The Top 5 Producers/Wineries in Your Cellar Are...

[sjw_11]

An All-Aussie, mostly SA, top 10 list... this is from the 660 bottles I have back in Adelaide. I don't keep track of whatever I have here in London, but to date have been mainly buying for immediate consumption to kind of irrelevant.

1 Rockford 6.8%
2 Grosset 6.5%
3 Tyrrell's 6.4%
4 Wynns 4.8%
5 Hugh Hamilton 4.1%
6 Wendouree 3.3%
7 Penfolds 3.2%
8 D'arenberg 2.9%
9 Seppeltsfield 2.7%
10 Kay Brothers Amery 2.6%

Not massive changes for me:

1 Grosset 7.5%
Bottles (61) / Average vintage 2012.2
2 Rockford 7.5%
Bottles (61) / Average vintage 2010.0
3 Tyrrell's 6.8%
Bottles (55) / Average vintage 2012.7
4 Wynns Coonawarra Estate 3.9%
Bottles (32) / Average vintage 2007.5
5 Marius Wines 3.7%
Bottles (30) / Average vintage 2012.0
6 Wendouree 3.4%
Bottles (28) / Average vintage 2011.4
7 Hugh Hamilton 3.3%
Bottles (27) / Average vintage 2008.3
8 Petaluma 3.2%
Bottles (26) / Average vintage 2011.5
Head Wines 2.7%
Bottles (22) / Average vintage 2012.8
9 Penfolds 2.6%
Bottles (21) / Average vintage 2007.7
10 d'Arenberg 2.3%
Bottles (19) / Average vintage 2007.4


By the way, total producers in my cellar is 129, so on average I have ~6 bottles per producer. That's quite an interesting stat- total number of producers represented, I didn't bother to count that before.

[Michael McNally]

By the way, total producers in my cellar is 129, so on average I have ~6 bottles per producer. That's quite an interesting stat- total number of producers represented, I didn't bother to count that before.

I was curious to see how many producers in my cellar after this post - 117.

My top ten hasn't changed much:
Marius Wines 10.1% Bottles (112)
Wild Duck Creek 8.2% Bottles (91)
Wynns Coonawarra Estate 5.2% Bottles (58)
Noon 4.7% Bottles (52)
Lindemans 4.5% Bottles (50)
Penfolds 4.1% Bottles (46)
Rockford 4.1% Bottles (46)
Majella 3.7% Bottles (41)
Turkey Flat 3.4% Bottles (38)
Burge Family 3.1% Bottles (34)

Cheers

Michael

[Andrew Jordan]

Woodlands
Kalleske
Rockford
Seppelt
Wynns

Woodlands 12.5% (The 2013 Cabernet Merlot on auction has just been too tempting and it is now our house red for the foreseeable future!)
Kalleske 7.9% (Still buy the Greenock Shiraz and Merchant Cab in good years)
Seppelt 6.9% (St Pet's, Chalambar and the SOSS are case buys in most years ... especially the SOSS)
Wynns Coonawarra Estate 6.5% (All Black label cab, JR and special single vineyard releases)
Rockford 6.3% (Dropped to 5th from 3rd due to drinking a lot of back vintages of their Sparkling Shiraz and enjoying a few old bottles of BP)

Top five still the same with Rockford moving into 4th over taking Wynns. Total producers represented in the cellar stands at 157 majority of those Aussie but International winery representation is growing by the year.

[Opaline]

And it's finally time for my first post!!

1. Penfolds
2. Coolangatta Estate
3. Tyrrells
4. Yalumba
5. Centennial Vineyards

I'm not surprised by that result because my cellar is so varied & I rarely buy multiple bottles from the one producer unless I'm at the cellar door which is why the NSW wineries figure so heavily in that list.

1. Shiraz
2. Cabernet Sauvignon
3. Pinot Noir
4. Chardonnay
5. Semillon

Shiraz makes up about a quarter of my cellar which is mainly due to all of those years exploring Australian trophy wines before redirecting my attention towards Europe a few years ago.

1. Barossa Valley
2. Hunter Valley
3. Coonawarra
4. Bordeaux
5. Eden Valley

[Mike Hawkins]

Dom Perignon
Penfolds
Taittinger (all Comtes)
Rockford
Henschke

Taittinger has now moved to number 2.

Now....

