I'm done buying wine for a year. Who is with me?

[Chateau Vin]

I would like to partake in the wine buying freeze, but I want a grammatical line exemption for me...

"I am done buying wine for THE year..."

[stefan]

I can go along with that, CV. For me the year would be 2071 as I have already used up my quotas for years before that.

[dstgolf]

CV,

I can jump on that one. I'm done buying for "THE YEAR" as well!! No more and no guilt for the rest 2019!! Ahhhh now that feels good to have all the pressure off my shoulders. I'm feeling so much better now!!!

[marcs]

Looking back over my recent buying spree, I am becoming more and more eager to do this buying moratorium and take it seriously. I have advanced beyond mockery. It's time.

I'm going to do a quick check to see if there are any good post-holiday prices in order to backfill a few bottles representing gaps in my collection, but I'm setting a January 8th date for stopping wine buying until January 1, 2021. Wish me luck!

[stefan]

Wish you good luck or bad luck, Marc?

[Jay Winton]

Can I get a white wine /champagne exemption for the benefit of mrs vino please?

[Ognik]

Hi Jim.
Didn' you buy any Leoville Barton?
If so, good decision. If not, you'll regret some time, i suppose.
Best.

[JimHow]

I got one bottle of 2016 Leoville Barton, Ognik.
Sounds like it is a beauty!
Exemption granted, Mr V., give Mrs V my holiday greetings.

[DavidG]

Ooh boy, a Champagne exemption! I am not even going to ask for one as that would completely undermine any attempt at restraint.

[Blanquito]

The BIG DAY approaches. I'm already getting the shakes.

I meant to load up this month, but somehow I've *only* added 20 bottles to the cellar to tide me over during the big freeze.

Anyone else getting edgy?

[OrlandoRobert]

I boycott this thread. How-man should be shunned or beaten. Or both. I bought some yesterday just to piss him off!

[marcs]

The BIG DAY approaches. I'm already getting the shakes.

I meant to load up this month, but somehow I've *only* added 20 bottles to the cellar to tide me over during the big freeze.

Anyone else getting edgy?

The shakes is a good description. What's going to make this so challenging is hanging out on wine boards *and* doing a buying moratorium. It's basically like living in a crack house while working on your cocaine addiction.

[DavidG]

It gets easier after the first month.
Day at a time.
Some techniques:
Keep CellarTracker open to the page showing how many bottles you already own.
Delete all retailer and auction house emails without opening.
Stay away from the "Deals" and "I just bought" threads.
If anything gets into your shopping cart, leave it until the next morning.
Ask your SO/partner what they think before hitting the "buy" button.
Stay out of the wine store. Send someone else if you need beer for the game.
Snail mail promos go immediately into the recycling bin.
Put a hold on your credit cards for a few weeks and pay cash or check for everything.

[brodway]

David. Sounds like withdrawal symptoms

[jal]

I boycott this thread. How-man should be shunned or beaten. Or both. I bought some yesterday just to piss him off!

Well done, OrlandoRobert, very well done indeed

[DavidG]

David. Sounds like withdrawal symptoms

I thought about adding "call a friend" but was afraid that would just lead to enablement.

[Jay Winton]

I got one bottle of 2016 Leoville Barton, Ognik.
Sounds like it is a beauty!
Exemption granted, Mr V., give Mrs V my holiday greetings.

Thank you Benevolent Dictator!

[Comte Flaneur]

Yes I am getting edgy too but more because I am seriously considering fasting for a few weeks from Jan 1 possibly until the end of February.

Re buying I am on the hunt for 6 packs of 14 and 15 Baron and 14 Leoville Barton before the deadline.

[JimHow]

A week to go....
All requests for exemptions must be submitted by midnight Dec. 31st!
Thy will be welcomed with the usual warmth, kindness, and benevolence, but the midnight deadline is absolute!

[JimHow]

Yes I am getting edgy too but more because I am seriously considering fasting for a few weeks from Jan 1 possibly until the end of February.

I've been doing some serious fasting Ian throughout the last three months. 2019 has been the year of bad health, culminating in a bad stretch of bronchitis.

2020, which will be "The Year of the Five Homicide Trials" and "The 20th Year Anniversary of BWE," is also going to be a year of holistic health and balance!

[DavidG]

Jim, wishing you and all our BWEs a healthy 2020.

[Comte Flaneur]

It’s going to be 60 days of fasting here, through Jan and Feb, given that 2020 is a leap year, a feat I have never attempted before. I am pretty stressed out about that but pumped too.

I spent a ridiculous amount on wine this year so am so glad to be a part of this wine buying moratorium from Jan 1. Together we are stronger.

[Blanquito]

I’m full alcohol fasting from January 3rd (when I get back home) through January 31st.

[marcs]

I want everyone to know that I am now dropping my lame excuse of wanting the first week of the year to continue buying “deals” and I will start a deadly serious year long moratorium at the instant the ball hits the bottom of the pole in Times Square tomorrow night.

I repent of my joking earlier in the thread and have fully embraced my need for a true, no-exceptions moratorium.

This resolution has of course led to an epic end of year buying binge that has led my total bottle count over the 900 mark as I picked off last second cherries..yet it is precisely this experience which has cemented my resolve!

[JimHow]

I've been sick for the past two months (man, more hospital visits in the past year than in my entire life previously) which has led out of necessity to a near complete two-month fast. I never knew bronchitis could be so acute, just as I never new stomach problems could be as bad as they were last winter (I literally wanted to die!). They made my heart issues seem like a piece of cake!
And it has also gotten me out of the mood for any last minute binging.
Other than a couple glasses planned for this coming Friday night for my brother Tom's 60th birthday bash, I'm planning on continuing the fast until mid-February, when I meet up with BWEers in Florida.
A couple silver linings, I've lost 15 pounds and I haven't purchased any wine.
I'm actually optimistic about 2020, it's going to be a great -- and healthy -- year!

For those of you fasting from buying and drinking alcohol as we enter 2020, I came upon this Arnold Schwarzenegger speech on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ktRTWMX3M

[marcs]

Good work Jim!

I'm not fasting from alcohol exactly as I have two major BWE wine dinners in March and another one in January already planned...given that I won't be buying anything, this will be a year of exploring my own cellar.

[JimHow]

As expected, the NH January 15% off sale.
This was factored into my fast.
I will buy a mixed case of 2008 Cristal ($212), 2008 Dom ($120), and 2016 Chasse Spleen ($33).
This will be the first of three case exemptions for 2020....

[Blanquito]

Terrific prices, Jim!

[JimHow]

I know, a mixed case of Cristal, Dom, and Chasse Spleen on the first day of the year seems like an odd way to start a year long fast but I assure you, if you understand my autistic mind, you know this is a good thing. I have now completed my 2016 Bordeaux purchases. I will not buy any more wine until NH gift card season in late summer.