The Great 2022 Wine Buying Freeze has begun!

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:00 pm

Happy 2022! This thread is intended to support a freeze to buy wine.

Those of you who don’t have a buying problem or have reasonably sized cellars (say, 1500 bottles or less), please don’t mock us in our efforts to scale back. We know our effort will be hard. We will not pretend we will never buy wine again or even that we will never fall off the wagon in a big way at some future date, but every positive step helps as we try to reach a normal equilibrium.

To help us in need of help, let’s start with some reasonable goals — buy no wine in January (at least), which should be easier as some of us (myself included) will be on an total alcohol fast for the month as well (Dryuary).

We will report back in a month on our progress. Let the sanity begin!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:02 pm

I am at your disposal for BD exemptions, please provide as much notice as possible during holiday period.

robert goulet · Post by **robert goulet** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:06 pm

Blanquito wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:00 pm Between the Convention, Europe, auction credits at K&L, and COVID, I’ve been on a pretty epic wine buying spree for 2+ months. I need to stop, take a long break, and I need help. Who’s in?

OrlBobby is right there with u...I almost had to wine baker act him a couple times.

jal · Post by **jal** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:14 pm

I'm in
Sorta
Only buy wine for immediate drinking (as in this evening), not collecting/aging
Exceptions: Lafite, Margaux, Pichon Lalande

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:15 pm

Are you still in Tel Aviv Jacques?

jal · Post by **jal** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:18 pm

JimHow wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:15 pm Are you still in Tel Aviv Jacques?

I am, Jim
I have only bought 3 bottles of Chablis since arriving two and half weeks ago

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:19 pm

Given me strength, ‘o wine gods.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:50 pm

I was thinking about this the other day. Also I just watched Seinfield "The Contest" episode. Should we all put put up 100 bucks, last man standing wins?

There would have to be some pre qualifications on volume purchased in 2021.

I have a feeling that Stefan would be the Kramer of this. First one out after some sexy La Lagune flashes her wares at auction.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:53 pm

You have inspired me, Jacques, I just received my three bottles of 2019 Michel Niellon Chassange-Montrachet Clos Saint-Jean, mmmm, can't wait to uncork one of them.

My 2014 VCCs are supposed to be delivered today as well, if so I may just have to uncork one tonight....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:11 pm

And the 2014 VCCs have arrived, safe and sound!

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:23 pm

JimHow wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:11 pm And the 2014 VCCs have arrived, safe and sound!

Give the 2014 Conseillante a FAIR TRIAL against these! Don't be biased by the VCC contingent!

Eager to hear the outcome.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:27 pm

Lol... OK!
I DID love that 2014 Conseillante!

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:55 pm

THIS IS A WINE BUYING FREEZE THREAD.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 8:03 pm

Mmmm white Burgs… mmm VCC… got some 2016 Brunello as well…. Mmmmm….

Actually I’m going to be freezing as well after I buy some 2019 futures, most likely a case each of Rauzan, Calon Segur, Leoville Barton.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 8:48 pm

I might be able to make a wine buying freeze stick soon, because I'm running out of fucking money. Only way to do it, folks!

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:28 pm

I plan to buy 300-350 bottles in 2022 with $12,000 budgeted.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:41 pm

$12,000 divided by 325 = $36.92 per bottle, I think that’s a good plan Chris, you should be able to get some nice stuff into your cellar.

OrlandoRobert · Post by **OrlandoRobert** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:51 pm

robert goulet wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:06 pm
Blanquito wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:00 pm Between the Convention, Europe, auction credits at K&L, and COVID, I’ve been on a pretty epic wine buying spree for 2+ months. I need to stop, take a long break, and I need help. Who’s in?
OrlBobby is right there with u...I almost had to wine baker act him a couple times.

Fuk dat, I’m out! I need to amass more and more!

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:27 am

I’m in Patrick. I bought an insane amount of wine this year. And I literally have too much now. I withdrew 50 bottles from storage this week and I don’t know where I am going to put them all.

