Do you calculate your end of life when thinking about what to buy?

Given that there have been a few threads regarding when someone stops buying Bordeaux, Burgundy, young wines, any wines, I’m just wondering - for the people who decided that they’re not going to buy any more of something, did you figure your lifespan into it and what age are you giving yourself?

I have a friend who’s 85 and still going strong. Loves sherry and wine. One grandfather didn’t make it past 75, the other remarried at 82 and my uncle just passed at over 103. Then I have another friend with an immense wine collection who ended up with a prognosis that eliminates all alcohol from his diet.

I have no idea how to calculate it and don’t mind opening a wine on the young side anyway.

So if you’ve thought about it and made some decisions accordingly, what’s a good age to imagine you’re not going to want wine any more?

And I realize that some people may be going strong otherwise but for medical reasons need to give up wine. Do you figure you’ll not need any more wine at 75, 80, 95, or what?

I’ve often mentioned that actuarial realities preclude me from buying young red Burgs, though my passion and inquisitiveness occasionally overrule my judgment. It’s a hobby and often logic and sensibilities go out the window when looking at something I have never tasted, is at a remarkable price, or that I badly want. As I’ve said before, I’ll probably interrupt last rites* to complete one more internet futures order.

*kidding, not Catholic

82.7

As a 27 year old without a tenured job, I calculate the end of my disposable income. pileon

I agree with Alan. I don’t plan my wine buying that precisely. I have in general cut way back on wine purchases over the last several years - my purchases in 2019 were about 1/3 of my purchases in 2016 - but I still buy wine when there is something I really want. If in 2021 or 2022, I end up going back to Burgundy, I am sure my purchases will spike. They likely will go up this year over last year because I likely will want some 2019 German wines. So, I do what I want to do as long as it does not otherwise really impact my financial position and frankly when I die (hopefully a long time from now) it is likely that my heirs will be able to sell the wine for more than I paid for it (in total).

One of my wine mentors is still drinking well, well into his 80s. I have a lot of longevity in my ancestry, though most of them had lifestyle advantages over me. As such, I plan to use 100 as my “stop buying” age (and I’ve already stopped buying vintage Port). Obviously, this isn’t particularly realistic, but it still gives me a frame of reference against which to stop buying certain categories, and while it means I’ll almost certainly die with wine in the cellar, it also means I’m reasonably unlikely to die with 5 year old Bordeaux in the cellar.

If, when it’s getting close to time to stop buying other categories of wine, my health is already in decline, I’ll probably knock 100 down to 90 or 80 and stop buying the other things sooner than if I assumed 100. If my health continues to be good into my 70s I won’t do that, but if when I’m 80, or 85, or 90, I start to think I’m not going to drink that long, I’ll start drinking more of the “good stuff” from the cellar and I’ll buy less of the everyday stuff. Or maybe I’ll stop buying and drinking the everyday stuff altogether. And, of course, a lot of this will also depend on my investment returns in retirement. If they wildly exceed my expectations, I’ll buy fewer daily drinkers and more mature wine at auction. If they are significantly below my expectations, I’ll stop sooner on some of these categories or otherwise adjust as I have to cut back. Making these kinds of plans decades in advance is silly if you don’t build in plenty of flexibility.

And if I get hit by a bus when I’m 60, well, my wife and kids will have plenty to drink or sell. [snort.gif]

The 2045 ( my-100) I heard will be spectacular !! neener [wow.gif] [cheers.gif]

Yikes !

Interesting, thanks for this. I had been using 75 for mine but to your point it might be better to be optimistic…

thinking about this some more, if I buy much more wine it may be my end of life . . . when the wife sees the bills or wine.

If she was going to kill you are about you buying wine, you would have been dead a long time ago. champagne.gif

I’m like a cat with 9 lives. That plus she just beats me to within an inch of life.

I am 81 years old. I drink, with my wife, two or three bottles of wine each week. I own way to much wine for my age. BUT sometimes I see something that is “too good to pass up”, or I would like to taste and know. Many of my old burgundy s have been sold. It is hard for me to drink a bottle worth thousands of dollars. I have kept a few Birthday, Anniversary. Holiday wines. If this pandemic ever goes away, or I get vaccinated I like to go to a great restaurant with friends. That was the time to bring two or three bottles of something special. You need wine to drink with dinner a few nights a week and you “need” celebration wines at any age.

Optimism helps, I think, at least mentally if not practically. For example, the 2016 vintage ports will be 50 years old when I turn 100. Seemed like a great last vintage to buy, and I made sure that, once I had my 2016s, I had enough VP (1977-2016) to drink two bottles a year until then. If, when I’m 80, 100 seems too optimistic, I can start drinking 3 or 4 a year, or just plan to leave them to the kids…

At 70, I have stopped buying special occasion wines and even most of the highly sought after wines I used to hunt down. Except for a couple producers that I get a decent allocation of some of my favorite wines, and a connection to DRC for a couple bottles, I’m just buying a few ready to drink wines to fill in some holes.

67-68 seems to make the most sense if you already have a cellarful of the stuff.

Based on family history, I have planned to run out of wine in the cellar at 90. This is a long term plot in the spreadsheet that looks at the average depletion rate over the last 5 years. I am 62 this year and do not buy hardly more wine that requires 20+ years of cellaring. Last Bordeaux vintage was 2009, still buying burgundy but in tiny amounts and this will stop soon I expect. Last burgundy vintage where I bought significant amount of wine (10cases) was 2010.

If I live longer I am ok with drinking younger wines. If I don’t make it to 90 the children will either drink it or sell it and that is fine too.

Currently in my 20s, buying with reckless abandon [snort.gif]

Biggest priority is buying enough to last me over the years. Growing the cellar at about 1-2 cases per month.

Mike, you’re my hero. At 64 I’m starting to feel old (even though I don’t really feel much different than I did when I was 30), but now I realize I’m just a young whipper snapper. Think I’ll buy something tomorrow [cheers.gif]

I don´t think that - when the time comes - my last thought will be: oh my god, I have x000+ bottles in the cellar that I cannot drink anymore -

I have kids, they like wine, they can either cellar and drink - or sell the remaining bottles. I´m quite sure the bottles won´t lose value, at least most of them.
Moreover I´m not in a really bad shape - so I plan to live (and drink) close to 100, another 35-40 years -
(but of course you never know - it can be over already tomorrow -)