Not sure I qualify as a statesman,but I clearly am an Elder…No longer buying anything that will require or merit aging…yes, I stopped buying Bedrock and Carlisle as well…for my palate their wines need at least 5, if not longer, years to show their best…Used to love big reds but no longer buy em, just drinking down the ones in my cellar w/o replacing…currently buy only whites,roses and some easy/early drinking reds…palate has shifted as wife and I have modified our diets and eat lighter fare.
Just turned 57. Im still buying things that will be ready to drink in 20 years. Dont want to be stuck drinking Yellow Tail in assisted living.
Get busy living or get busy dying. That’s God damn right!
Yeah, this point is key. Outside of certain Burgundies and a few other wines where rarity and access for backfilling is a real issue, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have large wine collections any more. Certainly for Bordeaux you could just buy as needed and let other collectors provide you with free storage in the intervening years, LOL.
I say this as someone who started collecting 20 years ago and has a collection. Of course there is a good argument that it never made a lot of sense, but now it makes less sense than ever. For most wines the pure psychological element of collecting is the major remaining justification.
I’m 64 and am proud to report that I have successfully stopped buying young Bordeaux about a dozen times. I really thought I had it licked after skipping 2017 and 2018 - not even a flicker of desire. Then I caved and bought 2019s. There was no logic to it. Makes more sense to do what Tom and Markus recommend: go to the secondary market as needed.
Benchmark Wine Group usually has aged wines available and usually priced less than the sharks and flippers. They are pretty good on monitoring provenance and squeaky cheap if buying your old wines so they can move them at a reasonable price. If we don’t have an older vintage of a specific wine requested by a customer, they are the first place we look and/or refer people to. They are also a good source for birth year wines if you were born after wine was discovered.
Put the link in your tabs/links in case you need it.
64 here - and I stopped buying futures about ten years ago.
And as Neal says, you can never have enough bubbly, so we still replenish with regularity. And, I have found that my significant other has become a Prosecco whore, so we are still purchasing that by the case.
My cellar is a little over 600 bottles, mainly Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolo & Brunello. But I have less than 15-20 bottles of American Cabernet, so I purchase those on a whim when I want to taste something, but my significant other won’t drink American Cabernet (too heavy), so we only go through 3-5 bottles a year anyway.
Well I’m past the point of buying new vintage port and starting to think what comes off the list next. But the kids keep encouraging me to buy, buy while sending me chocolate eclairs and filterless Camel cigarettes. Not sure what that is all about.
Thanks Randy. It was more denial and foolish enthusiasm than ignorance that led me to buy 2019 futures rather than wait to see if I’m over the hill before they’re mature. I’ve been a happy Benchmark customer for mature Bordeaux for a while.
I just turned 66. I’m not buying much these days as ~950 bottles is enough. I don’t buy Bordeaux so that makes that easy. The last red Burgundy vintage I purchased in quantity was 2005. I have Chablis through 2014 with a couple of 2016s. German Riesling? I’d say ~80% of what I have is 2001-4 (no '03s). No plans to buy any more.
I pretty much buy daily drinkers now with a couple of exceptions. The main one is Ridge Monte Bello (four 375s on pre-arrival) and Estate Cab. Next year will be my last for Monte Bello. 2020 seems like a nice vintage number to finish up with. It’s foolish to buy MB now, but it’s not like I go crazy in general.
I do back fill when the prices meet my budget.
If I stopped buying now I’d be out of wine in a matter of 2 or 3 years the way we go through it. No need to stop but I am looking at what I buy and limiting my purchases to wines that will mature before I do. I’ll be 60 next year so I’m not sure what that means exactly but I’ll do my best.
Stopped at the Bedrock tasting room today and bought another case of Lulu. One of those wines we never seen to have enough of.
happy birthday, Mr. Reddick. You’re still too young for this thread! Hahah.