Declining wine consumption?

One of the effects of having too much time on your hands visiting a country (Tokyo, Japan) where the only TV channel with english programming is BBC (believe me, watching the same news program on BBC the third time is no fun), is you end up doing things you normally wouldn't be doing. Well I did just that last week with my Excel spreadsheet for my wine collection.

Since 2004 I have maintained my wine collection information in an Excel spreadsheet. I simply add a new row whenever a new bottle comes in, but when I consume a bottle, I do not delete the entry. Instead I just transfer it to another part of the sheet, where I also note down where/when it was consumed.

With this "database" in my free hands, I decided I would monitor how much of my own wines I consume every year. From 2005 (the first full year available) to 2007, I was consuming almost 200 bottles per year (207, 189, 198).

In 2008, however, the number went down dramatically to 159 (thats a 20% drop). And in the two full months of 2009, I have consumed only 21 bottles of mine which would project to about 130 for the year.

This could mean either I am slowing down in my wine consumption as I age (turning 50 this year), or more likely, I am now benefitting from the generosity of others - as in I am now drinking more of other people's wines!

Comments anyone?

It's definitely the latter! My consumption from cellar was constant in both 2007 and 2008 - 120 bottles for both years. This year looks about the same with 19 bottles so far to end February.

Our's has gone up in the last 3 years, but that coincides with working back in the town we live in, rather than travelling off around the country every week.

Indeed, during that time, it became rare for me to have any alcoholic drink midweek. Not because I became a monk, but because when you have interesting wines & beers at home, it's difficult to raise the drive to drink something dull and industrial and pay more for the privilege!

It's great to pick something nice from the cellar on a tuesday night

regards

Ian

[David M. Bueker]

Mine has gone way up, but if I look at how the bottles get consumed a huge % (30% or more) are part of tastings I put on.

Good to hear from you, Arnie. Good post, too …. it made me visit my spreadsheet inventory and count.

Consumption from my cellar has been constant over the last 2 years at around 130 distinct bottles per year, with a deviation of 5 bottles. I’m definitely a beneficiary of others’ generosity.

RC

Mine has gone up, partly because I now have a set of wine drinking friends, the local mwine bar is offering enjoyable music, and I have found other places which I enjoy drinking wine.

I have dropped off somewhat on drinking Napa wines, as it has been off-season for cycling.

Our household consumption has gone way up. For me it's because I now have a fantastic cellar at my disposal, for Stuart it's because he now has someone to share a bottle with on weeknights instead of just taking wine to The Other Stupid's home or to dinner with friends on weekends. We open a bottle probably 5 nights out of 7.

We've also been having dinner parties where many, many bottles are opened over the course of the event.

In 2008, however, the number went down dramatically to 159 (thats a 20% drop). And in the two full months of 2009, I have consumed only 21 bottles of mine which would project to about 130 for the year.

This could mean either I am slowing down in my wine consumption as I age (turning 50 this year), or more likely, I am now benefitting from the generosity of others - as in I am now drinking more of other people's wines!

Comments anyone?

Our pattern goes up and down with the seasons! In the summer we drink a higher percentage of white wines and more alternatives to wine (hard to beat a G&T on the deck on a nice summer day). Overall our consumption is down in 2009 but the quality of the wines we are consuming has gone up. Spent the same, drank less!
It will be interesting to see what impact the economic situation has on people's wine consumption.

my .02

OK, Latin scholars: is "wine consumption" first, second, or third declension?

-Paul W.

There must be at least 1 Latin scholar here! Please respond. I'm curious to know what "declension" is all about.

There must be at least 1 Latin scholar here! Please respond. I'm curious to know what "declension" is all about.

Is that a serious question? In Latin, one declines nouns and conjugates verbs. The various noun forms are referred to as "declensions." Paul was making a funny.

Mark Lipton

Is that a serious question? In Latin, one declines nouns and conjugates verbs. The various noun forms are referred to as "declensions." Paul was making a funny.

Mark Lipton

It wasn't a question. Just curious to know how "declension" works in reference to Latin and thank you for the clarification. I have to admit that this was not touched on in my fields - professional and academic.

It wasn't a question. Just curious to know how "declension" works in reference to Latin and thank you for the clarification. I have to admit that this was not touched on in my fields - professional and academic.

OK. To be complete, not only nouns can be declined, but adjectives and adverbs as well. Latin is referred to as an inflected language (which most older languages are/were), meaning that the endings of nouns, adjectives and adverbs change (i.e., are declined) according to case. How they behave depends on what category the word falls into (referred to as a "declension"). In Latin, there are five declensions, each of which behaves somewhat differently in the six grammatical cases: nominative, genetive, dative, accusative, ablative and vocative. And, of course, there are singular and plural forms for each case, giving rise to 12 different forms of the word. And since nouns can be either masculine, feminine or neuter, there are a possible 36 different endings in a given declension, though most declensions have fewer. Fun, huh?

Mark Lipton

Regarding both Latin and Wine Consumption, I don't remember.