New Year Wine Resolutions 2019

[Cactus]

My resolution was and is to buy less. I have had a shocker of a year on that front. Just accumulating wine.

[brodie]

Go beserk on 2008 tete de cuvée champers

So Mike, how are you performing on your NY resolution???

[Ian S]

- A case leading on the Elston, but also backed up by some Soalheiro vino verde
- A repeat purchase from the local merchant with the good value nebbiolo - more house nebbiolo!
- Another dip into Portugal, leading on more Soalheiro, Sidonio di Sousa and no doubt a couple of curios
- Another case focused around the fringes of Italy
- Although I've just been there, I'm sure another visit or two to an eclectic local merchant, with some more Ch Wagenbourg (Alsace) and Ch Lamartine and maybe some more of a decent Lalande de Pomerol and St Nicholas de Bourgueil
- Although I've spurned them in recent years, maybe a little play in the new year sales
- Odd bottles here and there focused on old favourites, weird new stuff, and plugging any obvious gaps
- Consider some Zaltos

Not super, but not awful. Wine has taken more of a backseat this year, which has tied nicely in with mostly picking up the known to replace stocks. There is even some space in the cellar

[Mike Hawkins]

Go beserk on 2008 tete de cuvée champers

So Mike, how are you performing on your NY resolution???

Regretting having made it... the prices have gone up substantially from the 07/09 releases. And even though my favourite, Taittinger CDC is yet to be released (likely Q1 2020), I’ve bought way more than I planned for !

To make matters worse, the heralded 2012s have started to hit the market starting with Belle Eqoque and Les Chetillons. It never ends !

[brodie]

r

Go beserk on 2008 tete de cuvée champers

So Mike, how are you performing on your NY resolution???

Regretting having made it... the prices have gone up substantially from the 07/09 releases. And even though my favourite, Taittinger CDC is yet to be released (likely Q1 2020), I’ve bought way more than I planned for !

To make matters worse, the heralded 2012s have started to hit the market starting with Belle Eqoque and Les Chetillons. It never ends !

Yup, these NY resolutions are tough all right!

I was lucky to find pricing on 08 Dom below 09 here in NZ, but it was other way around big time on Cristal. Any idea when is the 08 Charles Heidsieck BdM due for release- 04 released about 18 months ago?

Brodie

[Mike Hawkins]

I haven’t heard Brodie... but guys in the industry tell me the regular vintage is superb

[Craig(NZ)]

After a year of dipping into the big hitters from a string of top NZ vintages (2013-2015), things are to change next year.

1. Exit from the <>$60-150 a bottle bracket completely. I have too many top end wines. This will mean not buying quite a few labels that I have supported every year for 20 years
2. Explore more from the value for money bracket $25-40 and increase the proportion of these wines put aside for mid-long term
3. Less Syrah, more Pinot Noir. I have given up cellaring shiraz and syrah
4. Keep buying bordeaux blends and chardonnay
5. A few 2008 Champagnes (this could be the only exception to point 1 above)

1. I haven't done not too bad in this department with a few exceptions which I do not regret. Many of the 'slip ups' are to support point 3 so I call for dismissal on technicality there.
2. Can't say I have done extremely well in this area. Price creep on some mid-price favourites is not helping. I still need to man up here YTG
3. I have done well here. Pinot Noir stocks are rising and I can't think of any Syrah I have bought this year except for a cheap bottle of Kay Bros Block 6 which I have already drunk
4. Business as usual on this front although I am keeping my powder dry for the 2019 Chardonnays particularly Kumeu River. Bordeaux blends is all about shovelling as many of the 2013-2015 Puriri Hills wines into the cellar as possible before the "quicker to release" wineries start releasing 2019
5. I haven't actually bought any for the cellar although I have purchased a nice line up for a tasting in November. I don't really drink much champagne

[WAwineguy]

Pricing is helping me not buying wine like Burgundy, as it has risen 30-50% since the 2009-10. I also agree with not buying Shiraz, as I am full to overflowing with the stuff. Having said that, there is the mandatory Rockford, Wendouree and Marius. Damn, breaking my resolutions before the new year starts.

I'm in exactly the same predicament - don't want any more Shiraz whatsoever, but find it hard to resist Wendouree and Marius (particularly since Roger is retiring). Strangely, I've actually bought more Chardonnay and Champagne this year than anything else. But my New Year's resolution to stop buying wine hasn 't exactly worked out.

Oh well, there's always next year

[Mahmoud Ali]

I'm also in the position of not needing any more shiraz but when Rhone or Rhone-style wines appear at a good price I'm sorely tempted. This year it was Cote-Rotie and some Syrah/Shiraz from the Osooyos region of the Okanagan in Canada when I was passing by cellar doors on a drive through this summer. Otherwise sparkling, whites and roses are alway on my shoping list. The last Australian shiraz I bought was the '13 Annie's Lane 'Copper Trail' about four years ago.

