage and I would like to pay less, I have decided that I like fresh and not mature wine, etc.) do not apply in my case. So, as long as the wines are not getting past their prime, I see no need to divest. I do buy house drinkers, continue to backfill older Burgs in 1-2 bottles increments for fun and amusement, buy some OR pinot and Rhys and W-S, continue to age the Burgs and pull them out when appropriate, and have pretty much given up the idea of pursuing new Burg releases after 2010 (Ok, I bought some 12’s and 15’s) so I don’t need to make room for the latest vintage. Of greater import to me is when to drink the wines I have, how to make sure I get to the ones I have an emotional (and not just financial) investment in before I am too old to hold a glass, etc. i already have a plan of succession. I have printed out a cellar inventory and categorized the wines into various levels of absurd value so that, should any be left after I am done drinking through as many as I can manage, my family can decide what delicious wine they want to drink and what they might want to sell at auction. So,I think that if my cellar is the same size when I die as it is now, it will be OK.

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I have been trying to be more selective in my red wine buying this year, partly as a means to make the cellar less jammed/cluttered and more navigable.

I’ve slowly begun to inventory stacks since I started this at the beginning of the year, and have located a number of bottles that I was unaware I still had, so a nice ancillary benefit as well :wink:

I am failing miserably at reduction.

Not really sad about that.

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This seems like Weight Watchers for winos. Are there points?

I need a legal ruling. Do I have to count the wines on the floor of the cellar that do not yet have a home in the slots and bins so I have not yet entered them into Cellartracker? How about the two cases in my office that I haven’t brought home yet?

See photo below for more details.
Cellar (00936247x9F683).jpg

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