Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Are you the type of person, that try to improve each year? With what % of success?

For my part, here are my resolutions for 2017:

1. Dry white Bourgogne = buy and drink within 3 years: i'm falling in the camp of many here. Since a month, I opened 3 normally top notch white Bourgogne, one 2005 and two 2008, and they were all prem-ox. Huge deception and find it scary as nobody know where it is coming from? Can it be technology?

2. I will not open wine bottle over 25$ with family and friends. Nobody care, i'm just wasting my time and money. Wine is about sharing, tasting, dicussing, appreciating. All my near friends or family don't really care and find it more an unconfort when I open expensive bottles. So i will keep my top bottles for winelovers.

3. Consequence of number 2, i should open way less expensive bottles, so buy less, so less money spend for wine. Consequence of number 1, i will be more scared to keep bottle for a longer term, even red. I will probably drink less wine in 2017.

I'm sadly taking these resolutions, as I feel alone in my corner, with my wine interest and hobby. Even when I open a bottle with Marie-Claude, we don't drink it all... That says a lot.

Are you taking resolutions?

Nic

I'm on a food diet and wine fast until I leave for Phuket on Jan 19th.
Yes, I set up many goals annually. I have to have lists and goals, otherwise I can't function.

Nicklasss wrote:Are you the type of person, that try to improve each year? With what % of success?

For my part, here are my resolutions for 2017:

1. Dry white Bourgogne = buy and drink within 3 years: i'm falling in the camp of many here. Since a month, I opened 3 normally top notch white Bourgogne, one 2005 and two 2008, and they were all prem-ox. Huge deception and find it scary as nobody know where it is coming from? Can it be technology? Nic

That's what I have been trying to do with whites. With the exception of champagne, I drink it up within 5 years to escape from that premox, and I think have had some success....

Nicklasss wrote: 2. I will not open wine bottle over 25$ with family and friends. Nobody care, i'm just wasting my time and money. Wine is about sharing, tasting, dicussing, appreciating. All my near friends or family don't really care and find it more an unconfort when I open expensive bottles. So i will keep my top bottles for winelovers. Nic

This is not part of my resolution or such, but I have long followed this rule may be for the last 8 to 9 years. I will stick to it for the reasons you mentioned, but also for other reasons. People who do not appreciate wine think you are snobbish when you open great wine and try to enjoy it as a connoisseur. Not that it bothers me what they think, but discussion about any good wine always elevates the experience. For people who do not appreciate wine, I pour beer or cocktails. I handover a scotch bottle and they pour themselves...And I skip beer and scotch, but once in a blue moon, relish a cocktail...

Nicklasss wrote: 3. Consequence of number 2, i should open way less expensive bottles, so buy less, so less money spend for wine. Consequence of number 1, i will be more scared to keep bottle for a longer term, even red. I will probably drink less wine in 2017.

I'm sadly taking these resolutions, as I feel alone in my corner, with my wine interest and hobby. Even when I open a bottle with Marie-Claude, we don't drink it all... That says a lot.

Are you taking resolutions?

Nic

Well, I am not a daily wine drinker and my consumption is around 60 to 80 bottles per year. I just want to keep it that way and be steady moving forward when I grow older so that I do not have to worry about spikes or cut downs of consumption in future. For that reason, I generally do not buy non-growths and the likes. Let's be real. Although there are exceptions, generally speaking, growth properties and the equivalents in other regions have much better quality than the rest. Therefore, I do not try weekly quaffers even out of curiosity (but thank goodness to some fellow BWErs, I have procured some that I enjoyed. Unless someone like that who I can trust recommends, I won't buy quaffers).

I feel it's like reading a book. There are millions of books out there, but life is too short to spend time reading something that is not worth reading or that is not up to the mark. So you pick and choose what you want to read. Similarly, life is too short (in my case even shorter due to lower consumption rate) to drink something that does not live up to my preference of high-threshold pleasure. I would rather drink better and less than drink more...Since I also love cooking, having a quality wine to pair with also complements my needs.

