I'm done*

[Dennis_Borczon]

This is a very reasonable stance to take. I am at virtually the same age and have decided the following…

1. Stopped buying ageable Bordeaux at 2010 vintage. It is amusing to see the circus going on by but now i just wave. Got an offer for ONE bottle of 2015 Margaux at $1,000+ USD (like this really needs to be tightly allocated?) Silly really to think of buying.

2. No more long aging Hermitage.

3. Limited CA Cabernet acquisition. Have lots but diet increasingly skewed to fish, lighter foods. Bunkered away tons of the stuff for pace of consumption. One advantage in this category is that they taste great at every point in the aging curve for me. Never worrying about closed phases much.

4. Champagne? Small number to age for special occasions. Supply is HUGE, and seems to expand over time. When i run out it can be bought everywhere.

5. Burgundy? Drinking early 2000’s and savoring the time to start on the 2005’s. I cannot seem to pass up Burg deals but village wines can be very satisfying in short run. Wait in a few years when all the speculation dies down and idiots are chasing weird Bourbon and Chinese single vineyard wines. Will buy old vintages of good stuff comparatively cheap and enjoy immediately.
   When i am old i won’t need lots of bottles

6. Rhys… can’t stop buying. Maybe the DRC of California someday. Everyone has that secret vice.

I support your resolve comrade! Think of those places you will go instead!

“The older i get, the younger i like 'em” -Robert Parker

[Scott_Watkins]

So as someone else here so eloquently put it your store is closed? I wish you all the luck in the world! Sadly I tried this a few weeks ago and then I caved and bought some Levet yesterday

[David_Cooper]

@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?

Robert Parker.

[Russ_Williams]

@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!

I desperately need to join you in this endeavor, so maybe we can start a support group as neither of us are likely to be that successful. We both probably need to request to be dropped from Envoyer’s email list to have a prayer. My short term goal this year is to drop my mailing list to 3 and only purchase ‘some’ champagnes I enjoy from Envoyer. If I can pull this off then I will consider this year the beginning of a new wine journey. Stay strong!!

[Anton_D]

@David Cooper

@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?

Robert Parker.

[dsimmons]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Unknown

[David_Cooper]

In a lot of cases wines are becoming more accessible. I was thrilled to hear Aldo Vacca say that his newly released Riservas will be ready to drink in 8 to 12 years. I am buying 2013 Barolo, but only Normales.

I’ve never been a real wine collector, more of a wine drinker, I rarely buy more then a couple of bottles of any wine, so I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I am the same age as Neal. I keep my inventory between 400 and 500 bottles.

[Jim_F]

@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.

Fair enough! It was meant TIC whilst viewing in the mirror

[ky1em1ttskus]

.

[Robert.A.Jr]

@David Cooper

@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?

Robert Parker.

LOL, and my Dad.

My Dad introduced me to old world wine, and now he likes 2007 Chateauneuf de Pape and big Cali Cabs. And high octane Zins.

[Carlos_Delpin]

I’m done too. Kind of. Had to move my cellar three times in four weeks due to hurricane related power issues. That took care of my buying habit.

[Matthew_King]

@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 …

Maybe the law of diminishing returns?

[Dale_Bowers]

I hear you Neal. I have 170 bottles in boxes on the floor because I have no more rack space, with 178 pending delivery, and I just responded to another Envoyer email yesterday!

[Pat_Martin]

I’m done buying too… but still, tell us about this great 2014 GPL deal!

[lleichtman]

I stopped buying agers after the 2014 Bordeaux and even wondering about those. I’m 70 so my drinking window may be narrowing faster than the wine’s drinking window.

[John_Keller]

You know, you could still buy as much as you want. You just don’t report it here.

I know, that would ruin some of the fun since posting about it is almost as good of a feeling as the actual purchase.

[Marcus_Dean]

@Neal.Mollen

In advance of the oncoming spring, I am trying to get all of my wine currently held by retailers shipped. And as the boxes pile up on the cellar floor, with no room in the racks to put them, and as I start doing age/bottles-per-week math in my head, I have decided to declare, here, publicly, that I am done buying wine.*/

I say this in part because after declaring, with great hubris, that I had bought nothing recently in the “what have you bought lately” thread, I immediately bough 6 bottles of recent vintage reds, a bdx and a burg. Why, I cannot explain. Good wine, yes, and good deals too, but seriously, this has become an autonomic reaction and not a conscious decision.

So, I am declaring here – so that the fear of ridicule will keep me honest – that I do not care whether someone is virtually giving away spectacular 2016 (or 17, or 18 . . .) bdx or bdx or barolo wines. This matters to me, officially, about as much as a 75% off sale on car covers for a 1966 Silver Shadow. The quality of the product may be outstanding and the price may be too low to believe, but I have no use for it. And I am declaring myself, officially, not interested.

*/ I suspect I will continue to be an easy mark for well-aged, reasonably priced reds. And it is conceivable that my currently-overflowing stock of champagne could require replenishing. But buying young red wines at this juncture is just not sane.

I am almost ready to make the same call as you Neal, chasing and obtaining great wines has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I am very happy with my collection, I have limited 2016 BDX to 36 bottles on pre purchase, Burgundy will be about the same and then I am out.
I have just turned 47 and my case of De Vogue Musigny 2015 will arrive this week, I store all my wines in Climate control at 55 degrees so I am guessing I will be around 75 when this wine hits early maturity.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Neal.Mollen

In advance of the oncoming spring, I am trying to get all of my wine currently held by retailers shipped. And as the boxes pile up on the cellar floor, with no room in the racks to put them, and as I start doing age/bottles-per-week math in my head, I have decided to declare, here, publicly, that I am done buying wine.*/

I say this in part because after declaring, with great hubris, that I had bought nothing recently in the “what have you bought lately” thread, I immediately bough 6 bottles of recent vintage reds, a bdx and a burg. Why, I cannot explain. Good wine, yes, and good deals too, but seriously, this has become an autonomic reaction and not a conscious decision.

So, I am declaring here – so that the fear of ridicule will keep me honest – that I do not care whether someone is virtually giving away spectacular 2016 (or 17, or 18 . . .) bdx or bdx or barolo wines. This matters to me, officially, about as much as a 75% off sale on car covers for a 1966 Silver Shadow. The quality of the product may be outstanding and the price may be too low to believe, but I have no use for it. And I am declaring myself, officially, not interested.

*/ I suspect I will continue to be an easy mark for well-aged, reasonably priced reds. And it is conceivable that my currently-overflowing stock of champagne could require replenishing. But buying young red wines at this juncture is just not sane.

[Howard_Cooper]

@alan weinberg

I tried to quit buying. Tried to face actuarial reality. So far, I have failed miserably. Plan B is to drink more.

My guess is that a lot of the wine you, Neal, Robert and hopefully me buy that need time to mature will be worth more (possibly much more) when we die than they are now. The one piece of advice that we should all start thinking about is giving instructions to our spouses and children how to get the value of the wines we don’t live to drink. Unlike saying we won’t buy anymore wines, hopefully this is one thing we actually can and will do.

[Howard_Cooper]

@J a y H a c k

Ma Nishtanah HaLaylah HaZeh?

It isn’t.