No more space, do you keep buying?

WINE TALK
41

I feel the same way. Finally got everything in controlled storage at home now I have 4+ cases of wine between Bedrock, Desire Lines and Carlisle to pick up. That’s 4 cases that need to be consumed in the next 30 days.

42

For years when confronted with this issue I just added space. First the large Vinotheque, then a smaller wine fridge, then the built out wine cellar, then one off site bin, then two off site bins, then one small and one larger off site bin.

Reality finally smacked me in the face earlier this year when I couldn’t move in the cellar because of the boxes piled up and I acknowledged that I might not live long enough to drink some of the wines being offered. Did the complete moratorium for several months but recently picked up some daily drinkers and small amounts of list favorites from whom I’ve bought cases in the past.

We’ll see what happens when I clear up some space through consumption, though. :wink:

43

sell and share here. In past i upgrade size of offsite (3 times). But a couple years ago drew the line at max capacity and have held there.

44

I got rid of a fair chunk of stored wine. Got rid of the space. Keep buying with the goal of NOT getting more off-site space again.

Success!!

Now I just keep buying and throw those cases at friends’ cellars. I think they are getting pissed.

45

I am in a similar situation!

46

I stacked and stacked until my otherwise attractive cellar became almost unusable. Then, I moved about 700 bottles to an offsite, so the cellar is now much more presentable. Forced me to do an inventory, too, which was helpful.

47

This thread is foolish. Happiness can’t be contained in a “space”. I mean, right?

48

I have ~200 bottles at home, ~400 offsite, ~200 waiting to ship or enroute. But we are building a house with a 1,600 bottle wine room so, technically, I have plenty of room.

49

Mark,
Trust me, NOT FOR LONG !! [wow.gif]

50

Wait.
Space determines buying??! :crazy_face:

Ohhhhhh…

51

I filled my in home cellar fairly quick. I filled my off site locker even faster and it has more capacity than my home cellar. I will be onto locker #2 next year. I plan to be more selective with my ordering as I have quite a bit of Carlisle, Bedrock and Turley that are very reasonably priced, which leads to more bottles and I like with 5+ years of age on them.

We have been laying down our wines as most of my wine collection is fairly young. My wife is also pregnant so the only time I’m opening bottles is when we have small get together’s with family and friends. Looking forward to getting in my order of older Ravenswood so we can start drinking those right away.

52

Some folks here calibrate these things with a high level of precision even though the science is mostly unexplored and the basis for the decisions we make mostly anecdotal.

I am not nearly as precise. I run the cooling unit in my cellar about 5 months out of the year (resulting in ~56 degrees Fahrenheit) and turn it off as soon as the weather cools (this year in mid-October). The cellar warms up a bit for sure, but gently, and then cools down a bit when winter arrives. It’s prob around 60 in there now but I no longer have a working thermometer down there so I am not sure. If it is distinctly sweater weather in there I am happy enough.

My guess is that this makes my wine age a little faster than it would at 56 degrees year around but (a) I don’t know that there is any real data to show that this intuition is true and (b) I certainly know of no data that show how much it might speed the aging. Moreover to keep it at 56 year round I’d have to heat the damn thing. Just too much trouble.

53

56 - 60F is pretty precise Neal. My passive cellar (16 years now) is typically 58 - 68F, very slow gradual annual changes back and forth. I’m not worried.

RT

54

I filled my space with a couple of thousand bottles and stopped buying pretty much everything except daily drinkers about five years ago. It hasn’t killed me. Cellar is depleting-almost out of Pinots for instance. Lots of Bdx and Napa Cab still down there. I occasionally think about re-entering the market, but the interregnum has sort of taught me that there is plenty of joy to be had at much lower price points than I used to buy wine at. Drinking lots of Italian whites, Italian reds (not Barolo and Brunello) and 2015-2016 sub-$25 Bdx. I don’t know if I’ll ever revert to my old buying habits.