Where do the wines you drink come from?

[Jenise]

70% Finger Lakes

20% West Coast USA

10% Europe mostly Italy

Carl, it's really rather interesting that you drink, in the majority, what are arguably the leanest wines produced in America and yet you contrast those with the wines of Tobin James which are just about the least-lean wines made in California. Quite a juxtaposition!

Jenise, I don't know were you get the "leanest wines produced in America" from. Not at all in my experience. The whites go from dry to cloying, and the reds though not consistent; the ones we drinks are just as full bodied as those from anywhere else!

I get it from my experience there, Carl. Finger Lakes wines are pretty high acid, regardless of sugar content and sugar content is generally low, which is why Finger Lakes alcohol levels are also relatively low. And I did not meet full-bodied red wines there. I met some that wanted to be, and the warmer 09 vintage was pretty current so we saw a very good side of things, but close to none of those I tasted had the power or richness of California wine.

[David M. Bueker]

While there are certainly very good Finger Lakes red wines, full bodied versions are extremely rare. In fact one of the better things about the better wines is that they have good flavor and balance at a lighter weight than say most Napa wines. It's no sin for a red to be lighter when the flavors are good.

[Jenise]

While there are certainly very good Finger Lakes red wines, full bodied versions are extremely rare. In fact one of the better things about the better wines is that they have good flavor and balance at a lighter weight than say most Napa wines. It's no sin for a red to be lighter when the flavors are good.

Agreed! In fact I'm increasingly preferring lighter bodied reds myself and intended nothing denigrating about the style. Just that, well, to put it another way: there's a reason why the Finger Lakes is known for grapes like Riesling, not Cabernet (Sauvignon) and Zinfandel.

I'm going more with my purchasing history rather than recent consumption.
Red wines: 67.5%
White wines: 28.3%
Rose' wines: 4.3%
(When I lived in Germany it was probably over 90% white wines.)

USA: over 45%
California accounts for over 38% of my wines with Oregon over 5% and some from
Washington, Virginia and New York
France: 32%
Burgundy is 20% of my collection and would be more if prices weren't so high
Rhone: 3.4% (surprised Rhone has overtaken Bordeaux)
Bordeaux: 3.3%
Loire Valley: 3.2%
Alsace and other French regions under 1% each
Germany: 6.2%
Mosel Saar Ruwer leads with over half of the German total
Italy: 5.2% with Tuscany in the lead with 2.1%
Spain: 4.3% with La Rioja leading
New Zealand, Portugal and Argentina are all slightly over 1%
South Africa is about 1%
Australia and Austria are both just under 1%

Pinot Noir is the variety most prevalent in my wine collection and also what I have been drinking most frequently lately.

Now that I have (finally) catalogued my cellar on CT (took 1.5 days straight), I did look up the content:

France 41.7% (incl. 20.1% Rhone and 17.5% Bordeaux) - Rhone will increase while claret declines given my current buying habits.

Italy 17% - pretty steady

Canada 9.6% will probably climb a bit for every day drinking

Australia 8.1% - definitely declining as I haven't bought much since around the 2002 vintage

USA 7.9% - definitely on the decline as prices skyrocketed here, but still add the odd bottle.

Portugal 5.9% (when SWMBO saw 16 cases of Port she asked me why I didn't drink it more often)

Spain 4.6% - would like to enlarge this slowly

Germany 1.9% - intend to expand this too

South America 0.9% - I should also give this some attention.

[Jenise]

As someone who drinks regularly with you, that's pretty much where I'd expect things to fall out, except for the high quantity of Australian you still have lying about. Which isn't to diss Australian wines, it's just that I think your tastes have swerved away from the Tait Ballbuster style--to name one I know you have.

But hey, I volunteered to help with this endeavor! I was going to feed the crew--you should have called!

As someone who drinks regularly with you, that's pretty much where I'd expect things to fall out, except for the high quantity of Australian you still have lying about. Which isn't to diss Australian wines, it's just that I think your tastes have swerved away from the Tait Ballbuster style--to name one I know you have.

But hey, I volunteered to help with this endeavor! I was going to feed the crew--you should have called!

All my oldr Aussies (back into the 80s) are a style I used to like more than I do now, but I still do like them. I gave up on them in the early 2000s when they seemed to be in a contest to see who could make the sweetest, biggest wine, and as part of that effort seemed to give up on having longevity, at least for some.

I must get into my 98s and 97s - should I make a resolution to bring nothing but Aussies to lunch this year....?

The cataloguing date was a bit uncertain and I didn't know that far ahead or we'd have turned it into a party (and it would have taken two days!).

Whew..16 cases of Port .