I'm done*

[Jeff_Bloom]

My wife reminds me regularly of the mortality and wine aging correlation (along with the fact that I have no space left to put anything), so I have tried to stop buying wines that need time and have failed miserably. The best example was our trip to the Piemonte this summer, tasting several excellent 2013s. Knowing I shouldn’t, I have been buying a bunch, hoping they’re ready before they end up with the nieces and nephews.

[K_John_Joseph]

@Neal.Mollen

My kid likes champagne, a little, but red wine not at all. For whom (or for what) am I aging them? To auction them? Feh!

In all seriousness, the fact that this will be a challenge is sad. It has become an expensive and useless habit – succumbing to the chase for the “right” wine at the “right” price for the chase’s sake – and it has to stop.

Neal,

I’m only 34. You can adopt me and send me wines whenever. I’ll be like a real son, call once every few months, and we can meet up around holidays once a year. I’ll tease you, but respect you, and will help find a nice geezer home for you when you become senile. Deal?

[ky1em1ttskus]

See you next week! Lock the door until then, please.

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

@Robert Alfert

So Neal is a bit older than me, I’m 52, but have been teasing him about his foray into 2013 Barolo and 2015/2016 Bordeaux. I’ve refrained. It’s not just the age - I’ll be 72 when these wines are really hitting their drinking window - but for the big wines, it’s also cheaper to backfill. And smarter. Therein lies the focus: I’ve had a blast seeking and buying well-stored, matured and affordable Bordeaux and some other treats. Amazing what’s available in the marketplace.

+1 (except I’m 49…and I moved a lot of my “new vintage” dollars to more Riesling and Champagne)

[Mattstolz]

@K John Joseph

@Neal.Mollen

My kid likes champagne, a little, but red wine not at all. For whom (or for what) am I aging them? To auction them? Feh!

In all seriousness, the fact that this will be a challenge is sad. It has become an expensive and useless habit – succumbing to the chase for the “right” wine at the “right” price for the chase’s sake – and it has to stop.

Neal,

I’m only 34. You can adopt me and send me wines whenever. I’ll be like a real son, call once every few months, and we can meet up around holidays once a year. I’ll tease you, but respect you, and will help find a nice geezer home for you when you become senile. Deal?

Count me in for this too! we’ll have a grand old time, mostly out of obligation and family related holiday participation and mutual love for wine .

[Ken_V]

@K John Joseph

@Neal.Mollen

My kid likes champagne, a little, but red wine not at all. For whom (or for what) am I aging them? To auction them? Feh!

In all seriousness, the fact that this will be a challenge is sad. It has become an expensive and useless habit – succumbing to the chase for the “right” wine at the “right” price for the chase’s sake – and it has to stop.

Neal,

I’m only 34. You can adopt me and send me wines whenever. I’ll be like a real son, call once every few months, and we can meet up around holidays once a year. I’ll tease you, but respect you, and will help find a nice geezer home for you when you become senile. Deal?

This made me LOL!

Since I am a bit older than Neal, I face the same situation. I am hoping that at least one of my kids gets more serious about wine before I die, so it won’t all just get sold off.

BTW I already have lots of volunteers for “wine adoption”.

[Neal.Mollen]

Some very entertaining replies. I am not old – well, at 61 I am older than Alfert by almost a decade, but not yet ancient – but the no-new-vintage-reds equation is informed by the fact that I don’t drink all that much (and don’t think it is all that wise to increase alcohol consumption as an excuse to buy), also that I like the wines I love with age, and the fact that I simply cannot imagine how at the current (or even a moderately increased) rate of consumption I am going to empty the larder. And if, when I am 80, I can’t find anything to drink, I can raid Alfert’s cellar.

Besides, I have other interests that will easily soak up the time and money now devoted to wines I likely will never drink, and I can enjoy the fruits of those purchases the day I bring them home. Think of the new hifi gear!

