Saying goodbye to wines.

[Gregory_Dal_Piaz]

@Robert Pavlovich

With stuff like pristine '89 Beaucastel, I’m getting a better idea of what you’re talking about Greg.

You and Brian need to make some plans my friend. Maybe we can get Foxy and GregT to join in.

[Gregory_Dal_Piaz]

@Bill Bøykin

@Gregory Dal Piaz

@Bill Bøykin

[quote=“Gregory Dal Piaz”

I’ve been building the list by reviewing cellartracker, which is part of the problem. There before my eyes are I credible scoring wines, crazy alluring reviews. I know I don’t like these wines that much, or at least as much as they are worth, and yet pangs of regret as they slide I to the shippers.

Brother,

I would focus on this point:If you truly feel that “I know I don’t like these wines that much,whether they are/have " I credible scoring wines, crazy alluring reviews,” then let them go.You know better…and send all the charbono and chinato to me…buona fortuna ,il mio fratello!

Why don’t i just come and visit with some of the wines I’m not selling? Better for both of us!

I can’t and won’t argue with that…[/quote]

I’ll be in Italy for most of March-June, so patience might be required but let’s try and figure out a time that works for both of us.

[Bill_Boykin]

D’accordo

[Ken_V]

Amen, Brother Greg! I am on my way to help you drink a few bottles!

Stay calm and drink on!!!

[Jay_Miller]

My condolences for your loss but my congratulations on the resolution to carry through with it!

[Dan_Rosenheck]

First stop should be Berserkers Commerce Corner, no? Heck, I’d be first in line to take some aged Italian gems off you.

[Sanjay_Nandurkar]

I have been selling wines from my cellar over the past decade. All the styles that I had one time liked or bought on by reading critic notes but those which I on longer appreciated are best not removed from the cellar. If I walk into my cellar and continuously ignore a wine then I sell it, open it with my friends who appreciate that style, or gift it to friends.

Cellar space comes at a premium. And it feels nice when cellar is declusterred.

[Tran_Bronstein]

This thread makes me wonder… how many bottles of a wine that you like do you guys actually buy at a time? If it’s gotten to the point where you have to sell off the cellar contents because there’s no way you’re going to drink them all… I think you have way too much wine.

Mike Grammer once told me that the ideal number of bottles to purchase was 2 – that way if you like the wine, you have another bottle handy. If you don’t, you can bring the other back for an exchange. This has been a wise purchasing philsophy indeed.

Not only this, but if I know a wine will release multiple vintages then I will only get ONE bottle of the vintage as I build up the collection of that particular wine into a vertical.

I have only ever broken this rule for three wines by purchasing over two bottles: an Australian 35 year old Tawny, a botrytised Riesling/Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, a botrytised Viognier from Australia, and a 20 year old Greek Vinsanto because they were just that good.

Even then I would argue I have too much as well but that’s because my friends don’t help me drink enough of the stuff. It’s their fault, really. Not mine.

[John_Morris]

@Tran Bronstein

This thread makes me wonder… how many bottles of a wine that you like do you guys actually buy at a time? If it’s gotten to the point where you have to sell off the cellar contents because there’s no way you’re going to drink them all… I think you have way too much wine.

You think?

@Tran Bronstein

Mike Grammer once told me that the ideal number of bottles to purchase was 2 – that way if you like the wine, you have another bottle handy. If you don’t, you can bring the other back for an exchange. This has been a wise purchasing philsophy indeed.

That seems to assume you haven’t tasted the wine. I tend to buy only what I’ve tasted.

But two isn’t really enough for long-lived wines. I generally buy at least three bottles so I can open one after a few years and make a more informed estimate of the optimal drinking window. With only two bottles, if I guess wrong on the first, opening it too late or far too early, the chances of wasting all my bottles is increased.

[George_Chadwick]

PM sent.

[Steve_Eisenhauer]

I’m getting ready to move from a 12 room house with a big wine cellar to a 2 bedroom apartment with none. From about 100 original cases, I’ve identified the ones I really want to keep (about 30 cases). It was tough originally, but has become tremendously freeing.

[AdamK]

Planning on selling anything privately? PM me if you have a list and prices of stuff to sell.

[Steve_Eisenhauer]

@AdamK

Planning on selling anything privately? PM me if you have a list and prices of stuff to sell.

I’m going to have a cellar clearing party. People can bring boxes and checks and leave with wine.

[Brian_Tuite]

@Gregory Dal Piaz

@Brian Tuite

We need to have another “Drink Greg’s Wine Night”!

You better believe it. Example of a wine that I’d bring. Wanted to sell some of my 1989 Beaucastel. Purchased on release, non leakers with perfect fills, labels look rough and vintage tags have dissolved so there’s no great market for that juice. Time to drink it! There are quite a few other great bottles with low fills, or signs of seepage, that I am confident come from failing corks not heat since they have been in my possession since release and the leakage is new.

Planning a trip to NYC?

Heck, we may have to!

[Robert_Pavlovich]

@Gregory Dal Piaz

@Robert Pavlovich

With stuff like pristine '89 Beaucastel, I’m getting a better idea of what you’re talking about Greg.

You and Brian need to make some plans my friend. Maybe we can get Foxy and GregT to join in.

Too bad I’ll miss you later this month during La Paulee, I’m usually good for one NY trip per year.

[Nick_Gangas]

So I’ve sold a few bottles in my day and here’s my best advice. It depends. What are you selling and how much work do you want to do.

If you’re selling older collectibles like 78 or 89 Mascarello, Giacosa and Conterno ? Things that are not on the market. Then I’d either call friends or post in CC. You’ll get closest to market. Acker also doesn’t charge seller fees and with you being in NY seems the best. With a bunch of oneies and twos you may just call winebid. I think the commission starts at 20 percent and goes lower for larger consignments. Again it depends on what you’re selling.

I’m going through this again as we speak. When I look at the cellar and the value of so many bottles over $500 per that I just don’t drink it seems crazy. The question is do I cut down to 3’s of everything and sell half of each or purge another producer.

[Ken_V]

@Nick Gangas

If you’re selling older collectibles like 78 or 89 Mascarello, Giacosa and Conterno ?

You obviously don’t know Greg.

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

Thank goodness that I double-checked the thread title. At first, I thought that it said Saying goodbye to WIVES", and having said goodbye to three myself with great success, I was about to chime in. However, on the saying goodbye to WINES, I stew and fret and analyze like Greg, but in the end, I rarely look back and regret what I have done. When push comes to shove, I sometimes find it helpful to read Parker reviews of the wines under consideration for disposal. If the wine sounds like low-alcohol port or a slab of bacon that has been stored in a new Alliers oak box for two years, then parting with the wine, sometimes even untasted, is no problem. I cashed in all of my remaining La-Las, Chave Cuvee Cathelins and Bonneau Cuvee Speciales that way, and replaced them with old Nebboli…

[Bill_Boykin]

@Bill Klapp

I cashed in all of my remaining La-Las, Chave Cuvee Cathelins and Bonneau Cuvee Speciales that way, and replaced them with old Nebboli…

As you should…

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

However, nothing like the Great Cult Cab Dump of many years ago. Over50 cases out the door, and the economic equivalent in old Giacosas, Monfortino, magnums of 1989 Gran Bussia and magnums of 1989 and 1990 Sandrone CB back in, purchased at what now seem giveaway prices. Ah, the good old days!