We have an auction here next week so I will stop after that.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Fri Dec 03, 2021 11:27 am

Comte Flaneur wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:27 am I’m in Patrick. I bought an insane amount of wine this year. And I literally have too much now. I withdrew 50 bottles from storage this week and I don’t know where I am going to put them all.

We have an auction here next week so I will stop after that.

The contrast between the first and second grafs here is absolutely classic and pure BWE

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:54 pm

Ever since our move with mrs vino seeing how much wine I had in the crawl space, there has been almost no red wine purchased...well, maybe a case. The good news is now I can easily access all my wine. Or is that bad news?

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:40 am

Blanquito wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:00 pm Between the Convention, Europe, auction credits at K&L, and COVID, I’ve been on a pretty epic wine buying spree for 2+ months. I need to stop, take a long break, and I need help. Who’s in?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:43 am

OrlandoRobert · Post by **OrlandoRobert** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:49 am

I eschew this thread. It’s Anti-BWE!

Stefan prolly pissed to no end.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:50 am

No shit. Besides, I believe we have seen this movie before.
Nonetheless, I stand ready with BD exemptions in hand

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:11 am

Hahahaha!

We NEED buying freezes, even if short lived, to bend the curve.

And when OrlandoB has more than a 1000 bottles, he’ll start to feel differently!

OrlandoRobert · Post by **OrlandoRobert** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:16 am

Blanquito wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:11 am Hahahaha!

We NEED buying freezes, even if short lived, to bend the curve.

And when OrlandoB has more than a 1000 bottles, he’ll start to feel differently!

When? Lol!

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:08 am

I’ve been highly successful at buying freezes. Multiple times. Heck, I started one freeze a week ago and am already on my next one.

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:40 am

DavidG wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:08 am I’ve been highly successful at buying freezes. Multiple times. Heck, I started one freeze a week ago and am already on my next one.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:51 am

OrlandoRobert wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:16 am
Blanquito wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:11 am Hahahaha!

We NEED buying freezes, even if short lived, to bend the curve.

And when OrlandoB has more than a 1000 bottles, he’ll start to feel differently!
When? Lol!

2000?

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:54 am

You can laugh, but some of us are serious, very serious. I’m sure there will be hours, days, even weeks where most of us only buy a case or two (ridiculous to be sure, but nonetheless representing a massive reduction in wine outlays).

I for one, I’m going cold turkey and refuse to buy any wine until… (thinks on it)… the Ides of March.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:37 am

Actually, OrlandoBobby, I encourage buying freezes for auctions. Don't trust them. Beware of bad provenance. Beware of fake bottles. Spend all available funds on futures. They are much safer. And under no circumstances bid on La Lagune.

Claudius2 · Post by **Claudius2** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 5:38 am

Guys
Well in my case, I dropped off my most recent purchases (all Champagne) at the storage facility yesterday.
I had to pull out quite a few existing cases and re-organise the unit, simply to make enough room for the Champagne.
I had to force the doors shut in order to put the padlock back. It looked like it could explode at any time.

The second storage unit was completely filled recently after buying a few more 2015 and 2016 Bordeaux from auction.
Both wine fridges at home are completely overloaded - wish all wine bottles were the same shape as those chunky bottles take up too much room and are a hazard as they can easily slide out.

So I am putting a hold on new purchases for a while.
When the 2019 EP wines are delivered, I am going to have to rent another storage unit.
The first storage unit is overloaded with 2005, 2009, 2010 Bordeaux and a lot of Remoissenet Burgs, the second is largely loaded up with 2014, 2016 and a few odd lots of 2018.

At the current rate, I have about enough wine for 12 years, assuming I do not buy a single bottle.
So I have a strange feeling that many of the bottles will outlive me, probably by a long time.

cheers
Mark

Claudius2 · Post by **Claudius2** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 5:48 am

stefan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:37 am Actually, OrlandoBobby, I encourage buying freezes for auctions. Don't trust them. Beware of bad provenance. Beware of fake bottles. Spend all available funds on futures. They are much safer. And under no circumstances bid on La Lagune.

