Aging...or hoarding?

I came across this quote from David Bueker in another post - "99% of the wine in the world is made to be drunk young. The other 1% is a guessing game" - and it got me to thinking. You could quibble about the percentage, you could argue that you personally buy a much larger percentage of truly ageable wine, but still, looking at my own habits, I think there's some psychology at work here that has to do with hoarding. I have about 200 bottles in my simple wine cellar, 70% of which should probably be consumed fairly soon. Times are tough. Time to tighten the belt. Time to drink the cellar, eh? So what do I do? Go out and buy more wine. There's always an excuse - it's a week night and I don't want to open a more expensive bottle, I'm saving those for a special occasion, that one is a summer wine... so I need to buy some more daily drinkers, and while I'm at it, I think I'll just buy this very nice bottle too, and maybe that one as well...Am I crazy? No, I think we humans have a hoarding instinct. Wine in the basement feels like money in the bank, saved for a rainy day, even if it's raining. Some other rainy day. Know what I mean? I guess whenever I die, unless times get really really tough, someone will inherit some nice bottles of wine from me. Now that I think about it, I remember my father, a great wine lover, terminally ill, ordering cases of wine very shortly before his death. Perhaps it's hereditary.

Yup.

Well, I don't know about wine-hoarding being hereditary. Dad filled his garage with old electronic junk. And old radio junk from before they called it "electronic".
Want a 1956 turntable? Got one. And worn out cartridges for it, too.

I feel the need to go buy some wine when the cellar falls below the 300 mark. I look at all those empty cells in the spreadsheet and think of the wonderful stuff that could be in there.

And then I go out to BevMo and buy $9 CalChard because that's what used to be in those empty cells.

John

Well, there's that...

Personally, I just like to think that I have in my basement (it's really not a cellar)

...wine suitable for just about anything we could possibly be serving for dinner
...wine which would make an appropriate gift for any person or occasion
...wine which will make me feel lucky and privileged when other circumstances do not
...wine which would delight and surprise a guest, even somebody much more experienced and knowledgeable
...wine which will please both guests who really don't much understand wine, and myself
...wine which really does evolve and improve with age, some of which is ready right now
...wine which is predictably good, if unexciting, but also inexpensive
...wine which I have enjoyed many times, so that I can do so many more times
...wine I have never tried before, and which excites me just to contemplate
...
no wonder I have so much wine!

[David M. Bueker]

Someday scientists wil isolate the "collector" gene. It's in there. It's got to be in there.

Some of each for me I think. Out of a 300-350 bottle cellar there are generally 30 bottles that deserve some age and have it. Then there is another 60 or so wines that reward aging but are not there yet. Beyond that there is probably around 120 bottles that don't require any age but won't be any worse if they sit for 5+ years either. This leaves me with only around 120 bottles of drink now wine. Once you spread that around to all the different styles that I may want on any given night it really is not enough to ensure that what I want will be in the cellar. I really need to buy more wine.

SteveG
Your response was almost poetic.
Yeah, I'm a hoarder. It's hard to break open some of those "special" bottles if I'm not entertaining or sharing with other wine lovers.

[David M. Bueker]

It's hard to break open some of those "special" bottles if I'm not entertaining or sharing with other wine lovers.

Now that is true. The really good stuff has to be shared. And of course it can't be shared with too many folks because I want to get a good pour. I want to drink my great wines, not just taste them. But I do not want to just open them for myself, because then 1/2 the bottle will be left over, and it won't recapture its glory after 24 hours in the fridge.

It's a rough life, isn't it.

That said, while I have not stopped buying wine (I tried probation but needed an ankle bracelet) I have slowed down. That plus some parties have begun to deplete some of the cellar, but there's lots more work to do.

Go out and buy more wine. There's always an excuse - it's a week night and I don't want to open a more expensive bottle, I'm saving those for a special occasion, that one is a summer wine... so I need to buy some more daily drinkers, and while I'm at it, I think I'll just buy this very nice bottle too, and maybe that one as well...Am I crazy?

Oh no, if you are crazy, then I am in big trouble - I just ordered a case....

Someday scientists wil isolate the "collector" gene. It's in there. It's got to be in there.

which is why I am, as I have annoyingly whined before, in so much $ trouble. 'cause it's not been just wine. I have more architecture books than the County library system, and I have no problem at all spending an entire day just walking around San Francisco or Berkeley looking at architecture. I also love ceramics-does anyone want to buy any smaller Pueblo pottery pieces? I would never sell my prized pieces, but I need to unload some of the lesser examples

With the opening of Wine Styles, I have found other wine nerds who are more than willing to help me drink through my cellar.

SteveG
Your response was almost poetic.
Yeah, I'm a hoarder. It's hard to break open some of those "special" bottles if I'm not entertaining or sharing with other wine lovers.

I never ever drink wine by myself at home...Wine helps make me more sociable, so that is not a bad thing.

I consider it a blessing and a curse that my living quarters are very small and therefore I don't have ample, adequate storage facilities to acquire the quantity that I know I would if my circumstances were different.

