New Year Wine Resolutions 2018

[felixp21]

My genuine Resolution (and earnest hope!!!) is that I do not purchase a single bottle of wine in 2019.
Truly.
Honestly.
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

With close to 5.5k bottles of wine, there is clearly no hope of me even making a significant dent in the stuff over the next 20 years, and my sons have well and truly enough to see them out for the next 30 years.

My other resolution is to start drinking all that mature Aussie stuff I have in the cellar down there. Too much shiraz and cabs going to waste. I'm going to keep my hands off the Burgs and Bords and learn to love Australian wines again.
Truly.
Honestly
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

[DaveS]

My genuine Resolution (and earnest hope!!!) is that I do not purchase a single bottle of wine in 2019.
Truly.
Honestly.
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

With close to 5.5k bottles of wine, there is clearly no hope of me even making a significant dent in the stuff over the next 20 years, and my sons have well and truly enough to see them out for the next 30 years.

My other resolution is to start drinking all that mature Aussie stuff I have in the cellar down there. Too much shiraz and cabs going to waste. I'm going to keep my hands off the Burgs and Bords and learn to love Australian wines again.
Truly.
Honestly
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

Wow, have you thought about banning yourself from wine forums and unsubscribing from all wine emails?

[Ian S]

My genuine Resolution (and earnest hope!!!) is that I do not purchase a single bottle of wine in 2019.
Truly.
Honestly.
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

With close to 5.5k bottles of wine, there is clearly no hope of me even making a significant dent in the stuff over the next 20 years, and my sons have well and truly enough to see them out for the next 30 years.

My other resolution is to start drinking all that mature Aussie stuff I have in the cellar down there. Too much shiraz and cabs going to waste. I'm going to keep my hands off the Burgs and Bords and learn to love Australian wines again.
Truly.
Honestly
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

The alternative is to package a load off to auction, with the reward being you take a fixed percentage of the proceeds to fund buying wines that represent current interests that might not be represented in the cellar. Definitely give those Shiraz & cabs a fair shot, in the right weather and with the right food / company, but if the desire to open them comes in at once a month or less, then that's the time to find someone else who would love them more.

[Scotty vino]

I part fulfilled my resolution in going to the Barossa and visiting slightly lesser known producers.
What I figured with my vino buddies was that we need a Barossa 'lesser known producers' 2.0 trip in 2019.
Need to hit Tom Foolery, Head , Eperosa, Sami Odi etc to start with.
Will go back to see John at Riesling Freak as an appt tasting there
is probably not the best place to finish before an hour drive back to the city.
Prob a mid year trip when we can drive around with a boot full of wine and not be worrired about temp etc.

[JamieBahrain]

My genuine Resolution (and earnest hope!!!) is that I do not purchase a single bottle of wine in 2019.
Truly.
Honestly.
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

With close to 5.5k bottles of wine, there is clearly no hope of me even making a significant dent in the stuff over the next 20 years, and my sons have well and truly enough to see them out for the next 30 years.

My other resolution is to start drinking all that mature Aussie stuff I have in the cellar down there. Too much shiraz and cabs going to waste. I'm going to keep my hands off the Burgs and Bords and learn to love Australian wines again.
Truly.
Honestly
This year I'll stick to it.
Hopefully.

The alternative is to package a load off to auction, with the reward being you take a fixed percentage of the proceeds to fund buying wines that represent current interests that might not be represented in the cellar. Definitely give those Shiraz & cabs a fair shot, in the right weather and with the right food / company, but if the desire to open them comes in at once a month or less, then that's the time to find someone else who would love them more.

I'm not sure how Felix feels about it but unless you need the money they may be best left to family or given away? I'm pretty sure his cellar is professionally stored for many many years and many auction houses will see your wines mixed up with the average riff-raff who poorly store their wine.

As a I stated, not speaking for Felix, but perfectly stored wines are a far too worthy for the secondary market without due recognition IMO. I've just completed updating wills and this topic came up with my wife. She asked how best to offload so much wine?

[Ozzie W]

...perfectly stored wines are a far too worthy for the secondary market without due recognition IMO. I've just completed updating wills and this topic came up with my wife. She asked how best to offload so much wine?

I agree 100%. But what are the other options if you have a lot of wine you want to get rid of? I recently offloaded a few of my bottles of Aussie Shiraz to a friend that appreciates good wine. But I have a lot more that I don't want to drink/keep. My kids are too young and the wines probably won't go the distance if they become interested in wine when they're older. Apart from sending them to auction, I can't think of any other avenues to get rid of them. It'd be great is there were groups where like minded people could swap/sell wine to each other, but the liquor license laws make that illegal.

[Ian S]

Not too much change from last update, but the local merchant and his bargain priced nebbiolo wines won out. I suppose the other positive, is restrained buying means I have a little space in the cellar.

Aussies & NZ
 Keep an eye out for : Delatite Riesling, Primo – Moda, Joseph SRS, or anything else from them, Alkoomi Wandoo if still made, Houghton Jack Mann (got 2x 2014s)
 Explore Aussie Nebbiolo
 Te Mata Elston (none, but have spied some at a decent price, so it might happen)
 Explore ‘new’ trends but with a hard focus on the more elegant / radical end of the spectrum
 Best’s reds
Poor showing, but unless actively seeking them out, access can be a problem. An own label Tyrrells Hunter Semillon picked up to try – though I hate own labels, as it hides what the wine actually is.