Sure, I am open to try new things, but only after careful consideration and recommendations (Once again thanks to fellow BWErs and some of my wine connoisseur friends). Also, if it's a known wine and end up not liking it for some reason after years, it is much easier to off load. I also buy splits when the need is to go solo...

I improve every year. It is just my nature.

AlohaArtakaHoundsong wrote:I improve every year. It is just my nature.

+1

I am afraid I have now passed my plateau of maturity, the tannins are outpacing the fruit, and I am well into my slow but steady decline into death.

My main resolve is to buy enough wine that we'll have enough to drink and share this fall when we will be in Berkeley for four months. Probably we'll take two cases with us when we drive out. I'll fly back home twice and can bring a case from home to Berkeley each trip. So I need to buy 8-10 cases of currently drinkable wine for pickup in the Bay area (or delivery to it). That is a lot of oldish to old wines I need to buy, so I must get moving soon. As of now I have bought 0 bottles.

For the past 10 years or so I have been spending way too much of my disposable income on wine and have not been saving enough by any reasonable measure. And while the thought of cashing in on certain wines that have appreciated in value or that I bought in multi case quantities seems like an easy enough solution which would translate into an effective rebalancing of my finances, the problem is that I find this to be a very hard proposition to undertake as everything I've bought I bought with the intention of wanting to drink. Anyways, my New Years resolution is to spend less $$$ on wine and on that note I really have to give some thought about how to achieve this best (i.e. setting a reasonable monthly limit or removing myself from certain email lists or etc) otherwise I am afraid this will be an empty resolution.

I will buy less wine. A lot. I would aim to freeze buying completely, but I recognize that is impossible.

1) Unless it's a 1947 for a birthday celebration, buy no wine outside of restaurants in 2017. Not a single bottle. Aim high! Low! Whatever, no more purchases for the cellar!

2) Reduce cellar inventory. Piece of cake if I stick to #1, but good luck with that!

3) Lose 20 pounds.

4) Cut back work to 3 days a week.

5) Travel to at least 1 place on our bucket list.

My resolution is to stop shooting giant pandas

When's the last time you shot a giant panda?

See, he's already succeeded! <rimshot>

Story goes Teddy Roosevelt rushed west by express train to shoot a wild bison because there were so few left. This was before the internet yet it may not be wholly true.

I've only bought 3 bottles of wine so far in 2017. An auspicious start.

I've only bought 24 bottles so far in the first 10 days.

Blanquito wrote:I've only bought 3 bottles of wine so far in 2017. An auspicious start.

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from= ... SD&view=2Y

Given that the dollar continues to strengthen, and assuming you want European wines, standing pat continues to be an ok move.

This also makes the whole futures game look even more stupid.

How is the US dollar doing against the Thai Baht?

Ok, I'm dumb. Is the US dollar STRONGER relative to the Thai Baht from 6 months ago, or WEAKER?

Ten days in and I'm holding strong on no purchases in 2017. Only 355 more days to go!

I'm on David's heel's with the buying boycot. Not a bottle bought in 2017 and no intentions in the near future. Good excuse to start putting a dent in the cellar before the 12 cases of 2014 Bordeaux futures start rolling in later this year with another 10 cases of the 2015s next year!! Why?... because it's a disease and most here can relate. Do I need that extra wine...NO! But it seemed like a good idea at the time coming back from Bordeaux thinking wow was that purple Baron good and the Gruaud fabulous etc etc and I've gotta have some!! Sick!! Oh well it may be fun in the nursing home having my wife serve these to me in my sippy cup!!

My problem is not buying enough; only three bottles of Israeli wine in 2017 (I am in Israel now). I need around 8 cases for pick up or delivery to wherever we'll be in Berkeley in the fall. Are any bay area BWEers trying to unload some mature wines? If so, please drop me an email with a list and prices.

I gotta admire Stefan. He is the Energizer Bunny of BWE. Or maybe that should be...

The Energizer Bunny is the Stefan of batteries.