Too Many Bottles In Your Cellar, Does It Worry You?

[Matthew_King]

What bothers me most is seeing forlorn wine that I once fancied in my neophyte/Wine Spectator phase, no longer do, that came at some cost, that I failed to act on, and is now likely past its prime.

Kistler Chards from the early '90s, anyone?

[Matt_Latuchie]

if you have a regular wine group, offer to host a party and provide all the wine. when i’ve attended these type of parties, the host has, at times, distributed the acquisition cost of the bottles across the attendees.

[cepotts]

Matt, there is always a market for old wine. If you are concerned about their drinkability, sell 'em.

[T_Melloni]

@Jim Anderson

There is not a person on this board that has not walked into their cellar at some point and no matter its size has not uttered the words, “Not a damn thing to drink in here.”

Hey, that sounds familiar!
So many times I go into the cellar and have a difficult time trying to find something to open.
Oh, those Bordeaux are just not ready . . . or that bottle deserves to be served at dinner with friends. . .or don’t break up the vertical . . .or those are my kids’ birth year wines . . . or the Chianti need a few more years . . . or 2004 Barolo? Are you kidding me about opening one of those now? . . . or I’m not opening a $60 wine with leftover chicken on a Tuesday night…or I’m not drinking that alone; it’s for sharing.

Yes, minor problems, but still they confound.
That’s why I have tastings with friends. Helps me share, clean out the cellar, and open bottles that would otherwise be delayed in opening.

[cepotts]

Honestly there are too many variables to have a meaningful discussion on this. How many is too many?

Let’s suppose you have 10,000 bottles and drink one a week. Yes, you have too many bottles.

Let’s suppose you have 1,000 bottles and drink one a day. No, you do not have too many bottles.

How old are you relative to your remaining collection?

Are you following a plan in terms of collecting, cellaring, and drinking? If not, why not?

Do you have a plan for the disposition of your cellar upon your death? If not, why not?

Are you actively managing the ratio of agers to daily-drinkers? If not, why not?

If it is your goal to diminish your cellar in concert with your life expectancy, how will you manage the need for diversity as the numbers dwindle?

Are you hoping to nurture and preserve the heritage of your cellar with your child(ren) or some other heir?

Those are just a few of the things that I consider when the question of “too many bottles” comes up.

[Bob_Hughes]

I like Sarah’s response

[brodie_thomson]

@Dusty Gillson

I’m sure that the number (or range of numbers) of bottles that might be considered too many will vary greatly based on age, drinking habits, etc., but I am overwhelmingly curious to have a few data points from folks who claim some concern about the number of bottles they have and how they might manage to drink through all of it.

How much wine is too much (for you and your situation)?

Dusty, another data point for you

with nearly 5k bottles, I have enough wine to last me until my mid 80’s IF I NEVER BUY ANOTHER BOTTLE…(yeah as if that is ever going to happen!)

this is almost certainly too much wine, but it does not worry me.

Brodie

[Stuart_BeauneHead_Niemtzow]

I stopped buying in 2007…and I still think I have too much wine in the sense that I will probably not get to drink it all.

I like to play with it, too and consider what I have, but I don’t miss adding to it or buying, etc. I thought I would, but it is a nice, disciplined feeling to not feel the need to buy or add to it, too.

[PeterH]

Based strictly on numbers, I don’t have too many bottles. ~2000 in the cellar, at least 400 opened a year, average time cellared more than 7 years.
The difficulty is keeping a balance that matches our dietary and entertaining habits. I’m often in the situation Jim describes of not being able to find a single damn thing to drink that is suitable.
I have far too many reds compared to white, too many southern Rhone, the Italian wines are all too young, I’m seldom interested in opening a Bordeaux, I’d like to open Ports, but have no one to share them with, the prime drinking window of most the last ten years of WV Pinot Noir are all going to converge soon, not enough wines in larger quantities to serve at parties.

I wish there was one enormous warehouse in town holding tens of thousands of SKUs, and one could just buy shares and draw on the entire library. Then I could keep only the 50-100 most likely wines to drink next at home. Based on how I do meal planning, I could probably do with less than that.

P Hickner

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

@PeterH

Based strictly on numbers, I don’t have too many bottles. ~2000 in the cellar, at least 400 opened a year, average time cellared more than 7 years.
The difficulty is keeping a balance that matches our dietary and entertaining habits. I’m often in the situation Jim describes of not being able to find a single damn thing to drink that is suitable.
I have far too many reds compared to white, too many southern Rhone, the Italian wines are all too young, I’m seldom interested in opening a Bordeaux, I’d like to open Ports, but have no one to share them with, the prime drinking window of most the last ten years of WV Pinot Noir are all going to converge soon, not enough wines in larger quantities to serve at parties.

I wish there was one enormous warehouse in town holding tens of thousands of SKUs, and one could just buy shares and draw on the entire library. Then I could keep only the 50-100 most likely wines to drink next at home. Based on how I do meal planning, I could probably do with less than that.