Oh wait, I did buy a couple if '04 St Henri two years ago when it appeared on a shelf for $55, and a few weeks later an '06 for $35. Dammit!

[TiggerK]

WAwineguy, I'm with you on the Chardonnay and Champagne!

98% of my buying this past year falls into the following categories...

Chardonnay
White Burgundy (yeah more Chardonnay )
Champagne (often Blanc de Blancs )
Jura Savagnin (and a few light reds plus some Chardonnay )
Ruggabellus or Latta 'Orange' style wines.
Tyrrell's Sacred Sites Reds and their whites.
Young house quaffing AU Rieslings, Loire Chenin Blanc, occasional posh Condrieu, misc oddball grapes, often in a fresh high acid style.
Sour Beers

Also this year, and thanks to very generous friends I've enjoyed a lot of great Barolo/Barbaresco, Bordeaux and Red Burgundy, but other than those #firstworldproblem type opportunities, and a few excellent aged classic Aussies, I'm just not feeling much love for reds in general these days. Suspect it's a zippy acid phase, combined with a desire for elements of tertiary characters in the reds I do drink.

2020 Wine resolutions? Sell more of my cellared Shiraz and bigger styles of Pinot, drink some of my 7-15 year old reds to see how my current palate feels about their future, smash a fair few 2012 AU Rieslings over summer as they feel in a nice balance of fresh and slightly aged. Drink more of my misc cellar stuff, buy more sporadically, quality over quantity, and much more producer driven. Yet, always take the occasional leap into unknown producers and regions. You never know....

Cheers
Tim

[brodie]

Thanks Ozzie for starting this thread. Your resolutions strike me as being inappropriately reasonable and achievable!

I have five key focus areas and priorities for 2019......

1. Buy less wine
2. Buy less wine
3. Buy less wine
4. Buy less wine
5. Buy less wine

My purchases are now between 1/2 and 1/3rd of what they were 3+ years ago but is still too high. I consume/deplete about 200 bottles a year and this year bought just over 130 bottles. So the organic rate of decline in the cellar is very modest. It is only thru sending wines to auction that I have managed to achieve any significant reduction in the total bottle count. Even so I will be leaving a lot of wine to my children at this rate.

Brodie

Ok - so how did I do? I would give myself a C- grade I suppose

2015: 451 bottles
2016: 170 bottles
2017: 205 bottles
2018: 149 bottles
2019: 121 bottles

better than last year - but my target was to get below 100 bottles purchased. Need to see if I can get below 100 bottles in 2020

Total bottle count in the cellar is down a net 335 bottles for the year

Brodie

[Ozzie W]

With the year just passing the 3/4 mark, I thought I'd check in and see how I'm doing.

Buy primarily from specific producers that I've come to love, instead of more broadly.

While I have favourite producers that I buy from regularly, I'm still not buying "primarily" from them. I love variety, exploring and trying new producers. This resolution is going to be much harder to keep than I thought.

Buy more back vintages rather than new releases. I'll be too old if I wait for many new releases to mature.

I bought no new release Cabernet, only buying some older bottles from auction. About half my Italian Nebbiolo purchases were pre-2014 from auction. All up around a quarter of my purchases in 2019 were from auction. On the right track here. But.... next year the 2016 Barolo's will be released which will put a dent in this resolution and also fill up my cellar to the brim (I've left some room for them).

Stop buying Aussie wines to cellar. I've got plenty already.

I bought some new release Hoddles Creek, Gembrook Hill and By Farr Pinot to cellar. About a dozen bottles all up. Happy with that.

Send some Aussie Shiraz off to auction. I'm never going to drink it all.

One of my friends expressed an interest in my Aussie Shiraz. I gave him a few bottles to try and he loved them and has taken about 40 bottles of my SA Shiraz over the past 6 months. This has saved me the hassle of sending to auction. He'll take more of my Shiraz in the future too. Win win!

Buy a few 2012 vintage Champagnes to cellar.

I've bought 9 bottles of 2012 Champagne. Will undoubtedly buy a few more as they are released.

With the end of the year nigh, it's time to look back and see how I went.

Very little has changed since my last update 3 months ago. A couple more purchases of 2012 Champagne. I didn't end up buying as much 2012 Champagne as I planned to. A lot of producers simply haven't released that vintage yet.

Looking at my overall buying and consumption, I've purchased 33 more bottles than I consumed. Very happy with that. It means the room I've left in the cellar for future 2016 Barolo purchases is still there.

Time now to think about what I want to achieve in 2020.