As my taste and budget have turned to Europe, I regularly buy from fewer than ever mailing lists, and in more limited quantities. My regular mailing list purchases are now limited to:
Ridge MB
Rhys
Kutch
Ceritas
Rivers Marie Pinot
Lioco
Eyrie
I buy occasionally from a handful of others: Walter Scott, Goodfellow, Vincent, Pax, Enfield …
Does Rhys count as one or three?
Many. But I don’t buy retail.
Way too many. I’m trying to cut back. All these mergers are good. When a winery gets acquired by megaultramonster, Inc., I drop it, so the number is getting lower. I think myriad and MacDonald are the only recent additions.
I’m using this response as a therapy…will look long and hard at the list, hopefully recognize it as the addiction it is, and perhaps thereby begin the steps necessary to gain my release from all their releases.
Cases per annum tiers
3 case + ;
Tablas Creek
Ridge (this one is on the shakiest ground, qpr threat level red)
Bedrock
2 case +
Calera
Sans Liege
1-2 case
Hammell Wine Alliance
Rhys
Alban
I have “friends” who abuse me with access to their Kistler and Aubert allocations.
I am on the wait list for SQN
Bedrock
Enfield
Failla
Ridge
I love this kind of honesty and transparency!
Too many - but love them all:
Myriad
Sojourn
Rivers Marie
Saxum
Rhys
Schrader
Ancillary
Riverain (a new list)
Kosta Browne
Cirq
Williams Selyem
William & Mary
Piper
Quivet
Carter
Realm
Rochioli
Sea Smoke
Patine’
Loring (a club)
Eric Kent (sort of a club)
Harlan (haven’t ordered since 2012 vintage though)
31 mailers (I don’t bite on most and when I do it’s a max of 6 bottles) and 10 waiting lists (SQN, Macdonald, Saxum, Cayuse, Ultramarine, etc) All of these are domestic and I only get on a list if I can’t find the wine in my market. I’m not into case buys at his point; still trying to learn what I like and how long I should hold them. If there’s a case minimum I go in with friends, which adds to the anticipation and fun. Variety is the spice of life
Sounds like a $20,000 list hobby
Have narrowed mine down massively since my experimentation phase when I went crazy figuring out stylistic preferences and ended up with way too much wine. Ones that made the cut for me and I am on now are:
Beta
Greer
MACDONALD
Piper
Pott
A more manageable number (for me) where I really enjoy drinking the wines (all special and opened only with friends / others to share), can order them consistently within budget, and enjoy maintaining a relationship with the people behind the labels.
I have a serious problem with these mailing lists.
Continuum, Bedrock, Ridge (MB), Rhys & Aeris, Jonata, Kistler (Chards), Rivers-Marie (Cabs), and Bergstrom. And I think Roy Piper.
But they are so tasty…
Proud to be down to Bedrock, Cayuse [last year] and William and Mary.
I just got a reminder email today from a list I used to buy from. It felt good to just delete it. After years of being a slave to a “must continue to buy or die” feeling about allocations, it feels good to buy as I want from wherever I want. There is always another good wine to buy.
Of the 50 mailing list emails i get there are none that I have not skipped releases on. Many I only have sporadic business with. None if them has forced me to buy. They all continue to send me release offers. No retailer will have luck telling me I must buy from them in order to continue as a customer. That’s just an insane practice.
Too many! However, I don’t see unsubscribing any of these within the near future:
Carter (OG, LasPiedras)
Myriad (GeorgeIII, Dr.Crane)
Hundred Acre (Few&Far)
Morlet (LaProportionDoree)
Realm (Fidelio)
Spottswoode (EstateCab)
DaVero (SagrantinoRiserva)
Lists hoping to land 2018/2019:
MacDonald
Cayuse (Impulsivo)
Ultramarine
I am on two where I buy my total allocation: Carlisle and Cayuse
I am on four where I buy selectively: Quilceda Creek, Ridge Monte Bello, Walter Hansel and Betz.
I get offers from many more that I have not purchased wines from in recent years.
My goal is to continue winnowing down by dropping off of lists or reducing my purchases. For example I have been on the Carlisle list for over 10 years and really love the wines. As a consequence of maxing my allocation for years I have over 400 bottles of Carlisle in the cellar. Even though Carlisle is my all-time favorite producer, at my age I need to start scaling back… but it is hard.
I need a break from work for a few minutes, so let’s make a list. I’m not so sure what “allocation list” means so this is what I get mail order direct and they keep offering me.
Saxum
Carlisle
Bedrock
Black Sears
Sine Qua Non
Cayuse
Next of Kyn
Aubert
Rivers marie
Myriad
Quivet
Scholium
The secret one I’m not telling
Sojourn
Rhys
Becklyn
Scarecrow
Tercero
MacDonald
Like I said, too many.
Outpost (but they got sold and they didn’t give me any Grenache this time and although they said they would sell me some library Grenache they never followed up so I will probably drop them even though I like the guys and their wines are good).
Schrader (but I’m dropping them because they got bought by the megalopolis)
Alban (they kicked me off years ago because they were stupid, and then they were rude and obnoxious about it, so I did not try to get back on but now they put me back on without asking, so I guess they are desperate)
Quilceda Creek (I haven’t bought in a while because I owned so much but they keep offering)
I truly do not know. I get emails all the time from wineries offering to sell me wine, so I assume that I am on their “allocation list.“ Most of them I ignore, but they still send me offers.
I will say that I am, or have them, on many of the lists mentioned above. I have dropped off many of them, and I can categorically say that I have not regretted it one bit.
In my 12 years of being old enough to buy wine and start collecting (which I did immediately when I turned 21), I was never on a mailing list until this years releases. That said, I am now on and have purchased from the following:
Carter (although worth noting this isn’t an allocation list like other wineries are)
Myriad
Pott
Quivet
I was fortunate enough to have a wine shop in my town that does a lot of business in the Napa Valley and gets access to some decent wine, so in the past, I did not have a need to sign up for any lists. Notable wines that I have enjoyed and can purchase from my local shop:
Barnett (namely the Rattlesnake)
Pott (but no longer, hence signing up for the list)
Fairchild
Spottswoode
Melka
Schrader
Turnbull
Kata
Bedrock
Quilceda
Paul Hobbs
Rivers Marie
Alpha Omega
etc
The reason for joining the Carter/Myriad/Quivet was mainly to get access to Mike Smith wines and access to affordable (relatively speaking) single vineyard wines from Beckstoffer sites that he produces. I could get a single vineyard wine from the same sites produced by Paul Hobbs or Schrader, but they retail for around $450+ versus the much more affordable $125-175.