P Hickner

It was big step when I started to buy the most of what I reach for to drink the most, and the result has been amazing. Yes, red Burgundy is the largest holding in my cellar, and I still buy it, but the multiple case orders are now mostly about champagne, rose, chablis, Riesling and Northern Italian non-Barolo/Barbaresco. The holdings of things I reach for only now and then have dropped, and we never have the “nothing to drink” problem.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Steve L Gellman

I’m planning to cut back significantly after the 2013 releases.

I have been saying that for years.

[Howard_Cooper]

@PeterH

the prime drinking window of most the last ten years of WV Pinot Noir are all going to converge soon,

How is West Virginia Pinot Noir?

[Howard_Cooper]

@Sarah Kirschbaum

One can argue that you are somehow wasting money if you buy wine you are unlikely ever to drink, but I disagree. Hobbies bring us pleasure in many ways, most of which are fleeting, and we pour money into these hobbies anyway. If I die with wine un-drunk, having loved the process in all its manifestations along the way, I am ok with that.

And the wine can be sold after one dies. My wine probably appreciates as well as my investments.

[AlexO]

@GregT

I’m planning to cut back significantly after the 2013 releases.

So you buy mostly CA wine?

What are too many bottles?

It’s like insurance. What if you want to have a Chianti one night and you don’t have any? Or you want a Napa Cab, or you want something from Cote Rotie and you don’t have anything? You’re screwed and you end up drinking something you’re not in the mood for. Better to have something around just in case.

+1

[Jonathan_Favre]

@Jim Anderson

There is not a person on this board that has not walked into their cellar at some point and no matter its size has not uttered the words, “Not a damn thing to drink in here.” Except for maybe Jon Favre. There is ALWAYS something to drink out of that bad boy.

Just seeing this tread . When are you visiting :p?

[Loren_Sonkin]

Your wines will probably last a lot longer than you think. Of course, it depends on how you like your wines.

Sometimes I go in the cellar and nothing is ready to drink. Other times its all over the hill. Usually, I manage to find something though.

[Dan_Donahue]

Basically stopped buying 5 years ago. Now I have a cellar full of mature wines. Life is good.

[R_Frankel]

@PeterH

I wish there was one enormous warehouse in town holding tens of thousands of SKUs, and one could just buy shares and draw on the entire library. Then I could keep only the 50-100 most likely wines to drink next at home. Based on how I do meal planning, I could probably do with less than that.

Peter – that does exist. It’s called Wine-Searcher. Almost anything anyone could want is in there, just a few clicks and a credit card away. I’ve thought of existing this way – just keeping a few dozen bottles on hand and buying one or two at a time for what I want (soon) if I don’t have it. Of course I don’t live this way, but it’s a nice dream. You could do it if you have will power!

Also – Sarah, great post and great answer. In short: yes.

[JBierly]

Yes. Need to buy less and drink more.

[Tom_Moore]

@Sarah Kirschbaum

No, it does not worry me. We have quite a bit of wine, enough to last many, many years even if we never bought another bottle (assuming current consumption rates hold steady at 300 - 400 bottles a year or so), and we still buy with regularity and in quantity.

I worried a little when my husband and I got married and I thought about the size of our combined collection. I wondered if we should perhaps cut back on buying, now that we had a deep and broad assortment of exactly what we love at our fingertips. Then I got honest with myself and admitted that, while drinking the wine is my favorite part of being a wine lover/collector, I also get pleasure out of the act of buying, out of perusing offers, out of shopping for the wine, out of attending auctions. And yes – I get pleasure out of the sheer having. I love playing with the collection in CT and looking at it from different angles (region, producer, drinking window). I can’t wait to have our new house, and thus our new cellar, complete so that I can finally see everything we own in one place!

I do not think there is anything wrong with enjoying this aspect of collecting wine, the buying and the having, along with the drinking. One can argue that you are somehow wasting money if you buy wine you are unlikely ever to drink, but I disagree. Hobbies bring us pleasure in many ways, most of which are fleeting, and we pour money into these hobbies anyway. If I die with wine un-drunk, having loved the process in all its manifestations along the way, I am ok with that.

Overall I feel the same way although I am still in the process of balancing my cellar 100% to what I actually enjoy drinking. At 250 - 300 bottles per year drunk from cellar I have about a 7 year supply which doesn’t sound like much but…it would be nice to actually be able to walk into my cellar. As it is I have to immediately step onto a ladder and suspend in midair! Cellar was designed to hold 1500 and currently am bursting at the seams and behind on inventorying. My wife loves wine like me but thinks we have enough to last a lifetime and no way we will drink it all. On one hand I wish she suffered the same disease as I do and on the other she keeps me grounded.

I spend countless hours per day, every day dreaming, thinking, searching, buying, organizing, drinking the stuff. Crazy obsession indeed.