In praise of buying single btls

[alan_weinberg]

can’t stand having just one. If I love it, I’m depressed. Open too early and I’m depressed. If I have multiple and don’t like it, someone else will. More is better.

[Kirk.Grant]

@R. Frankel

So this got me wondering what my cellar distribution is by bottle count per wine. Here it is:

12 bottles 8%
11 bottles 1%
10 bottles 1%
9 bottles 1%
8 bottles 1%
7 bottles 2%
6 bottles 16%
5 bottles 1%
4 bottles 8%
3 bottles 23%
2 bottles 23%
1 bottle 14%

I definitely have a lot of singletons, but 8% cases and 16% six packs surprised me. I generally don’t buy by the case that often unless it’s a wine I’m pretty psyched about. Clearly doubles and triples are my most common strategy.

How do you run this report in CT??

[Russell_Faulkner]

Rarely buy less than six of anything. Exceptions are just due to price, scarcity or logistics.

[Andrew_Christiansen]

@alan weinberg

More is better.

…and this from a urologist.

[Craig_G]

@Russell Faulkner

Rarely buy less than six of anything. Exceptions are just due to price, scarcity or logistics.

Did you buy six of those watches?

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@e chin

I purchase mainly 1 or 2 bottles. I’m still in the learning stage and this allows me more diversity and lowers my overall cost/risk. No regrets in not buying more as there will always be another vintage down the road. It would help if I had the experience to better project how a bottling will evolve as I do enjoy them with some age.

While there need not be any hard and fast rules about such things, 1 or 2 bottles most of the time for those just starting out makes a lot of sense to me. As a beginner, I set out to taste as many of the great wines of the 20th century as I could, and when one starts backfilling in that game, it will necessarily be single bottles most of the time, due to cost. After you learn what you like, then is the time to start buying in 3s, 6s (or 7s, better yet…one for now and a half-case left), 12s (13s) or more. There are indeed always new vintages coming along, and also backfilling opportunities, along with the added bonus for most of getting older and into one’s peak earnings years when backfilling is afoot. Matt Kramer used to like to say that one should buy at least 6 of any wine of interest, but his idea was based solely on having an adequate supply to follow the wine’s development over the years. I often like 3 of a wine that seems interesting but unlikely to make my greatest hits list…one to try, but then 2 still available for a dinner party. The other aspect of buying fewer bottles is that, as your palate matures and changes, you are less likely to be stuck with a lot of wine that you no longer want, and you are spared the trouble of cellar thinning, often at a loss.


Like many beginners, I collected a lot of verticals and mini-verticals at first, but, having discovered that drinking mediocre vintages with great vintages of the same wine at the same time teaches little (other than that the mediocre vintages were a waste of money) and provides even less fun, I stopped. (Horizontals are obviously a very different story.) However, more recently, once I had adequate stocks of my preferred wines but wanted to do some backfilling of wines that I elected not to collect the first time around, I sometimes go back to a modified vertical strategy: I backfill mostly single bottles of the top vintages of a wine that I am backfilling, sometimes going to multiple bottles up to 6 as available, such that I end up with something of a strong-vintage vertical. I then tend to drink the bottles as singletons most of the time, but if, say, the 2001 Cavallotto San Giuseppe Riserva that I open is corked and I do not have another, I go to the cantina and pull the 1999 vintage of the same wine. Obviously, it also allows testing 2 or 3 vintages head-to-head if I like. Going at it that way, I often backfill at favorable prices, get to taste the best vintages of a given wine and ultimately accumulate a case or two of the wine spanning decades in some cases, which I drink as I would a case or two of a single vintage of the wine. A pretty interesting approach, unless one’s available alternative is multiple case quantities of 1962 or 1990 La Tache…

[Scott_Brunson]

@craig v

In the past I always felt I’d buy 3 or 4 btls of any cellar wine or none. I’m changing my mind on that and finding that single btls can be very rewarding, risk limiting and easier on the overall budget.

Last night had a killer little $20 WHT Burg - 05 Bize Savigny les Beaune Blanc. This was an Envoyer btl that sounded great but gave me pause because of possible premox. Still, I couldn’t resist and it way out performed my expectations. Would it have been fun to have one or two more, yes, but no regrets as one good night was just fine and no risk of running into a less solid second btl. Bottom line, very happy I bought one instead of none. If I had pondered buying three, I never would have pulled the trigger and enjoyed this wine.

Craig, I bought three. The first was moderately advanced, the second was fantastic and the third, on Thursday night, was Drano. I found it undrinkable. My wife tried harder than I and actually drank half a glass before pouring it down the sink.
That one fantastic bottle now cost me a bit more.

[RandyH]

I always buy in 3s.

[Russell_Faulkner]

@Craig G

@Russell Faulkner

Rarely buy less than six of anything. Exceptions are just due to price, scarcity or logistics.

