Top five producers I buy...too much time on CT :)

I generally think of myself as being a drinker of many different wines and a quick search of CT will show that the vast majority of wines I have bought I only get between 1 to 3 bottles (have almost 500 producers in my cellar). But on the converse, when I like a producer, I get stuck on them and they appear to dominate my cellar. My top tive account for 20% of my cellar, mostly due to verticals. Also to my surprise, while I own more Bordeaux and Burgundy than anything else, my top three producers are not from those locations (and decidedly mainstream):

(1) Joh Jos Prum
(2) Vollenweider
(3) Ch. Beaucastel
(4) G. Roumier
(5) Ch. Montrose

Then again, perhaps 20% is not too dominant a position total? Perhaps I'm not as diverse as I think I am. Perhaps I spend too much time with Cellartracker???

[David M. Bueker]

Well one producer makes up more than 10% of my cellar (take a guess which one), and the top 5 are about 24% of my holdings.

We've all mostly been at this a while. Hopefully we have a handle on what we like.

If I do "purchases by producer" CT default goes by value, and my list since 2005 goes
Joseph Drouhin
Trimbach
Huet
Château Lagrange
Château Magdelaine

if I go by quantity, it goes
Joseph Drouhin
Trimbach
Dönnhoff 
Huet
Château du Tertre

if I go by what I have in cellar it defaults by number, I have 448 producers, but these are only ones with 20 or more bottles
Huët
Joseph Drouhin
Trimbach 
Dönnhoff 
Domaine Robert Chevillon 
Château Lagrange
Château du Tertre
Giovanni Rosso 
Louis Jadot
Château Meyney 
Domaine Michel Lafarge 
Selbach-Oster 
Havens Wine Cellars
Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
Marcarini 
Weingut Josef Leitz
Domaine de Chevalier

A few are surprises to me, the Giovanni Rosso is mostly from one purchase at a blowout sale (mostly 375s and mags), the Havens are mostly from closeouts after bankruptcy. The Meyneys and DDCs are mostly older bottles. My purchases of Mugnier are limited by prices now.

[David M. Bueker]

top 20 (by bottle quantity):

Donnhoff
Selbach-Oster
J. J. Prum
J. J. Christoffel
von Schubert (Maximin Grunhaus)
Edmunds St. John (moving up to #4 soon)
Willi Schaefer
Jadot
Leitz
Trimbach
Leoville Barton
Ridge
J. u. H. A. Strub
Muller-Catoir
Vollenweider
Pontet-Canet
Meulenhof
Hexamer
Huet
Sociando-Mallet

(Bachelet is #21 and Truchot is #22)

Dale,

Interesting look! I agree, some of my top buyers came from one fell swoop (chasse-spleen on 05 futures, Kerpen on sale, Le Clos Jordanne cuz it was there....) My producers with more then 20 bottles are the aforementioned five and (in order by number of bottles)

Chateau Chasse-spleen
Chateau Pontet Canet
Dr. Loosen
Tobin James
Chateau Calon-Segur
M Chapoutier
Le Clos Jordanne
Chateau D'Yquem
Donnhoff
Domaine Michel Lafarge
Chateau Duhart-Milon
Chateau Leoville-Barton
Kerpen
Domaine Rober Chevillon
Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Chateau Cos d'Estournel
Bodegas Vega Scilia

we have a lot of overlap. Except I've never tasted - or heard of- Le Clos Jordanne!

My purchase info only started in 2005 when I switched to CT, my price/source fields in old Access were inconsistent, so didn't try to import purchase info

we have a lot of overlap. Except I've never tasted - or heard of- Le Clos Jordanne!

I noted the same!

Le Clos Jordanne is joint exercise between Vincor and Boisset of Burgundy. They are on a nice piece of property on the Benches in Niagara, Ontario and produce only PN and chardonnay. I think that they make a decent product that can stand on their own two feet against many burgundies but have some ways to go to replace my Drouhins and Roumiers.

Mike

Hmm....think I like Bordeaux?

Château Pichon-Longueville
Château Pontet-Canet
Château Branaire (Duluc-Ducru)
Château Sociando-Mallet
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Château Léoville Barton
Château Pape Clément
Ridge
Château Montrose
Château Lynch-Bages
Château Cos d'Estournel
Joh. Jos. Prüm
Château Léoville Poyferré
Dönnhoff
Château du Tertre
Bodegas Muga
Château Latour
Château Duhart-Milon
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Château D'Aiguilhe
Huët

I have so little wine 'cellared' (one small wine refrigerator) that it's pretty easy to keep track of it all without any spreadsheets. And the largest producer in my holdings is ESJ, with 8 bottles of 2005 syrah that will probably make it with me through a few more moves and wine refrigerators before I deem them ready to drink!

