Are you an obsessive wine buyer?

The last unofficial poll had good feedback, so I will follow with the next one.

You are all welcome to suggest the 10 symptoms that show that you are an obsessive wine buyer,
and then list the 10 steps for rehabilitation - AA style.

IMHO the answer is very simple:

Let b be the number of bottles purchases in a month,
Let d1 be the number of bottles you drink (or are consumed in you presence) in a month,
and let d2 be the number of bottles you pass on to family members or as gifts to friends

Compute f as b - ( d1 + d2 )

If f > 0 then
you are an obsessive wine buyer, or about to become one.

If f is greater than 12 seek help or convert your home into a huge wine cellar and get used to living alone....

Cheers,

Eli

Without doing the math I can tell you that for me f ~ 0 currently. If however I was not constrained by a grad-student budget . . . .

Obsessive and enjoying it!

From the mathematical point of view perhaps a somewhat faulted poll because it does not take into consideration those wines we intend to cellar for drinking or gift-giving 3, 5, 10, 20, or more years in the future. And, in some cases (not mine, heaven forbid) those wines we purchase as potential investments.

As to compulsivity - My name is Rogov and I have sinned. In fact, I sin on a regular basis when it comes to purchasing wines. As to a 12 step recovery plan, thank you but no and that for two major reasons. First, I have now attained that noble age at which I no longer have to purchase wines that will be drinking well in 30 or more years (have quite enough of those in the cellar now, thank you and I most assuredly will not be around after that) . Second, that age leaves me the liberty to purchase those wines that beckon for the moment or the nearby moments, those often offering the great simple pleasures of life (no oxymoron there whatever). As to confessing to being a sinner (in this case only to that of being a compulsive wine buyer), I have no guilt feelings whatever.


On a more fully serious note, I am very much in favor of the work done by Alcoholics Anonymous and with the exception of their need to acknowledge the existence of God, find that their meetings and their 12 step recovery program to be one of the very best ways to deal with alcoholism. With luck none of us will need their assistance but if ever one begins to wonder about being an alcoholic, this is one of the very first and best places to turn.

Best
Rogov

I admit it is difficult not to purchsae some wine every time the VINTAGES (here in Ontario) release dates come up every 2 weeks and when they send out their Vintages Classics Collection Booklets --BUT many of my purchses require cellaring and as storage has practically filled up now.I willbe much more judicious and need to cut back on the quantity I was accustomed to purchasing before...It willbe difficult to resist some top rated (95 and up,or 5/5 or 3/3 glasses type wines if my budget can afford them) should they come in thses releases or offerings...

Good post!

I think there will be plenty here who will admit to being obsessive wine buyers and significantly more than those who are compulsive wine drinkers. With so many, the buying gets so far in advance of the drinking that the cellar starts groaning at the weight of bottles.

In fact probably the best cure for obsessive (or complusive) buying, is a limited amount of stirage space. It really does help focus the mind and remind you that the world doesn't stop if you don't but that bottle of wine.

regards

Ian

[David M. Bueker]

Hi, my name is David & I have a buying problem.

I know I am obsessive wine buyer. I love too many different wines. I love how they show in different vintages, at different ages, with different foods, with friends, alone, at dinner, after dinner (haven't tried breakfast yet - likely a good sign).

I keep trying to bring the buying under control, and have managed to slow it down a little. The key for me is having a focus and a plan. The problem is sticking to that focus and plan. It's not the money that's an issue (likely a good sign that the 401K etc. are still being fully funded), but rather the space and my projected life span (shorter if I drink all this stuff).

Lack of storage space & less than stellar vintages in some of my focus areas (e.g. 2006 Burgs do not really interest me enough to clear space) can help.

Trading with other like-minded geeks is helpful. That's another way for me to get some interesting wines into my collection without buying.

This is meant as a funny, light hearted question, but...some of us have always had a "collecting" problem over our lives. Not just wine, either.

Unfortunately, wine is a fascinating thing to me, and I have too much and don't need to buy more...yet....I do.

Wine is only part of my "problem," so I can't blame it 100%

[Jenise]

Hi, my name is David & I have a buying problem.

I know I am obsessive wine buyer. I love too many different wines. I love how they show in different vintages, at different ages, with different foods, with friends, alone, at dinner, after dinner (haven't tried breakfast yet - likely a good sign).

I keep trying to bring the buying under control, and have managed to slow it down a little. The key for me is having a focus and a plan. The problem is sticking to that focus and plan. It's not the money that's an issue (likely a good sign that the 401K etc. are still being fully funded), but rather the space and my projected life span (shorter if I drink all this stuff).

I'm David's older sister--in spirit, anyways. Same problem, although I would be bored to death sticking to a plan. I buy with the same capriciouness that I waltz into my cellar and decide what we shall drink tonight. That's why our cellar doubled in the last five years. However, in the last six months I've slowed down to the point where f is much less than 0. I've finally gotten it through my head that there will ALWAYS be good wine and almost nothing's too good to pass up, so new purchases have been summer wines, hi-grading, or hole-filling.

Hi Eli,

I went ahead and did all the calculations and found some interesting yet predictable trends: I was definitely an obsessive wine buyer between the months of February-April. Then I found that during the months of May and June I went a little below 0 in my purchasing/consumption ratio.
I joined CellarTracker back in the middle of January, so January and before it doesn't have anywhere close to accurate records. The weather was still cold in February so I was able to stock up on a whole lot of wine outside of my extremely small, rack-based wine fridge, so much that when my "French style" VinTec was delivered to be in the beginning of March it pretty much filled the whole thing easily using its existing stacking racks. The record for the month of February comes out to a ratio of exactly 12!
Then March was my birthday. My math comes up with 42 then! The following month of April is well above 0 but less than half of the previous month. April was Passover, so the end of March and the month of April were big, annual Israeli wine sales all over… Also, something that balances the purchasing consumption ratio numbers between these two months was the fact that my consumption rate jumped about 25% more, and then it stayed pretty study up to this present month.