Italy
 Try more Cascina degli Ulivi, & La Biancara. Or other more radical natural producers
 More Timorasso A 2014 Coppi ‘Fausto’
 More Fumin (2 Ottin)
 Vino Santo from Trentino (1 Gino Pedrotti and 1 Giovanni Poli)
 Taurasi, but avoiding high oak/alcohol (1 Luigi Tecce, plus nearby Nanni Cope from Volturno)
 More northern Piemonte Nebbiolo-led wines (3 Mirù Ghemme. a modest producer who we have a great affinity for, plus 3 of their Vespolina – happy days)
 Try another Lacrima Morro d’Alba (yes a Luigi Giusti Rubbjano, which I couldn’t really make my mind up about – I think these might be ‘right mood’ wines)
 A bottle or two of Brachetto (yes, but my first dry one – Sottomano’s Maté)
 Cantine Del Notaio reds, rose or sweet wine
 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (1 Valdipiatta, but chuffed to find 2x 2013 Crociani Riserva, a favourite producer)
 Isole e Olena Syrah
 Top up the ‘value’ nebbiolo from a local merchant topped up with 6 Cascina Saria Langhe Nebbiolo, 5 Battaglino Roero Sergentin, 3 Serradenari Barolo, 1 mag of Cascina Caria Barbaresco, a Freisa and a couple of Frenchies

Was somewhat missing the target here, though some more Nosiola, four Etna wines, a Moscato Rosa, a couple of bottles of cellaring Verdicchio and a couple of Langhe Nebbiolo wines are purchases I’m happy with. Surprisingly more on track without actually referring back to the plans! Also very happy to grab another 2 bottles of San Patrignano Avi, a project it’s great to support, but the wines is fine value in its own right. A couple of Hauner wines, an Anselmi from Soave region, another Timorasso, a 2015 Cavalotto Langhe Nebbiolo, plus a real Lambrusco, round out a surprisingly ‘on theme’ result.

ROW
 Keep the Ch Lamartine Cahors topped up, including the odd magnum (2 more 2012s)
 A little more Pinon sparkling Vouvray (3from 2012)
 Occasional German Riesling (2 plus a spatburgunder)
 Vinho Verde esp. from Soalheiro (none, but might be getting some from the same place as the Elston)
 Sidonio di Sousa – reserva or Garrafeira
 Re-expand to explore a few more countries than last year (sampling from Georgia, Armenia and Croatia)
 Explore France a little more via a trip there (very strong result here, with Chinon, Cabardes, Jurancon, St Nick de Bourgeuil, Cornas, Savenniere, Cote-Rotie amongst more usual purchases of Pomerol, Pouilly-Fuisse, Alsace Riesling). Also a bl**dy good slab of pate from St Omer market – following the principle of joining the longest queue worked wonders, where I also saw someone paying for their sausages with a cheque!
 Try a Xinomavro or two from Greece Ha! Hadn’t been actively looking, but picked one up this week
 Keep trying Mencia wines
A couple of Musar 99s and a bottle of their new Levantine Red, three cheaper Bordeaux Reds and a couple of bottles of Rioja weren’t in plans, but I’m happy to have bought them. A couple of bin-ended Fromm Syrah wines less so. Add in another couple of Luis Pato wines (white and red), a couple of halves of Ridge Geyserville, a couple of Graciano wines and a Carinena (Carignan) from Aragon

Generic
 Audit the cellar, mostly to re-order the ready to the top, and the unready to the bottom
 Keep up the low-key exploration of natural wines. Especially from Kofra coffee shop. Yes the Carignan above a Chilean Pais, plus a rebuy of a subtle pet-nat
 Keep the buying of very old wines in check (it won’t last you know!)
 Organise a local tasting
 Don’t forget to open the occasional bottle of Port (sadly a 1966 I’d been waiting to open with friends was leaking badly, so got opened before we could meet up).
 Don’t forget old favourites (I guess the Musar comes in here)
 A few more Cab Franc / Cab Franc-led wines Not just the Chinon and Bourgeuil, but also a Languedoc rendition
 Some Pomerol and some French sampling from a trip over there (loads of Pomerol, keeping the brains of the operation happy!)
 Buy more half bottles. Added in later, definitely need more, but a couple of Trimbach CFE (2011) & Mas de Daumas Gassac (2010) have made a start

[felixp21]

spot on Jamie!!
no way I'm sending my wine, which has been sitting in the same underground cellar in excellent storage conditions for up to 30 years, to auction!!
I have done that experiment several times a few years ago, auction-purchased wines and then compared the same to my cellared stuff... the difference is actually astonishing!!!
It just wouldn't sit right with me. Forgetting the financial aspects, when you cellar stuff that long, it just doesn't feel good to then sell the stuff off.
Most of the older stuff is shiraz from the 80's, and a few from the 70's left too. These are all good quality stuff, so no danger of falling over anytime soon, so it can sit there whilst I contemplate this situation.
I had the first of an un-opened case of 1991 Coriole Lloyd's Shiraz in about July this year, i reckon it still needs time, although was drinking magnificently. Stuff like that has decades in front of them, if cellared properly.

[rens]

For 2018, I would like to continue buying some more Italian wine and look seriously at some more German Rizzers.

Tick and tick!