I, too, liked SteveG's response.

It's hard to break open some of those "special" bottles if I'm not entertaining or sharing with other wine lovers.

Now that is true. The really good stuff has to be shared. And of course it can't be shared with too many folks because I want to get a good pour. I want to drink my great wines, not just taste them. But I do not want to just open them for myself, because then 1/2 the bottle will be left over, and it won't recapture its glory after 24 hours in the fridge.

It's taken me over 20 years to get to the point where I can open a cherished bottle for no better reason than we need a wine for dinner I too never open a bottle if I'm alone, but fortunately my wife Jean is a willing partner in crime and, unlike what I recall of your description of Laura's tastes, has tastes that closely mirror my own (now, if I can only get her to accept that some white wines improve with cellar time...)

It's a rough life, isn't it.

The horror, the horror.

Mark Lipton

Some good responses and it's reassuring to see people talking of 200, 300, 400 bottle cellars, which show that there's some control. It's when it gets into the thousands, that you sense it's all got horribly out of control.

I like the act of cellaring, of waiting for stuff to age (in this age of instant gratification). I also enjoy having a choice of styles to drink, depending on food or mood or the preference of guests (or the preference of the brains of the operation!).

The hoarding or bargain hunting mentality must be watched though

regards

Ian

Funny post, but then good humour cuts close to home. You'll notice most of the respondents here are men, who have the collecting gene intact from when we transformed from squirrels with their innate hoarding mechanism, as any lawn can atest.

I will admit to saving bottles for all the reasons Steve G proclaims, but the reasons for drinking them don't come as easily: when you are married to someone who really doesn't drink much beyond a few sips and live in the hinterlands where gentle wine-folk are few and far between, you simply don't open as many bottles as you think you will. Repeat, do this year after year and suddenly the cellar begins to fill up like the Lower Ninth Ward after a hurricane. So I'll open bottles by myself, for a special reason, and for no reason at all.

[David M. Bueker]

It's when it gets into the thousands, that you sense it's all got horribly out of control.

Ahem...what's your point?

It's when it gets into the thousands, that you sense it's all got horribly out of control.

Ahem...what's your point?

valid David, valid.

[David M. Bueker]

But I got it all at bargain prices (at least compared to today's costs).

We only have around three cases "laid down", and every bottle is there for some age ranging from three to twenty years. Above these are five or six cases in "rotation." Not a single bottle is horded. Not a single bottle is horded.

I find this discussion interesting. I am an 'aspiring' wine collector. ('Aspiring' because although I've been into wine for many years I have been constantly moving and have not yet established much of a 'cellar').

However, I don't really collect other things and on the contrary I enjoy clearing out my spaces and throwing away as much as possible. Which in some respects is an attractive part of the wine hobby because the objects of our interest are consumed and then they no longer exist.

Of course before they are consumed there are some heavy bottles that require specialized attention. But that's a different story..

I have just accepted that me buying and storing more wine than I need is just another one of my little insanities. At any given time I usually have 250 or so bottles. But I am also ashamed to admit how many of bottles I have found over the years in my collection that I have kept way past its prime. I do go though a reasonable amount of wine regularly... as opposed to many here I will have a glass of wine with dinner even if I am alone but that is only "table" wine as I too keep the better bottles for sharing. But I find it almost impossible to go to a wine store and come out with less than a mixed case. The ridiculous rationalization for such behavior is usually the 10% discount on a case. Anyway, I have abandoned hope of being reasonable about this and am resigned to the fact that when I go to the great beyond, the folks I leave behind will have hell of a time at the wake.

Glenn

However, I don't really collect other things and on the contrary I enjoy clearing out my spaces and throwing away as much as possible. Which in some respects is an attractive part of the wine hobby because the objects of our interest are consumed and then they no longer exist.

Really? While I have less empty bottles than full ones I can not say that every bottle once emptied is thrown out. And while on the topic, why do I have 4 boxes of used corks?

[David M. Bueker]

I find this discussion interesting. I am an 'aspiring' wine collector. ('Aspiring' because although I've been into wine for many years I have been constantly moving and have not yet established much of a 'cellar').

Sometimes I wish I was in your situation Rahsaan (the no cellar situation, not the constantly moving). I really love having access to a wine array of wine choices for my every day or special occasion consumption, but having a cellar has of course led to filling the cellar.

There are actually two things I have no more space for: wine and compact discs.

I can not say that every bottle once emptied is thrown out. And while on the topic, why do I have 4 boxes of used corks?

You must be a collector

I keep a few used corks around in case I need them for future bottles when other corks break. But only a few. Strictly utilitarian.

That said, I have been known to find old corks in my pockets and in all my bags. I guess from opening bottles and then just sticking them away. Shows how much the hobby 'permeates' one's life..

Sometimes I wish I was in your situation Rahsaan (the no cellar situation...

I'm not sure you really mean that..

Especially when I see you write about all the producers and vintages you have maturing away.

Or maybe those 'some'times are only vary rare times..