Penfolds
Dom Perignon
Rockford
Taittinger
Pierre Peters (all Chetillons)

[WAwineguy]

Wynns - 5.2%
Penfolds - 5.0%
Cullen - 3.7%
Seppelt - 2.8%
Bouchard Pere et Fils - 2.8%

Closely followed by Giaconda, Cape Mentelle, Mount Mary, Clonakilla, Wendouree and Moss Wood.

A few developments - excluding the 5 cases of 2010 Rockford BP Shiraz sitting in my offsite storage for re-sale:

Wynns - 4.7%
Penfolds - 4.6%
Cullen - 4.1%
Giaconda - 3.1%
Mount Mary - 2.7%

Then Sppelt, Moss Wood, Bouchard and Cape Mentelle

Looks like I've been buying more wine and drinking Burgundy!

155 producers, at 11.5 bottles per producer. Perhaps a little too concentrated on my favourites?

[calm]

Marius
Blue Poles
Wendouree
Kay Brothers
Yalumba

[Ozzie W]

A few people have been looking at how many bottles per producer they have. That got me intrigued.
196 producers for me. So that's roughly 4 bottles from each on average.

[camw]

Joh. Jos. Prüm 6.4%
Clonakilla 4.4%
Willi Schaefer 3.5%
Ruggabellus 3.0%
Seppelt 2.8%
McWilliam's Mount Pleasant 2.8%

3.35 bottles per producer.

[Polymer]

Cam - I'm shocked that there are only two Germans in your top 5..

[rens]

This producer thing got me intrigued. I only have a small cellar of just over 400 bottles and I have 57 producers so roughly 7 per producer.
Not intentionally, but I am working on increasing the producer numbers and it would have been interesting to see what the count was last time. I think it would have been about 35-40 tops with the same bottle count!

[sjw_11]

A few developments - excluding the 5 cases of 2010 Rockford BP Shiraz sitting in my offsite storage for re-sale:

I don't want to offend, but considering how much trouble non-Stonewallers like myself have to go to in order to get 3 bottles of this to carefully cellar and enjoy in the future I find this pretty obnoxious...

(and yes I know there was a lot more of the 2010 than usual)

[Michael McNally]

A few developments - excluding the 5 cases of 2010 Rockford BP Shiraz sitting in my offsite storage for re-sale:

I don't want to offend, but considering how much trouble non-Stonewallers like myself have to go to in order to get 3 bottles of this to carefully cellar and enjoy in the future I find this pretty obnoxious...

(and yes I know there was a lot more of the 2010 than usual)

Hi Sam

If you don't want to offend don't use words like "obnoxious"!

Seriously though, the cult of the Rockford 'exclusivity' is just that, a cult created by the owners through very smart regulation. All WaWineGuy proves is that people are able to get 5 cases if they want to. Ridiculous.

I have been on the list for a couple of years and bought Rod & Spur and Moppa Springs because I like them (though there are cheaper, better options out there), but also so that I can access BP. I am in Brisbane so dropping in for the occasional 3 bottles doesn't work. But, if I don't get offered the opportunity to buy BP via mail order next time the mailer comes out, I am buying nothing and dropping the list. If someone who buys the other stuff can't get BP, sod 'em.

Cheers

Michael

[Wizz]

Reviewing my cellar again:

7 German producers in my top 10, JJ Prum way out in front (they age forever - so it will always be this way)
# bottles per producer is around 9 - but very skewed - 130 producers represented, the top 10 are all 36+ bottles, bottom 75 have 3 bottles or less. And I've tried to even this out!

[Mike Hawkins]

A few developments - excluding the 5 cases of 2010 Rockford BP Shiraz sitting in my offsite storage for re-sale:

I don't want to offend, but considering how much trouble non-Stonewallers like myself have to go to in order to get 3 bottles of this to carefully cellar and enjoy in the future I find this pretty obnoxious...

(and yes I know there was a lot more of the 2010 than usual)

Hi Sam

If you don't want to offend don't use words like "obnoxious"!

Seriously though, the cult of the Rockford 'exclusivity' is just that, a cult created by the owners through very smart regulation. All WaWineGuy proves is that people are able to get 5 cases if they want to. Ridiculous.

I have been on the list for a couple of years and bought Rod & Spur and Moppa Springs because I like them (though there are cheaper, better options out there), but also so that I can access BP. I am in Brisbane so dropping in for the occasional 3 bottles doesn't work. But, if I don't get offered the opportunity to buy BP via mail order next time the mailer comes out, I am buying nothing and dropping the list. If someone who buys the other stuff can't get BP, sod 'em.

