CT Report By Region be damned or, why first love never goes away...

My favorite CellarTracker report is “My Cellar grouped by Region”. At least, I made the realization that it is the one I look at most often. And every time I look at that report, I damn myself to every saint…

Why can’t I get my France number below 60%?
Why can’t I get my Burgundy number below 20%?
Why can’t I get my Bordeaux number below 20%?
Why can’t I get my Italy number up to 20%?
Why can’t I get my Spain, South Africa and Portugal numbers up?
Why can’t I buy a single bottle from the US?

There is something to be said about first love or about the wines you grew up with: I tend to rely on them, sometimes to a fault. Every year, I make great discoveries outside of France, outside of Burgundy and outside of Bordeaux, yet the numbers don’t lie. They remain outliers. I rave to everyone about SA Chenin Blanc yet, most of my CB is from Loire. I keep telling myself to look to Portugal and Spain for more affordable long haul candidates yet Bordeaux EP comes around and many bottles are ordered. I spend some time looking for “Burgundian-like” PN but the only PN coming in the cellar is from Burgundy.

You can’t teach and old dog new tricks?
Chassez le naturel et il revient au galop?

Between my strong resolution to stop buying wine for cellaring (I joined the thread for that) and my cellar’s current “regional” distribution, I sure hope the next years won’t finally bring about a shift in preferences because that cellar won’t drink itself!

Consider yourself lucky Phil, I started with Oaky Okanagan reds and that number is only going in one direction these days, usually when I give them to my mom.

Phil, nothing wrong and a lot right with your concentration in France. But to have not found a single bottle from the USA worth putting down / having on hand is very surprising. I can personally attest that old dogs are able to learn new tricks. So there is hope that you don’t continue to keep your cellar door barred for American wines. Not to do it just for “affirmative action” sake, but because you want to. Bon courage!

Wine for me is about place, so while I drink and like a lot of stuff, I end up seriously only cellaring regions I’ve visited a number of times over the years and have the fondest memories of. Burgundy, Loire, the Mosel, Wachau, Piemonte, Bordeaux to name the most obvious ones.

This one is a doozy. A long time ago, I had a negative opinion of US wines because what we easily found in Quebec were wines that were not aligned to my taste. My wife and I then took a trip to California and although wine was absolutely not the main focus of that trip, we ended up tasting a few things and enjoying some of them. Since I wasn’t cellaring wines at that time and again, availability over here was an issue, I didn’t continue that exploration.

Wine then became much more of a hobby/priority and when I started filling in my cellar, I automatically went to the wines I know best. When I started branching out it was towards Italy, Spain, Portugal, SA, Austria, etc. The main problem, again, was availability of interesting US wines (based on my taste) and their price here in Canada. It seemed a lot easier for me to find wines from other countries at lower cost which made them a better choice for exploration.

Now that I spend more on wine and know a little better, I know I should go back and explore that region. Yet, I’m not. Hence my original post :slight_smile:.

Since 2015, I bought or was gifted 9 different US wines: 2014 Lyric by Etude Pinot Noir, 2012/14/15 Turley Zin Old Vines, 2016 Cloudline Pinot Noir, 2016 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir Hallberg Vineyard, 2017 Birichino Grenache Old Vines Besson Vineyard, 2011 Arcadian Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard, NV Mumm Napa Brut Prestige.

I also had a glass of 2015 Raymond Vineyard & Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Primal Cut at a steakhouse in New Orleans. That’s it.

So if you have time to waste and can find anything below that is available in my location (I’ll handle that verification) that I should try and don’t need to cellar to get at least some of the experience, I will strongly consider it :slight_smile:

My French numbers remain 70%+…the reason is simple bordeaux, burgundy, champagne, and the Loire all happen to be there!

I took a peek at that SAQ website, Phil. Hugely francophile and a little on the pricey side even after the exchange rate. I tried to come up with a few suggestions for modest, everyday, relatively inexpensive USA wines (<$30 ) that are solid IMO.

White:
St Supéry Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley 2019
Pine Ridge Winery Chenin Blanc & Viognier 2019
Red:
Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma 2018
Wines Of Substance Cs Washington State 2019 (Cabernet Sauvignon)

If Zinfandel is something you enjoy, SAQ also carries some very nice ones from Turley and Ridge at higher prices. The 2015 Turley Old Vines is a good one.

FWIW.
Cheers.

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Do your drinking percentages match your cellaring percentages? In other words, is the reason you cannot get certain regions up or down because of what you buy or what you drink - do you drink the wines from Italy, the US, Spain, South Africa and Portugal as soon as you buy them?

Mine French percentage is also close to 70% with Burgundy being about half of my cellar. It would probably be up to your level but I love German wines and have been buying a lot of 2019s of that lately.

Good question. It almost does. France is down a little because of Bordeaux. I buy but do not drink. Otherwise it’s pretty similar. The biggest difference is Champagne. I buy, drink, but rarely cellar. I had started another thread about this. I might be drinking my Champagne too young. The other noticeable regions are Spain and SA. I buy to drink more than to hold. It surprised me about Spain but then I thought about Albariño and it all made sense :slight_smile:.

Thanks Jim! For some reason, I missed your post back then…

I’ll check out your suggestions. In regards to Zin, not a huge fan but as I pointed out in my first answer to your post I’ve had the 2012/14/15 Turley Zin Old Vines. For a while, it was my BBQed ribs pairing. How would the Ridge compare to the Turley VV?

Correction: after checking CT, I never had the 2014.