Stefan,
I largely agree, and I only ever buy from one auction house now, and so far none of the wines have been out of condition.
I have been buying at auction for 40 odd years so far, and whilst I have had a few disasters in the past, they have been relatively uncommon.
All the wine I buy here at auction comes directly from Europe and is sent air freight at properly controlled temperatures, and the auction house have their own air conditioned facility to hold it.

You may like to know that at a recent HK auction, there was a frenzy of bidding over large formats of DRC (6 litres, etc) that turned out to be fake.
The auction house is Acker Merrall & Conduit and they were left with egg on their faces as a result. Wonder if the eggs were also fake?
The sales were rescinded after Don Cornwell asserted that they are all fake.
The 6L bottle went for about USD400,000 plus fees.

In Asia, you can buy anything fake, so with a 400K price tag, I think we all have to expect that the market is going to attract fraud.
If eggs, spring water and even beer can be "fake", then we must expect it.
Oh well.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:20 pm

Blanquito wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:54 am You can laugh, but some of us are serious, very serious. I’m sure there will be hours, days, even weeks where most of us only buy a case or two (ridiculous to be sure, but nonetheless representing a massive reduction in wine outlays).

I for one, I’m going cold turkey and refuse to buy any wine until… (thinks on it)… the Ides of March.

We really have done this before. I went a whole year without buying wine… twice. Except for my only two remaining mailing list wines that are use it or lose it allocations - Screaming Eagle and MacDonald. A total of 6 bottles each year.

I’ve been on a bit of a spree lately with the Black Friday sales and Orlando Bobby's BAMA enablement. I am ready to do another freeze, so I’m with you Patrick. Ides of March is a good target. I will need an exception for 3 bottles of Screaming Eagle, which is offered in February. Other than that, I’m in!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:24 pm

Oh I agree David. Other than my little recent spree this month, I’ve gone large chunks of time without buying over the past several years. I’m about to pull the trigger on some 2019 futures, and then I’m done for a while.

Your BD exemption request is granted.

Ok… Onward to The Ides of March….

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:29 pm

stefan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:37 am Actually, OrlandoBobby, I encourage buying freezes for auctions. Don't trust them. Beware of bad provenance. Beware of fake bottles. Spend all available funds on futures. They are much safer. And under no circumstances bid on La Lagune.

Speaking of La Lagune, I just snagged a few of the 2016. I know all vintages are horrible overpriced swill to be avoided, but how does the 2016 compare to other vintages in degree of awfulness and readiness to be inflicted on unsuspecting palates before being poured down the drain?

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:43 pm

DavidG wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:29 pm
stefan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:37 am Actually, OrlandoBobby, I encourage buying freezes for auctions. Don't trust them. Beware of bad provenance. Beware of fake bottles. Spend all available funds on futures. They are much safer. And under no circumstances bid on La Lagune.
Speaking of La Lagune, I just snagged a few of the 2016. I know all vintages are horrible overpriced swill to be avoided, but how does the 2016 compare to other vintages in degree of awfulness and readiness to be inflicted on unsuspecting palates before being poured down the drain?

I have 6 bottles of the 2016 untouched as of yet. It seems to be liked on CT.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:43 pm

It was a few weeks ago, but I snapped up a 2-pack of the 85 La Lagune on the cheap at auction. I don’t want this swill — who would? — but I figured I should altruistically take it lest some poor unknowing sod buy it.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:51 pm

IIncidentally, as a coping mechanism to buy-no-wine-before-its-time, I think we might use this thread to relive past wine buying glories.

Or we can brag about wines we didn’t buy, starting a new thread entitled What Wine Didn’t You Buy Recently?

I’ll go first: I didn’t buy that bottle of the 96 La Tache last month at K&L auction.