Hi Howard,
Israeli wine in my cellar:
Yatir Forest
Castel Grand Vin
Feldstein - dif. red wines of this winery
Sea Horse - dif. red wines
Yarden Cab.
Yarden Katzrin Red
Hans Sternbach Janeba Reserve
Shiloh - dif. red wines
Recanati - dif. red wines
Agur - dif. red wines
Naaman - dif. red wines.
This is the major part 
I hope it helps 
I have had some of these - Yatir Forest (a bit too modern for me), Castel (well, at least Petite Castel, which is very good), Yarden and Recanati (not bad for reasonable prices). Any recommendations for a AWFE type of wine drinker?
like me! My system is random chaos. I’m always surprised by what I find . . . or don’t find.
You like Castel Petite Castel, so:
Castel Grand vin is in the same direction and better in all aspects.
Sea Horse winery - very good wines but also original and interesting.
This is an interesting exercise; thanks for suggesting it.
Here’s my numbers:
Overall
Rhône… 24%
Oregon… 22%
Bordeaux… 17%
Tuscany… 11%
California… 10%
Piedmont… 4%
Burgundy… 3%
Washington. 2%
La Rioja…2%
Mendoza… 2%
Valencia… 1%
Campania… 1%
2019
Rhône… 18%
Bordeaux…18%
Tuscany…17%
California…10%
Burgundy…9%
Oregon…9%
Washington…6%
La Rioja…4%
Piedmont…4%
Mendoza…4%
Valencia…0%
Campania…0%
It looks like I’ve shifted this year from Oregon and Rhône to Burgundy and Tuscany. I was aware of the Oregon/Burgundy migration, but the Rhone/Tuscany shift comes as a bit of a surprise to me.
most of my cellar was purchased in the last year, so the numbers are overall pretty similar. the main difference being that I bought way more Oregon pinot and way less Bordeaux this year. result of going to Bordeaux 2 years ago and going to the willamette in 2019. plus just not having space for a bunch of Bordeaux that’s gonna need forever to age. depending on how tariffs go in the next month, im guessing that will likely continue to be the trend.
In 2019, I bought (in descending order) champagne, white burg, austrian riesling, northern rhone reds, red loire, and 80’s claret. Only 80’s claret was already well represented in the cellar. It was a good year!
Interesting exercise and a good way to take stock heading into the new year. Thanks for suggesting it.
Region | % Cellar | %Purchase | % Consumed
R Burgundy | 39.0% | 46.5% | 39.5%
R Piedmont | 15.0% | 15.0% | 14.8%
W Burgundy | 5.3% | 9.0% | 14.6%
R N. Rhone | 7.5% | 7.2% | 3.2%
R California | 12.9% | 7.0% | 17.1%
R Bordeaux | 3.5% | 5.0% | 3.5%
Champagne | 3.3% | 3.3% | 10.5%
R Oregon | 3.2% | 2.7% | 3.8%
My migration to Burgundy continues. Will buy very selectively in 2017 and ramp-up 2018. Backfill focus is 71/78/90/91/93/99/02/05/09/10. Would like % cellar to match or exceed % consumption.
Piedmont & Northern Rhone are in a good place and I’ll buy only favorites in good+ vintages from here forward. Backfill focus is 70s/80s/90s for Piedmont and Chave/Clape/Allemand/Jamet for N. Rhone. Probably need to slow down the N. Rhone purchases a touch.
Champagne probably needs a bit more buying and will be focused on the big houses and Cedric Bouchard.
Domestic purchases will continue to moderate and be laser focused on select producers as I draw down my Cali stocks to a more appropriate level. Note much of that Cali consumption is selling of wine that’s no longer in my wheelhouse.
Howard,
We have discussed premox in WB’s quite a bit on other threads. Seeing that your wine purchases were 34% WB in 2019, I am wondering what your strategy is, eg: buy only certain producers that you find less prone, buy only wines under DIAM, buy but plan to drink up by 5 years, age them normally and take your chances, etc.
Buy and drink up by 5-7 years. I think my purchases reflect less that white Burgundy purchases have gone up (in fact, they were down from 2018 and about equal to 2017) and more that overall purchases have gone down a decent amount as my overall wine cellar has gotten too large. My overall purchases were 40% of what they were in 2017, with the biggest reduction being in reds needing a bunch of age (as I have accumulated a bunch of age). Also, my percentage of white Burgundies in my cellar will always be smaller than my percentage of purchases because I do not age them as long as say red Burgundies, Bordeaux and California Cabernet and so they turn over faster.
In terms of producers, I bought the most from Bernard Moreau, Bouchard, Drouhin and Ramonet (about 2/3 of my purchases). I have had pretty good luck with aging Bouchard (under DIAM), so I could let these 2017 Meursault Perrieres age a bit longer.
My #1 issue will be that I have more 2014 whites than I have ever had from any vintage. I am drinking them, but have a number to go through because the whites are so good. My issue is that a lot of them still taste young and do I take a chance with trying to age a few of them longer.