Cheers

Michael

Michael,

I suggest you tough it out a couple more years. I waited 7 years in the 90s to get on list and it was worth the wait!!

As for admitting one buys BP for resale, big mistake.... You will probably get removed from the Stonewallers list, as i am aware they read this forum.

Just my $0.02 worth....

All the best

Mike

[phillisc]

They sure do Mike,
My username here is almost the same as my Stonewaller Code. David Kalleske emailed me a few years back saying thanks for your positive comments in a post on Auswine...we assumed it was you Craig.

If I was living in Brisbane and I have been buying wine for few years, I would ask for the opportunity to buy some BP, send them an email. As you say its not like you can jump in the car.

Yes everyone sells wines that many of us think should not be...but no wine is untouchable...it will be 2-4 weeks that the Wendouree flickers will commence their activity. I can only think that one they have 2 or more mail order listings, sell one lot, keep the other...in the 80s this was common...or that its just another "share " on the stock exchange to make a quick profit on.

Cheers
Craig

[WAwineguy]

I don't want to offend, but considering how much trouble non-Stonewallers like myself have to go to in order to get 3 bottles of this to carefully cellar and enjoy in the future I find this pretty obnoxious...

(and yes I know there was a lot more of the 2010 than usual)

Hi Sam

If you don't want to offend don't use words like "obnoxious"!

Seriously though, the cult of the Rockford 'exclusivity' is just that, a cult created by the owners through very smart regulation. All WaWineGuy proves is that people are able to get 5 cases if they want to. Ridiculous.

I have been on the list for a couple of years and bought Rod & Spur and Moppa Springs because I like them (though there are cheaper, better options out there), but also so that I can access BP. I am in Brisbane so dropping in for the occasional 3 bottles doesn't work. But, if I don't get offered the opportunity to buy BP via mail order next time the mailer comes out, I am buying nothing and dropping the list. If someone who buys the other stuff can't get BP, sod 'em.

Cheers

Michael

Michael,

I suggest you tough it out a couple more years. I waited 7 years in the 90s to get on list and it was worth the wait!!

As for admitting one buys BP for resale, big mistake.... You will probably get removed from the Stonewallers list, as i am aware they read this forum.

Just my $0.02 worth....

All the best

Mike

Wow, what a big fuss!

For what it's worth, I too only get my allocated 3 bottles per year from the mailing list. I picked up the cases from a restaurant selling their wine stock and it kinda distorts my cellar numbers, which is why I exclude it. If I had to bet, I suspect I will end up drinking and gifting a lot more than I sell! I've actually never sold a bottle of wine in my life, to anyone.

[Cloth Ears]

For what it's worth, I too only get my allocated 3 bottles per year from the mailing list. I picked up the cases from a restaurant selling their wine stock and it kinda distorts my cellar numbers, which is why I exclude it. If I had to bet, I suspect I will end up drinking and gifting a lot more than I sell! I've actually never sold a bottle of wine in my life, to anyone.

Nice buy! Not in my sort of price range anyway, but it's always nice to read how someone came about a few bottles of something special, by luck or chance (or sheer hard-work).

[rooman]

Cam - I'm shocked that there are only two Germans in your top 5..

I'm more shocked he only has 3 bottles per producer

[camw]

Cam - I'm shocked that there are only two Germans in your top 5..

I'm more shocked he only has 3 bottles per producer

Only have a relatively small total number of bottles and like it to be fairly diverse so pretty much all purchases are 1-2 bottles. Adding 6-12 bottles of a single wine isn't something I'm all that interested in as I'd rather be trying something new.

[rooman]

Cam - I'm shocked that there are only two Germans in your top 5..

I'm more shocked he only has 3 bottles per producer

Only have a relatively small total number of bottles and like it to be fairly diverse so pretty much all purchases are 1-2 bottles. Adding 6-12 bottles of a single wine isn't something I'm all that interested in as I'd rather be trying something new.

its always interesting to see the different approaches people take to cellaring wine. I generally like to get 6 of a decent wine if possible with 12 of more mid week quaffers. The reason for going for 6 is I can see how a wine develops over the years with 4 as an absolute minimum. More importantly with just 1 or 2, I become really concerned I may open a wine too early and hence hold onto them too long. 0f course if i was buying seriously expensive wines then this approach is much more difficult to adopt assuming I could buy 6 in the first place. I get the diversity approach but just find it causes me more stress than pleasure.