This is a fun exercise. I've tried 470 producers, but only 19 have a case or more:

1. Hans Lang (Hattenheim, Rheingau)
2. Ravenswood (Sonoma)
3. Selbach-Oster (Bernkastel, Mosel)
4. Stephan Gerhard (Hattenheim, Rheingau)
5. Duboeuf - Lots of cheap domaine Beaujolais
6. Concannon Vineyards (Livermore, California)
7. Livermore Valley Cellars (ditto)
8. J J Christoffel
9. Thomas Coyne (Livermore)
10. Tamás Estates (ditto)
11. Van Duzer (Willamette Valley, Oregon)
12. Wente Vineyards (Livermore)
13. Navarro Vineyards (Mendocino Valley, California)

Most folks here have more wine from one producer than I have wine period. I think I might have two bottles by two producers, big spending bon vivant that I am.

I don't track what I buy but these are top producers in order by what I own (with a minimum of a case for the producer):

Drouhin
Huet
Rhys
Clos Roche Blanche
Fourrier
Edmunds St. John
Clos Rougeard
CVNE
Muller Catoir
Allemand


I can't understand Dale's purchasing patterns at all

My lord, some great lists so far! Myself, a few (!) bottles from...>

CVNE.
CARM.
Portal.
Donnhoff.
Luneau-Papin.
JJ Christoffel.
Lancyre (Languedoc).
Luis Pato.
Baudry (Loire).
Trimbach.

Clos Roche Blanche
...
Muller Catoir

I'm shocked and amazed!

Catoir's #2 for me (and given the amount of older Catoir that's hitting the market, likely to become #1 soon), CRB and Baudry are both among my top 10 right now, no thanks to Jay.

Top 5 for me are Donnhoff, Muller-Catoir (those 2 take up more than 20% of the cellar right now), Meulenhof, Bernard Baudry and Kruger-Rumpf (thanks to my buying a TON of his '09s - they are stunning).

Great lists, folks.
ESJ and CRB would probably make my list but I don't tend to enter things I plan on drinking within year (CRB SB #2, ESJ BJ rose, MaxGrun or Loosen QbA, Pepiere basic) in CT.

Just curious, given the impressive cellars on display, how long have you folks been collecting?

Great lists, folks.
ESJ and CRB would probably make my list but I don't tend to enter things I plan on drinking within year (CRB SB #2, ESJ BJ rose, MaxGrun or Loosen QbA, Pepiere basic) in CT.

If I tracked buying patterns M. Ollivier and Luneau Papin would be up there. I just keep drinking the darn things.

I don't use cellar software nor do I keep close track but I have 60-70 cases and 10-15 cases are from Ridge. I'm just about finished with all of my Zins from a vintage starting with 19 and I'm moving on to the 2000s.

Guessing a bit but after that I'd say (in no particular order) Dow, Taylor, Fonseca, Graham, Pol Roger, Ch. Lynch Bages, Ch. Pontet-Canet, Guigal, Beaucastel, Ch. Montelena, Ch. Rieussec.

Top ten as ranked by number of bottles currently in my possession:

1. Jadot
2. Chateau de la Chesnaie
3. St. Supery
4. Joseph Drouhin
5. Trimbach
6. Edmund St. John
7. JJ Prum
8. Zind-Humbrecht
9. Domaine Huguenot
10. Chateau Fontenil

[David M. Bueker]

Just curious, given the impressive cellars on display, how long have you folks been collecting?

I started dipping my toes into the water in 1993. I went all in about 2 years later.

I'm just migrating my inventory to CT now, but any trip down to my cellar reinforces the qualitative impressions I have:

1. Ridge
2. Domaine du Pegau
3. Ch. de Beaucastel
4. ESJ
5. Robert Chevillon

A lot of this has to do with time of residence in the cellar, as many of the wines listed above have been rotting in the cellar for many years now. If one were to examine my purchases over the past year, Marc Ollivier, Luneau-Papin, ESJ and Drouhin would likely top the list.

Oh, and I've been cellaring wine since '81, with a major increase in purchases beginning in '90.

Mark Lipton

I'm only about half done entering my holdings on CellarTracker. I'm quite certain that my top producer by quantity is Williams Selyem. Merry Edwards and Loring Wine Company are up there although I haven't added as much LWC lately. I also have some verticals of Ridge Lytton Springs and Chateau Talbot. (A holdover from past buying patterns is Marquis Philips Shiraz and Sarah's Blend.) I don't buy by the case. My usual purchase is one to three bottles of a wine and it is rare for me to purchase four or six bottles. Two mailing lists that may lead to greater quantities in the future are Lioco (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) and Alysian Vineyards (Gary Farrell's new venture.) Perhaps Louis Jadot may make the list in the future also as I can get some selections from a store in Charlotte. I think I may be looking to Chateau Leoville Poyferre or Chateau Grand Puy Ducasse for future Bordeaux purchases if the prices aren't too crazy. I'm a little inconsistent with purchases of German producers but may stock up on Zilliken or J.J. Prum or Christoffel and Leitz. I regard the Leitz wines as good QPR but don't find them locally.

[Jenise]

If I tracked buying patterns M. Ollivier and Luneau Papin would be up there. I just keep drinking the darn things.

Good point; what we have left may not be the best barometer of our preferences!

Man, not many Italians on this list -- Wussamattayou??
I can't slice and dice like y'all can, but I know i am not all that concentrated on certain producers, with the exception of Huet. I think my concentration is more regional than particular with certain producers.