I am so glad my cellar is finally in balance!

After the inevitable palate shift since I got serious about thirteen years ago, I think my cellar has finally reached balance: Roughly equal parts Rheingau, Mosel, France, and U.S. That's balanced, right?

That's balanced, right?

Nahe, not really.

Not balanced without Italian.

Trouble is, as soon as you start seriously drinking, whoops, there you are out of balance again.

My problem is I don't drink in balance!

These days saying U.S. is much the same as saying Europe.

Why so much US?

My cellar never has been and never will be balanced. There's always something I want and don't have, and never something I have too much of.

John

Not balanced without Italian.

Lou, I'm sure you are right. I have a handful of Prosecco and Lambrusco, but that adds up to only 1% of the total. For whatever reason, I've never been captivated by the Italian wines available to me.

My cellar never has been and never will be balanced. There's always something I want and don't have, and never something I have too much of.

Interesting, I have been lucky that my preferences have not shifted that frequently.

Why so much US?

One of the things I love about this board is that you can't tell who is joking. My U.S. stuff is pretty eclectic; about 20% of it is Oregon pinot noir, about 25% is Ravenswood, the remainder is scattered all over California.

Balance is in the palate of the drinker.

I often lose my balance when I drink wine from my cellar... I guess that's a different thing altogether.

I gave up keeping wines that I thought a good cellar should have, and now keep only wines that I like, or find interesting. Cellar balance is over rated.

Sorry, no.
That a total IMbalance.

You need 80% Bordeaux, 10% Champagne, 5% Burgundy, and 5% miscellaneous.

Shaking his head,
Alex R.

There's also shopping balance (or IMbalance0. Every time I'm on a trip to the US, I try and buy representatives from all my favorite wine regions,but looking back, it seems the majority is Bordeaux back vintages.

Sorry, no.
That a total IMbalance.

You need 80% Bordeaux, 10% Champagne, 5% Burgundy, and 5% miscellaneous.

Shaking his head,
Alex R.

And as a public service, David Bueker has an up-to-date and exhaustive list of all the thousands of Bordeaux reds with first rate quality and fighting variety prices so you can build that necessary 80% balance point that Alex is talking about.

obviously the definition of a perfectly balanced cellar would be :
France 71.96%
Germany  10.30%
Italy  9.20%,
USA , 5.51%
Austria 1.27%,
Spain  0.66%
Australia, 0.66%,
Portugal  0.28%,
Argentina  0.06%,
Hungary  0.06%
Ukraine  0.06%,

Dale, the 0.06% Ukraine is the homeopathic approach to cellar balance?

And Alex, I really have trouble imagining 80% Bordeaux from a consumption standpoint. Is it that your average Bordeaux is much older than the average of your other wines?

Dale, the 0.06% Ukraine is the homeopathic approach to cellar balance?

Exactly, some people believe in homeopathy, others in 75 year old Crimean "madiera"

My cellartracker figures of course don't really mimic consumption. Bdx is over 28% of my cellar, but probably 5% (tops) of my consumption. I drink more Burg than Bdx, but nowhere near the 25% of my cellar. Same with German Auslesen and Barolo. But I drink way more Loires, Mosel kabinetts, etc than show up as "in cellar." And I never even enter things like roses, prosecco, cava, basic Beaujolais, etc.

And Alex, I really have trouble imagining 80% Bordeaux from a consumption standpoint. Is it that your average Bordeaux is much older than the average of your other wines?

I think living in Bordeaux has something to do with that.

And Alex, I really have trouble imagining 80% Bordeaux from a consumption standpoint. Is it that your average Bordeaux is much older than the average of your other wines?

I think living in Bordeaux has something to do with that.

So why aren't you drinking more Lawngighland wine and Finger Lake Riesling, huh? And more labrusca varieties (Howie made me ask that.)

Hoke,
I maintain that affordable Bordeaux at US retail prices is better value for money than most California wines. Perhaps we can do a tasting one day?

Walter,
you wrote “And Alex, I really have trouble imagining 80% Bordeaux from a consumption standpoint. Is it that your average Bordeaux is much older than the average of your other wines?”

Good point. I have a lot of bottles (1,200 or so) and most of them are Bordeaux. But that is misleading because of the aging factor because I can only drink a minority of them let’s say with tomorrow’s dinner. 1,200 dwindles down to a third of that or less in a sense… Yes, my Bordeaux tends to age longer than wine from most other regions except for top-notch Burgundy and Rhône.
Even affordable Bordeaux is usually better after 5 years bottle age. As for the best great growths, well, the sky’s virtually the limit…
Of course, I was being facetious in my breakdown of the perfect cellar by origin! There are other wines I’d like to add to my cellar, but they’re very hard to find here…

Best regards,
Alex R.

So why aren't you drinking more Lawngighland wine and Finger Lake Riesling, huh? And more labrusca varieties (Howie made me ask that.)

Because unlike Alex (as he mentions above), I have plentiful sources of top notch wine from all sorts of other regions!

Walter, I would be interested in which Rheingaus you collect and where you purchase them. I like Rheingau wines but rarely find them available even in Raleigh.

David Bueker gave a good suggestion in another forum some time ago, to determine if your cellar is “balanced”. If you count the number of times you go into your wine cellar and say – “I have nothing to drink tonight” and you need both hands to do so. Your wine cellar is not “balanced”.

Salute

Walter, I would be interested in which Rheingaus you collect and where you purchase them. I like Rheingau wines but rarely find them available even in Raleigh.

JC, I get mine almost exclusively from Dee Vine Wines in San Francisco. They are enthusiastic and provide excellent service, though I don't know if they ship out your way. They don't do much discounting of current releases (I assume so as not to compete with their wholesale clients) so it helps to get on their mailing list for sales and closeouts.

I'm hesitant to recommend specific wineries, as there are so many and taste is so subjective. With that in mind, I've never had a bad bottle from Weingut Hans Lang or Sekthaus Solter. The Hattenheimer wines from Weingut Stefan Gerhard are a personal favorite of ours because one of the vineyards shares a family name with my wife. They are not as consistent, but the two Schlossen, Vollrads and Schoenborn also make up some of the bottles I have. August Kesseler makes the best pinots but they are extremely expensive.
Garagiste occasionally has Rheingau wines on offer, and I even found one is Costco once! For whatever reason, Mosel is definitely the majority of what is available, even in shops that specialize in quality wine.
Of course, you can always go yourself! The whole region is easily touristed, even by train, and scenic.

I have been on a couple half-day or full-day cruises of the Rheingau while I lived in Germany and also have stayed overnight in Rudesheim. Schloss Schoenborn is one producer I might find in DC shops but some of the others probably not. Thanks for the info.