Existing
Red Burg - 56.5%
Red Bordeaux - 14.5%
Piedmont - 13%
Northern Rhone - 4.1%
White Burg - 2.4%
Southern Rhone - 1.5%
Sauternes - 1.4%
Calif Red - 1.3%
Purchased in 2019
White Burg - 26%
White Calif - 22%
Provence - 18%
No Rhone - 10%
Loire Valley - 9%
Bordeaux - 9%
Piedmont - 3%
Champagne - 3%
Red Burg - 2%
My purchases these days are for more near term consumption, no longer buying ‘in size’ to store for 10-30 years out…
For the WB segment. My purchases are a small fraction of the existing cellar (sub 5%). So the relatively large percentage of WB purchases will be consumed within 2-5 years. I’m no longer (with few exceptions) saving WB for the long haul to see how it goes, too many bad experiences after waiting. I remember a 1999 Coche ‘Perrieres’ I had in 2014-2015. Purchased in 2001 or 2002, from a direct source, waiting 12 years. And was completely PremOxed. Very sad…
2019 Purchases
Champagne (25%)
Burgundy (12%)
Bordeaux (1%)
N. Rhône (3%)
Loire Valley (6%)
Jura (1%)
Oregon (5%)
Blueberry Wine (12%)
California (2%)
Tuscany (8%)
Piedmont (4%)
Germany (8%)
Lebanon (5%)
Austria (1%)
Spain (1%)
Portugal (1%)
Other (5%)
My Cellar
Burgundy (21%)
Champagne (8%)
Rhône (6%)
Bordeaux (3%)
Loire Valley (2%)
Piedmont (19%)
Tuscany (3%)
Oregon (9%)
California (3%)
Maine Blueberry Wine (3%)
Rheinhessen (8%)
Mosel (2%)
Other Germany (3%)
Lebanon (5%)
Other Around the World (5%)
Boy, I feel like I just wrote the same things. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Guess it is our age and size of our cellars.
I’d guess this is not an uncommon place to wind up after 30 years of buying/collecting/storing wine? Got all the ‘great’ wines you need, unless a crazy deal comes along (a friend wanted to unload some of my favorites last year, offered me a bulk sale at under what he would have received in auction just to not have to bother with it, I couldn’t say no!), and you need the usual yearly drinkers (mostly white, some rose, some champagne)?
Most of the longer lived reds I buy today come from wineries I have visited multiple times (generally Burgundy), where I plan to visit again and where I feel an obligation to buy their wines because of how nicely I have been treated there.
Looking at the numbers, my Champagne and Oregon purchases were way, way up. This isn’t a surprise as I’d never bought much of either before. In 2019 I tried to focus primarily on adding in categories I like but had historically shirked and secondarily on restocking categories where I had holes or worry about running short, which will also be my focus in 2020, which is why I expect California to be way down in 2020.
2019 Purchases:
Champagne 24.4%
California 18.0%
Oregon 17.0%
Bordeaux 7.7%
Burgundy 6.5%
Rhône 6.0%
Piedmont 5.7%
Loire Valley 3.4%
Normandy 3.4%
Germany 2.7%
Friuli-Venezia Giulia 1.2%
Spain 1.0%
Austria 0.7%
Overall Cellar:
California 28.2%
Rhône 13.2%
Burgundy 12.8%
Loire Valley 12.1%
Bordeaux 7.1%
Oregon 4.1%
Champagne 3.8%
Germany 3.3%
Piedmont 3.1%
Spain 1.8%
Austria 1.5%
Tuscany 1.4%
OK, this is fun. For me, especially in the case of California, “consumed” might mean sold. Need to continue getting rid of CA wines and probably should purchase more from Italy, Germany, Alsace, and the Loire.
Region | Cellar | Purchases | Consumed
Burgundy | 23.9% | 36.2% | 14.7%
California | 15.5% | 5.2% | 26.0%
Champagne | 14.1% | 23.3% | 9.3%
Bordeaux | 10.5% | 9.5% | 4.4%
Oregon | 8.0% | 2.9% | 7.9%
Rhône | 5.6% | 4.8% | 4.4%
Spain | 5.0% | 0.5% | 8.4%
Tuscany | 2.8% | 4.8% | 4.4%
Washington | 2.8% | 0.5% | 3.4%
Piedmont | 2.6% | 1.4% | 2.0%
Germany | 2.6% | 1.4% | 2.0%
Other | 2.4% | 3.3% | 8.1%
Douro | 2.1% | 0.0% | 1.5%
Alsace | 1.2% | 3.3% | 1.5%
Loire | 0.9% | 2.9% | 2.0%
Really interesting that almost everyone here is buying a lot of champagne, at least relative to their cellar composition. Should be a really exciting region to watch over the years, especially as the big houses move onto 12/13 and growers reach 18/19. To me Champagne is where some of the best values are to be had nowadays, if you look hard enough…
I wouldn’t risk it. Best bet is to sell off whatever you can’t drink in the next 6 months, ideally to me.
![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
Yep. I 100% get this and if I had similar relationships I would always do the same. Unfortunately (for me) the vast majority of my acquisitions over the years have come from stores both in the US and in London. And virtually every one of those has turned over, or the business model changed to where I no longer receive the good allocation. Ah well, Circle of Life, or as Journey would say “The wheel in the sky keeps on turning”.