how many bottles in your collection?

[megawill]

i'm slowly trying to build up my collection and transcend from a consumer to a collector. I'm wondering how many bottles other 'novices' have in their possession.

I currently have 19 and would like to triple that by the end of next year. I only have a couple of 'keepers' that I'm cellaring at the moment...everything else is fair game whenever I feel the urge to open a bottle.

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megawill

[winoweenie]

Hi Mega and I like your attitude. As far as the keepers go, make sure they have a safe resting space so when you eventually visit them suckers they don't spoil the party. WW

[Innkeeper]

Although I'm aging three or so cases of various wines for various periods of time, I am now and always will be a consumer, never a collector. If I wanted to collect something, it would be stamps.

[wondersofwine]

I have over 100 bottles without optimum storage or much organization. I need to do something about this. Right now I try to keep the temperature 70 or below and group by nation--French, German, Italian, Australian, California and Oregon, etc.

[Kcwhippet]

Not a novice, but we're pushing 600 bottles in a passive cellar that stays between 58 F and 62 F.

[Thomas]

I keep about ten cases of various wines in the cellar at all times--but a collector I am not. Like IK, I'd collect stamps, or butterflies, before I'd even consider collecting wine. All ten cases are there for me to draw a bottle (or two) when I need to and when I believe they are in need of opening.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 12-31-2003).]

[Tyrrell]

After my party tomorrow I expect to have a few more than thirty bottles left at home. On one hand I don't want to have so many bottles that I can't drink them before they are damaged by age in my inadiquate (warm) storage. On the other hand I hope to enlarge my collection as much as practical before I get married and what I had previously thought of as "my money" becomes "our money".

[Drew]

450, give or take, total with 74 bottles for daily drinking in two wine jails (37 bottles per jail) in the mud room, stays very cool there year round.

Drew

[This message has been edited by Drew (edited 12-31-2003).]

[Brom]

"try to keep the temperature 70 or below"

You'll want to do better. You have more than eight cases of wine, some of which I am sure you intend to keep for some time.

I am just as sure you continue to buy wine and if you are like me, you are not always buying for stock and drinking "first in first out".

Third, tho I am not sure, I figure 100 bottles is where you are now - next year you might be at 150 etc.

In the long run, figuring out how to lower the temperature of your wine storage will pay off.

I no longer collect wine and keep 50 bottles or less on hand with exactly 5 left from when I did collect.

[hotwine]

Currently about 50 cases, with good storage. I don't collect anything, merely try to keep an adequate stock on hand to support a variety of dinner menus and small social gatherings. And be able to consume wines at the peak of their individual aging curves, rather than immediately upon purchase.

[Innkeeper]

Thought we we talking about aging here. In addition to the three plus cases that are "laid down" we have another seven plus "in rotation." All in a passive cellar that stays in the 60s year round with high humidity.

[dananne]

I've got about 200 bottles right now, in two temp-controlled units. The big one downstairs (which is slowly dying, but hopefully will hold out until Spring) holds most, but the small 30 bottle unit upstairs in the bedroom holds some everyday drinkers -- the stuff you open at 8 on a Tuesday night just 'cause you feel like it. I only have probably 50 bottles that I'm planning on aging any significant amount of time. The rest are pop whenevers, or maybe age a year or so. I don't consider myself a collector. Just an enthusiast.

[quijote]

Merely a first-rung novice here, and I have no more than 35 bottles in storage at home in Milwaukee. Only about two or three are long-term keepers, one of which is a Barolo I bought in Buffalo (where I am now). Someday I'll get a wine fridge and get serious.

[Bucko]

I think that people confuse the term "collector." A more appropriate term might be "collector/consumer." I collect wine, place it in the cellar for proper aging, then consume it in later years. I hover around 2K.

There are true collectors of wine who look to sell the wine at appreciated prices years later. Sometimes they win, sometimes they do no better than the stockmarket.

Then there are flippers. These people get on cult wine lists, buy all that they can, then "flip" them at auction houses for very inflated prices. These folks are pond scum in my books...... [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/mad.gif[/img] [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/mad.gif[/img] [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/mad.gif[/img]

Then there are plain old consumers who grab a bottle off of the shelf for dinner that night.

Finally, there is WW, who has a bottle surgically attached to his hand. It is a magical bottle that never runs dry. Scientists are perplexed. WW is happy. The dogs hide under the porch........

[winoweenie]

And may the flies of a thousand camels inhabit you hairpiece Herr Doktor. Happy Newbie to you and the saint who resides at your place. WW [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Thomas]

Bucko, good definitions--but you left one thing out. Guys like me who are afraid to keep too much in the cellar for fear that a Mack truck might come along and flatten me before I have the chance to go through the whole lot. I figure if the truck hits and all I have down there are a few wines I may not have gotten my hands (and mouth around) well then, the loss is minimal...it's really the only commodity I wish I could take with me [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]

[tandkvd]

Happy New Year to all!

I curantly have 25 bottles in my 30 bottle fridge. Only one for med. term storage. My problem is being able to afford to keep up the stach with what I want to drink.

I would like to get to the point of Foodie and IK. And I would pay addmition to go in WW's celler! [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Thomas]

I have it on good authority ww charges $5 for admission but, luckily, he counts as well as he types...

[tandkvd]

But how is his eye sight? Do ya think he would notice a couple of the Napa Vally Cabs following me out of the cellar?

[winoweenie]

The eyes are the 3rd thing to go. Wud probably think you had a coupla' matchsticks. WW