Errs in Cellar

Cellaring is a personal choice. I have only two rules of thumb this time. But if you are going to invest in purchasing, or building, your dream cellar they’re a must:

1. You’re not building a house you might live in some day. You don’t need to build a cellar that you can’t fill – today.

2. Once said cellar is filled – you can’t have it without some kind of record system.

Here are the two zany stories that fueled my two thumbs-worth today.

For #1:
A friend I have built an incredible cellar to match his incredible appreciation of wine; and his house. But he doesn’t have a whole lot of time for tasting or purchasing. I’ve offered to help in this regard but he still holds fast to the belief that someday he will be able to fill his own cellar. I lie in wait. An empty cellar for me is like an empty shoe rack for Imelda Marcos…not pretty.

For #2:
In a recent issue of Wine Spectator there is a section called “PRIVATE CELLARS”. If you aren’t drawn in by photos of free-standing cellar designs equipped to hold 2,800 bottle collections you may not be drawn in to learn more about “tracking systems”. The gentlemen in this article is “looking to eventually log his bottles into a tracking system so he won’t let any slip past their peak drinking windows”.

Nothing slip pasts me in my cellar. So I read on.

He had found, upon the new construction, both 1980 and 1990 Opus One vintages that “had peaked but was still good”. And how much peaked wine could he have with such a large collection? “A bunch.”

That’s just shameful. I mean if you have the means to purchase a collection it’s a CRIME not to keep track of it. My mother used to say, “People are starving in China” when I didn’t even want to touch my Brussel Sprouts. But I don’t like Brussel Sprouts, don’t buy Brussel Sprouts and still can’t appreciate them. But, if I knew someone else that liked Brussel Sprouts I would readily GIVE THEM AWAY TO BE APPRECIATED.

Nuff said.