Mark

[crusty2]

Wendouree 15.2% - Average vintage 2004.4
Rockford 10.1% - Average vintage 2000.4
Penfolds 9.3% - Average vintage 1990.0
Wild Duck Creek 5.8% - Average vintage 2008.4
Wynns Coonawarra Estate 5.2% - Average vintage 1994.9

247 producers

[sjw_11]

Wendouree 15.2%

Penfolds 9.3% - Average vintage 1990.0
Wynns Coonawarra Estate 5.2% - Average vintage 1994.9

247 producers

That's awesome!

[mjs]

A few people have been looking at how many bottles per producer they have. That got me intrigued.
196 producers for me. So that's roughly 4 bottles from each on average.

Haha ... Ozzie, seeing what you buy, you'd be lucky to have a half a bottle average of each producer

[Ozzie W]

A few people have been looking at how many bottles per producer they have. That got me intrigued.
196 producers for me. So that's roughly 4 bottles from each on average.

Haha ... Ozzie, seeing what you buy, you'd be lucky to have a half a bottle average of each producer

Piccolo's are my preferred bottle size.

[deejay81]

Cam - I'm shocked that there are only two Germans in your top 5..

I'm more shocked he only has 3 bottles per producer

Only have a relatively small total number of bottles and like it to be fairly diverse so pretty much all purchases are 1-2 bottles. Adding 6-12 bottles of a single wine isn't something I'm all that interested in as I'd rather be trying something new.

I'm with Cam...

I'm sitting at 3.46 bottles per producer

[Polymer]

Only have a relatively small total number of bottles and like it to be fairly diverse so pretty much all purchases are 1-2 bottles. Adding 6-12 bottles of a single wine isn't something I'm all that interested in as I'd rather be trying something new.

Pretty much the same...I generally only buy 1 or 2 of something...with maybe one or two exceptions...or if the price is silly low....

Now that I've moved a good chunk of my stuff to the US, I think I only have one bottle of anything....with one or two exceptions...

[Mike Hawkins]

Only have a relatively small total number of bottles and like it to be fairly diverse so pretty much all purchases are 1-2 bottles. Adding 6-12 bottles of a single wine isn't something I'm all that interested in as I'd rather be trying something new.

Pretty much the same...I generally only buy 1 or 2 of something...with maybe one or two exceptions...or if the price is silly low....

Now that I've moved a good chunk of my stuff to the US, I think I only have one bottle of anything....with one or two exceptions...

I guess I'm the opposite... If i find something great that i absolutely adore and feel confident it will age (eg 1986 St Henri and Mt Ed, 2002 Taittinger Comtes, 1996 DP and 08 Chetillons) i may buy up to 60 bottles.

I cant see the point of continually 'trying' (paying for) bottles that i may not like, when i could sample same at tastings / wineries and make a better choice.

[Mivvy]

Cavallotto
Faiveley
Elio Grasso
Produttori
W Fevre/ W Schaefer tied for 5th

Not much change for me - overall my average vintage is 2008 so have been buying older bottles to drink and keeping the relatively younger stuff that I have cellared.

Produttori - not as keen on the '09 and '11 so have been buying up back vintages...lots of '08
Cavallotto - bought a few older bottles and some '08
Faiveley - no change
W Schaefer - some '01s and '15s - drinking some '07s
By Farr - bought a mixed case of '13

83 producers with 3 bottles or less so spreading the love...

[swirler]

Only have a relatively small total number of bottles and like it to be fairly diverse so pretty much all purchases are 1-2 bottles. Adding 6-12 bottles of a single wine isn't something I'm all that interested in as I'd rather be trying something new.

Pretty much the same...I generally only buy 1 or 2 of something...with maybe one or two exceptions...or if the price is silly low....

Now that I've moved a good chunk of my stuff to the US, I think I only have one bottle of anything....with one or two exceptions...

I guess I'm the opposite... If i find something great that i absolutely adore and feel confident it will age (eg 1986 St Henri and Mt Ed, 2002 Taittinger Comtes, 1996 DP and 08 Chetillons) i may buy up to 60 bottles.

I cant see the point of continually 'trying' (paying for) bottles that i may not like, when i could sample same at tastings / wineries and make a better choice.

This.

If you like something why only drink it a few times? Also, if I only have a couple of bottles I will tend to not open them early. In fact, there's a risk of leaving them too long. Whereas when you have lots you can open them whenever you like and follow their progress.

When I say a lot, I mean a dozen or 2. 60 is rather a lot IMO. Especially when it's a Cuvee Prestige/Tete de cuvee!