[Anton_D]

You’ll be back…

UPw-3e_pzqU

[Kirk.Grant]

Neal, I’m with you…too many bottles for the Eurocaves. Time to drink up what I have.

[Jim_F]

Oh for god’s sake, I detect some guilt in here someplace . I am 64 and figure this is the new 40s. I did buy 2016 Bordeaux and I admit it worries me a bit, that vintage in particular of the last trio, but what the hell, I think I like them younger than you guys anyway. Maybe you need to adapt to younger wines? But…the writing is on the wall. Was this my last foray into bordeaux?

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

Good luck, Neal. I made a similar pledge a couple of years ago and have pretty much kept to it other than for young domestic syrahs, which my wife likes, Champagnes, some domestic whites and roses, SQN offers, some Cabernet/Bordeaux with age in them . . . Wait. Maybe this isn’t working out the way I planned.

[Sc0tt_F_tzgerald]

Just remember, on their deathbed, no one ever says “I wish I had bought less wine”. Think of each of those bottles as a good memory waiting to happen!

[Mattstolz]

if you start decanting the current release barolos now, they’ll be ready for your 65th birthday!

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

I wish you the best of luck in this seemingly impossible endeavor, Neal. If you manage to pull this off, a statute will likely be erected in your honor.

Per Robert’s observation about his father: I think mid-late life palate shift, as opposed to death, is something that we all need to give greater consideration to when planning our wine purchases. Hell, I’m still a bit short of 40, and I already think I only have a decade of unbridled buying left in me; I sense you’ve probably had a similar worry for awhile, but haven’t been able to follow-through on it. Riesling, Champagne, and White Burg. are always there for you if you get the shakes …

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

Ma Nishtanah HaLaylah HaZeh?

[Scott_E1]

I can see how this would be a very difficult thing for those who love and can afford aged Bdx, Barolo, Burg, etc. and those who love to collect. I figure I’m lucky that (a) Bdx got too pricey before I got into wine that heavily; (b) I hate the chase - I don’t buy wine to collect them, but only to drink them; and (c) I drink my wine on the young side, generally aging them no longer than 7 years. My cellar has stayed constant at about 650 bottles - I just replace (in numbers, off of a list) what I consume. I imagine I will have to change my ways at retirement though (I’m almost 61)… Cheers!

[Anton_D]

The easiest answer here is to switch from buying new release wines to buying mature wines…you can go from ‘buy and hold’ to ‘buy and drink!’

[CJ_Beazley]

@Brian G r a f s t r o m

I wish you the best of luck in this seemingly impossible endeavor, Neal. If you manage to pull this off, a statute will likely be erected in your honor.

Per Robert’s observation about his father: I think mid-late life palate shift, as opposed to death, is something that we all need to give greater consideration to when planning our wine purchases. Hell, I’m still a bit short of 40, and I already think I only have a decade of unbridled buying left in me; I sense you’ve probably had a similar worry for awhile, but haven’t been able to follow-through on it. Riesling, Champagne, and White Burg. are always there for you if you get the shakes …

I was reluctant to post this but, my FIL has always had an old world palette and we’ve enjoyed many great older bdx. But begining in his late 70’s he really starting shifting to bigger and bigger wines (Cali cabs) in an almost ‘chasing the dragon’ kind of way. Anyone else experienced this?

[Neal.Mollen]

@J a y H a c k

Ma Nishtanah HaLaylah HaZeh?

LOL!

[Neal.Mollen]

@Jim F

Oh for god’s sake, I detect some guilt in here someplace . I am 64 and figure this is the new 40s. I did buy 2016 Bordeaux and I admit it worries me a bit, that vintage in particular of the last trio, but what the hell, I think I like them younger than you guys anyway. Maybe you need to adapt to younger wines? But…the writing is on the wall. Was this my last foray into bordeaux?

To paraphrase someone (I think it may have been Victor), the guilt, dear Jim F, is not in the OP, but in your post.