Did you buy six of those watches?

Well that was scarce, pricey and the logistics of hiding the other five from my wife would be too hard…

[David_Bu3ker]

I used to buy a number of solid cases. Now 6 of any given wine is normally the upper limit (excepting some German Rieslings that get consumed quite quickly e.g. Merkelbach and Selbach Kabinetts). For most things I prefer buying in sets of 3.

That being said, I have no issue with buying 1 or maybe 2 of a very special wine. It is sometimes hard to open them, but I just figure that I am getting zero pleasure from the unopened bottle!

[Marc_Frontario]

I mostly have single bottles…the most I have of any one wine is 4 bottles…though the reason why is…I have a small cellar so I didn’t want to fill with lots of the same stuff

[Michael_Martin]

It depends. Wines I like vintage in, vintage out, I buy a lot of. Sometimes I buy a single just to complete a case. Sometimes to try a new producer. No rules really, just case by case decisions. No pun intended.

[craig_v]

Thanks Scott, now I feel like a genius Just got another single Envoyer btl to ring my hands over, the '95 Kalin Chardonnay. The color is not promising. Hopefully the wine is nearly as great as those guys say it is. Thinks references were made to Battard. Thankfully, only one again. Hoping for the best though.

@Scott Brunson

@craig v

In the past I always felt I’d buy 3 or 4 btls of any cellar wine or none. I’m changing my mind on that and finding that single btls can be very rewarding, risk limiting and easier on the overall budget.

Last night had a killer little $20 WHT Burg - 05 Bize Savigny les Beaune Blanc. This was an Envoyer btl that sounded great but gave me pause because of possible premox. Still, I couldn’t resist and it way out performed my expectations. Would it have been fun to have one or two more, yes, but no regrets as one good night was just fine and no risk of running into a less solid second btl. Bottom line, very happy I bought one instead of none. If I had pondered buying three, I never would have pulled the trigger and enjoyed this wine.

Craig, I bought three. The first was moderately advanced, the second was fantastic and the third, on Thursday night, was Drano. I found it undrinkable. My wife tried harder than I and actually drank half a glass before pouring it down the sink.
That one fantastic bottle now cost me a bit more.

[Scott_Brunson]

Craig–I like that Kalin but Batard it ain’t.

[craig_v]

Hate to admit it but, I find myself agreeing with Bill above that single btls make a lot of sense when you’re just starting out and when you’re like me nearing the end of your major cellar building. I’ve been collecting and drinking for around 15 years and my cellar is pretty much where I want or need it to be. I think, I’ve hit a point where its really not necessary for me to keep buying 3 or 4 btl lots of many wines and the single bottle strategy makes more sense for me. Random week night singles combined with backfilling singles of cool stuff is what I want to do going forward. No more 3-4 btl, new release, red Burgs, NRs, Barolo, BDX or CDP for me. Perhaps an occasional, non mailing list, 3 btl scenarios of select Oregon and CA PNs like Arterberry Maresh and Mt Eden Vineyards.

[craig_v]

It will be fun to try. I don’t drink much CA Chardonnay anymore except some unoaked week night qpr stuff like Toad Hollow.

@Scott Brunson

Craig–I like that Kalin but Batard it ain’t.

[todd_waldmann]

Early on, 1 or 2 bottle purchases were the norm for me. As I was building my cellar, it was 6-12 bottles generally, with 3 bottles for the more expensive stuff. Now that I have an inventory that is more than I will ever consume & Burg prices are officially stratospheric, I’m back to 1 or 2 bottle purchases for Grand Crus, & even many of my favorite Premier Crus.

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@craig v

Hate to admit it but, I find myself agreeing with Bill above…

Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the power of the postings that I write
The power of the music of the RIGHT!

(Apologies to Andrew Lloyd Webber…)

[Robert.A.Jr]

My preference remains multiple bottles. I like experiencing the evolution of the more quality wines I buy for cellaring. On QPRs, I do 6-12+ quite regularly.

[Brad_B_a_l_l_i_n_g_e_r]

I’m the “buddy” Craig mentioned in the first post. I’ve almost always bought in 1-2 bottle purchases. It made sense when starting out, as has been mentioned, and it has continued to make sense. It also helps me keep my cellar size at 300-400, which suite me just fine. As far as the double-edged sword goes, I’ve lived it. I have had beautiful older bottles that I wish I had more of, and I’ve had disappointments where I’m glad I didn’t buy more.

My MO, however, isn’t the same as Craig’s. I just really like trying a lot of different stuff. And if I load up on multiple bottles of the same wine, I don’t have as much budget to grab one or two of something that is really intriguing. There have been times where I will go back and buy more of something I’ve had (if it’s available) because it was incredibly good. But, overall, there’s A LOT of good wine out there. And, more often than not, I’m going to end up liking what I buy.