Cellar Distribution

I was curious about cellar distributions. My cellar has ~9% white wine and 91% red at any given time. The flow-through on whites is faster of course so the number of whites I buy is a bit more than that ratio. Wondered what others have.

My cellar has ~9% white wine and 91% red at any given time. The flow-through on whites is faster of course...

That is a big imbalance!

I do get that many people drink white wine younger, but I still buy plenty of white wine to age. I'm probably closer to 60/40 red/white for aging, although I drink pretty close to 50/50.

[David M. Bueker]

I used to be 60/40 white to red, but adding in my dad’s cellar has pushed me to 45/55 these days.

I'm apparently at roughly 75% red and 25% white, which surprises me, because I was expecting it to be 60/40 or 66/34 -- and in fact, CT confirms over the last two years, we've consumed 55% red/40% white/5% rosé. I think that moving out of a big city has meant that I don't have easy retail access to the full range of interesting younger-drinking whites that I used to, which means I no longer keep as much of that stuff around, which also means we've been drinking down our stock of whites.

Uh-oh! Time to go shopping.

70/30 red/white, mostly because I'm married to a woman who disdains aged white wines. Some amount of the "white" in our cellar is Champagne.

My Cellar is 99% red.

That's red against white table wines. It doesn't count Champagne and other sparkling wines.

I think the faster flow-through exaggerates the whites - I have around 30 cases of whites so I am not going to run short, and I regularly buy replacement whites, it is just that (other than Alsatians and champagnes) they stay n the cellar for a shorter period than most reds.

I am at 60% whites and 40% reds now. I don't really think about aging reds more than whites: most of my white wines can last as long as my reds. Having a fair amount of riesling and chenin blanc helps with this.

[Jenise]

75/25, but what's trending in my celllar is fewer reds and less wine overall. I'm mostly not replacing reds--especially cabs and syrahs--where I continuously add whites.

It was interesting to see the average vintage, which I've not looked at before: 2014 on red and 2020 on whites. It's a young cellar but I like it that way. Bill, what are your average ages?

Bill, what are your average ages?

Well my wife says I'm around 16 mental age......but I don't know how to get average age of my wines - does Cellar Tracker offer that? I have a handful of 1960s wines and then a few 70s vintages and on into the 80s which are still well represented.

about a decade ago, I was ~60% white, 40% red - the white largely Riesling and similar grapes (GV, Scheurebe, Muskateller, etc).

now it's flipped - CT shows 65% red, 35% white. I think the major changes there are in drinking habits (wine less frequently, and a lot of inexpensive Riesling QbA/Kabinett/Spätlese were my standard 'daily drinkers' - I don't buy those as much now), and also a lot more interest in some reds I wasn't buying anywhere near as much a decade ago (lots more Nebbiolo and Loire Cabernet Franc, plus the same Syrah purchases).

[Jenise]

Bill, what are your average ages?

Well my wife says I'm around 16 mental age......but I don't know how to get average age of my wines - does Cellar Tracker offer that? I have a handful of 1960s wines and then a few 70s vintages and on into the 80s which are still well represented.

Sue and I need to have a talk.

Yes, CT offers that. The sort on type that gives you the percentages of white, rose and red will also give you the average ages of each category.

For me probably 80% red, 20% white (and that mostly dessert wines).

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I am at 60% whites and 40% reds now. I don't really think about aging reds more than whites: most of my white wines can last as long as my reds. Having a fair amount of riesling and chenin blanc helps with this.

I appreciate that. I'm seeing the white trend in my Bellingham group. At this week's tasting of Northern Italian-provinces-that-border-other-countries (haven't posted notes yet), there were nine whites out of 21 or 22 wines presented. That we have almost half white has been the way of our tastings in recent years, and I don't think it would have been so much the case even ten years ago. A guy who is actually a recent Italian immigrant was suprised--he brought one of them because he figured everybody would bring red. I took a Barolo in addition to two whites from Terlano and Giacosa (yes, most bring multiples).

Sorry I won't be seeing you on Thursday.

Thanks, Jenise - the 'sort on type' discloses that I have:

Red 82.4% Bottles Average vintage 2005.2

White 15.9% Bottles Average vintage 2014.9

Rosé 1.2% Bottles Average vintage 2020.2

Orange 0.5% Bottles ( Average vintage 2021.8

[Jenise]

That's interesting, Bill. You have more white than you thought! (For the purposes of responding to your post, I lumped everything not-red together as one, I don't own enough rose to sway the numbers.)

CT says
Red 69.5%
White 30.3%
Rosé 0.2%
I don't usually enter daily drinkers in CT, so likely undercounts white and rose (the roses listed are Champagne).
Actually I'm terrible about tracking period,but I would guess that the percentages are about right (the whites being mostly Riesling and Loire).
But think consumption is likely 50/50, or maybe tilted a bit white based on what we eat

That's interesting, Bill. You have more white than you thought! (For the purposes of responding to your post, I lumped everything not-red together as one, I don't own enough rose to sway the numbers.)

I have only 16 bb of still Rose and 33bb of rose bubbly so not a major element in the cellar. In sparkling, I have 10 cases of white bubble so no shortage there.

My sweet whites are diminished at a glacial pace, as we only drink them with friends.

My cellar is about

dry white 33%
dry red 53%
rosé 1%
sweet (mostly Port) 12%
sparkling 1%