It’s a good thread topic and something I’m starting to feel a bit.
My story is that I’ve added lists since moving to Texas, partially because it’s so much easier to ship from wineries than deal with Texas markups or trying to get well-priced wines from out of state. The other part is that I’ve had (sort of) the opposite wine trajectory of many here. I started with Burgundy, expanded to other parts of the old world, dipped my toes into CA with Rhys/Kutch/Ridge and the other board favorites, and now am exploring a little more. There are a lot of interesting things going on stateside–seems like a ton of energy and diversity that previously was lacking–and it seemed silly to neglect and write off anything new world just because I love Burgundy etc. That said, I’m going to closely manage the number of lists, because even now with a modest number the cost and influx of wine is growing intense, such that I may drop a list or two after only one offering.
As Ryan, Joe, and Scott have said, it’s a bit different perhaps being in TX. I have both a slight advantage straddling the NM border, with an office in Las Cruces I can have wine shopped to, but a huge disadvantage with Specs and Costco being the only two options of retailers.
I like this thread. I have recently regretted buying from so many different domestic producers and wish that I knew five years ago what I know now.
Hello, my name is J a y and I am a listoholic. I’ve quit more lists than most of you have even signed up for, but the core ones keep pulling me back. I have it down to a manageable 6, if you don’t count the four or five that are on my “in denial” page on LinkedIn. I keep my wine people on Facebook and business people on LinkedIn, but a few mailing lists are hiding on LinkedIn so I can make believe they’re not there. Kinda like e-Cigarettes. Let’s see. Although many of these drug dealers keep trying to lure me back in with e-mails, I’ve quit or been tossed off of Pahlmeyer, DuMol, Seasmoke, Harlan (by the time I got on the list it was so pricey I never bought any), Bond (ditto, never bought), Copain, Loring, Alban, Bucella, Dana Point (I think that’s what it was called), Alcina (at least I only bought once), Pax/Donelan, Anthill Farms, Futo, Kongsgaard, Kosta Browne, Radio-Coteau, Rhys, and probably a half dozen more that I no longer remember - Brewer Clifton, Pali, Olsen-Ogden come to mind as mailing lists I no longer remember (Now that’s an oxymoron).
But when I die, you will have to pry my long awaited spot on the SQN mailing list from my cold, dead fingers.
The moment you realize that you do not need to buy every wine on your list/any list is a liberating moment indeed. There is so much great to awesome wine available, keeping a few stalwarts seems to serve me perfectly, drinking those wines even better, like Jay and his beloved SQN.
I have dropped off of so many lists I cant even name them all here. There are some wines I just purely want to own, and although these are few these days, I seem content.
I do have Stockholm Syndrome as I feel I need to be trapped on a few lists, otherwise I can’t pull the trigger on enough wines to overbuy what I drink and grow my cellar.
It seems like I need to structure of twice a year releases and producers that I know I can count on in order to spend the money. The wineries that just have wines available year round never get bought.
It is something of a vicious cycle, made worse by the lack of options here in Texas:
Read about a wine on Berserkers.
Try to find it at a local store. No luck.
Try to find it from an internet retailer that ships to Texas. No luck.
Go online, sign up for the list, place an order.
Temperatures are (or become) too high to ship, so must wait for the weather to turn to get the wine.
Keep reading great reviews about the wine on Berserkers.
New offer comes out before receiving first order, so (maybe) buy again.
Receive order(s), try one bottle.
if underwhelmed, wonder whether bottle needs more age to meet personal preferences.
wonder whether to buy when next offer comes out…
if don’t buy, try second bottle three years later, enjoy it, curse self for not buying in intervening years, and quickly re-enroll on list.
if enjoyed, buy more when next offer comes out.
Repeat process for X number of wineries that sound interesting, or who’s wine is enjoyed by other members of Berserkers with a similar palate/tastes. Sometimes it works out (e.g., Greer, EMH), sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, it is a fairly slow process.
Where I do feel trapped is on a list like Cayuse. Schrader is a bit similar in asking people to pay a year early, but Schrader doesn’t have as many wines, or styles, as Cayuse, so you can figure out pretty quickly whether you want more Schrader or not. Cayuse, on the other hand…wait to get on the list, get allocated something, buy it, wait a year, then try it. If the first bottle isn’t great, you drop that wine and ask/pray for something else, only to find that 3-5 years later, you liked the first wine a lot more with some age on it. Then you have to get back in line to be reallocated 3 bottles, and the process starts all over. To avoid that in the future, you end up buying a particular wine for a few more years (instead of dropping the wine/list), hoping it all works out. That feels like being trapped.
If I feel trapped, I’m done. If I’m held hostage, I’m done. If it gets too expensive, I’m done.
I don’t belong to one list that I can get in Indiana. Or, that I cannot be guaranteed to be able to purchase (I have a retail license) in the state for example, Shafer Hillside. Some of it makes it to Indiana but not enough to ensure that it will end up in my hands. And on that topic, I’ll likely drop them b/c of the price increases. There are a lot of wines that don’t make it to Indiana so, for those, one has to be on a list.
I didn’t feel trapped before the point when I realized that I was trapped, then I felt it very suddenly and strongly. After dropping a couple of lists because the styles no longer appealed to me enough, I still bought from several that I really liked. Eventually I noticed that it was tying up too much of my wine buying money and that I was building a very unbalanced cellar, way too much domestic and too little European. Now I’m happily down to 2 lists, with no plans to drop either any time soon. The quantities I get from those are reasonable, and in one case it’s easy to take less than my full allocation without any worries. The other I can share.
You can’t imagine waiting 5-10+ years, then having different tastes and no longer being interested? Or drastic price increases between signing up and getting an allocation making you a lot less interested?
Let me try something to see if it helps. I cannot say I have always followed through on this properly, but let us try it.
What are your 10 (number can change, up to you) favorite wines - now, not what were your favorites 5 years ago.
How much of your annual wine budget do you want to devote to these 10 wines.
Adjust the rest of your wine budget accordingly AFTER you make sure you have enough money to buy as much as you want of your [10] favorite wines.
Does this help?
If you stay on wine lists so you can stay on wine lists, do the wines appreciate? Would it help to sell them at auction so that you can have your cake and eat it too (1) have money to buy what you want and (2) stay on list for the future.
What a great idea. My approach was similar, but not systematic and probably not quite as effective. Still, it got me to drop almost every list and buy less from the ones I’m still on, which has turned out to be a great idea.
Sure I can, but both of these scenarios would result in passing on the offer once an allocation offer was actually received. I wouldn’t buy just because I received an allocation.
When I was a kid, my favorite rock and roll group was Herman’s Hermits. My tastes have probably grown up a good bit since then, and I doubt they are anywhere near my favorite anymore, but when Peter Noone had a concert here a few years ago I went to it.
I can think of only 3 in the 5-10 yr wait category. And if anyone finds themselves in this boat with Screaming Eagle, SQN or Marcassin just pass them on to me please.
Just dropped off the Williams Selyem list, they were my very first mailing list sign-up, have a bunch more to weed out. It’s hard enough these days just to buy from the “affordable” producers that I enjoy. Need to stop pretending I can roll with the players and just stick to what works for me.
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