Furthermore, re: Ryan, I too am on a grad school budget, but I enjoy being obsessive and enjoy the benefits of this obsession likewise!!
Re: Ian, Isn't a "compulsive wine drinker" an alcoholic who only is satiated by the compound of alcohol and doesn't enjoy the drink for what it is??
Re: Ian and Ryan, the problem of space for bottles can usually be alleviated by resources in the pocketbook. For me the existing funds and how I am used to making purchases in general according to value and timeliness are the best healthy directive and filter for material, avocational obsession.

I also tend to think that my limitation to consuming Kosher standard wines keeps me far from needing AA rehabilitation for obsessive wine purchasing

Best wishes,
E.Y.

[David M. Bueker]

I'm David's older sister--in spirit, anyways. Same problem, although I would be bored to death sticking to a plan. I buy with the same capriciouness that I waltz into my cellar and decide what we shall drink tonight. That's why our cellar doubled in the last five years. However, in the last six months I've slowed down to the point where f is much less than 0. I've finally gotten it through my head that there will ALWAYS be good wine and almost nothing's too good to pass up, so new purchases have been summer wines, hi-grading, or hole-filling.

It sure sounds like you are. I do get bored sticking to a plan, and that's likely why I can't. The only plan that even remotely appeals to me is a "cellar diversification" plan. Now that doesn't mean going out and buying a bunch of Aussie Shiraz (which I generally do not care for), but rather exploring different producers of wine styles I already know I like or moving slightly off base into adjacent regions/styles (e.g. buying Vacqueyras or Cairanne when I already like other Rhones). Between that and a little will power (I don't have much) I have been able to hold sort of steady in cellar size. At least the rate of increase has slowed dramatically. My problem is the annual German Riesling binge where I instantly add another 100 bottles. I need about 5 straight bad years in Germany.

Great idea for an online help group - "Wine Buyers Anonymous".

YES, I am definitely an obsessive wine buyer. As a matter of fact I just bought 2 cases today. Damn stinking Wine Library wooed me with their "Customer Appreciation" sale while I found some 2003 Yiron's for sale for $20 and picked up a case.

Damn obsessive behavior!!!!

Thanks for reminding me of my problem though

Thankfully no. Not due to any strength of character or willpower, but rather a combination of three factors-

1) A small wine fridge of only ~70 bottles capacity.

2) A hot humid looong summer barely tolerable for humans, let alone wines.

Factors 1 + 2 create a situation where the only willpower I need is to resist the impulse to get a larger cellaring solution...

3) Current restrictions on carrying wine in airplanes - I used to bring 3-6 bottles back from practically every trip, and for some years flew British Airways mainly to have the chance to pick up wine purchases at the Berry Brothers branch in Heathrow. That branch closed a few years ago, Heathrow needs renaming to Hellrow, and obsessive protection and packing of wine in checked luggage is just too much effort on short work trips.

I think it’s safe to say that the answer is – Yes.

There are so many of them, and they all look so great – just can’t get enough.
Unfortunately my banker thinks otherwise .

Rotem

well I believe that when you buy much more than you consume it makes u an obsessive buyer, my wife can testify that even though I try to drink when ever I can, I don;t manage to keep up with my buying

well I believe that when you buy much more than you consume it makes u an obsessive buyer, my wife can testify that even though I try to drink when ever I can, I don;t manage to keep up with my buying

Well...my "solution" is to sponsor periodic wine parties for my friends. To be honest, wine is a social/intellectual thing to me, as well as tasting so good. It's the trying with friends, at dinners, at parties, even pestering tasting room employees with too many questions! I like talking about it-to a probably annoying extreme. (The disease is spreading among my friends now!) It's not good for my bank balance, but I tend to be antisocial, and I think it has helped wrt that.

I like the formula, but we might need to tweak the results.

Who consumes more than they buy???

I consume (giving, drinking, sharing) 85-100 bottles a year, I buy 200 bottles per year.

Is there any other way????

Hi, my name is David & I have a buying problem.

I know I am obsessive wine buyer. I love too many different wines. I love how they show in different vintages, at different ages, with different foods, with friends, alone, at dinner, after dinner (haven't tried breakfast yet - likely a good sign).

I keep trying to bring the buying under control, and have managed to slow it down a little. The key for me is having a focus and a plan. The problem is sticking to that focus and plan. It's not the money that's an issue (likely a good sign that the 401K etc. are still being fully funded), but rather the space and my projected life span (shorter if I drink all this stuff).

Lack of storage space & less than stellar vintages in some of my focus areas (e.g. 2006 Burgs do not really interest me enough to clear space) can help.

Trading with other like-minded geeks is helpful. That's another way for me to get some interesting wines into my collection without buying.

Likewise!
I am tempted to all different kinds of wines, from all over the world, and to add misery - lately I go to wine auctions and find all those treasures, one can't just leave them
I do try to use up my stock of wines, at home, in family gatherings (where I'm always in charge of bringing the wines, of course), in private wine tastings, but it helps just a little, I should admit.

David, as to the 2006 Burgs, since I've been in Burgundy last December, and sampled 2006 reds and whites, I wouldn't close the door on them - 2006 is going to be a classic vintage for those who managed the harvest skillfully. Sauzet, Grivot, Comte Armand, Ponsot and others showed more than handful of excellent, and long living (to their saying) wines.