The wonderful thing about buying wine is that you can either enjoy it immediately or test your self-restraint and store it for one-to-ten years before devouring the bottle (depending on its likliness to age well). I always thought of myself as more of a “buy and enjoy now” kind of consumer. A bottle of wine sitting patiently in my kitchen was the perfect present for a dinner party or conversation starter when friends would stop by. Now, I’m not so sure my status as a live-in-the-moment wino remains as such…Am I a Collector?
To me Collectors are creepy. They spend thousands of dollars on wines they will never drink because the bottle will look much better filling some empty spot in their wine cellar. What is the point of buying wine if you are to never enjoy it or share it with friends and family? I have come up with a few theories on why I am currently having this crisis of faith:
1. The Emotional Baggage Theory: After numerous trips to wine valleys all over the world, I am not able to emotionally give up my memories of these visits. A bottle (or bottles) of wine from some of the most respected vineyards in the world remind me of a time when I was fortunate enough to experience the wine first hand from the winery itself. I am never sure that I will be able to duplicate this experience in the future and therefore, I don’t want to waste what little memory remains.
2. The “You Can’t Get This Just Anywhere” Theory: Some of my favorite wines are now scarce and hard to find. Even calling the winery and asking if they have any left in their library is not enough to replenish my supply. Bottles that I used to enjoy for a nominal fee are four to five times their initial price, if I am able to find them at all. Why would I want to drink what I cannot replace?
3. The Ego Theory: I happen to enjoy opening my guest room and seeing stacks of properly-cooled cases of wines from all over the world. Its a sense of achievement, not in a monetary sense, but in terms of personal development and wine-knowledge. With each bottle I learn a little more about grape-growing, wine-making and tasting technique.
But, after months of pondering my predicament I have concluded these three theories do not excuse me from keeping my wine hidden from the world. This is because wine and what drinking wine in and of itself stands for is not properly displayed by a selfish need to collect. Buy, open, pour and drink is the only acceptable way to enjoy wine…
…that is unless, it will be even more spectacular in five years.
