Wine Clubs: Too Much or Barely Enough?

This week, I’ve been unpacking some of the wine from my spring wine clubs and allocations. I carefully removed all the bottles from their styrofoam pods, stood them up on my dining room floor, and admired my little wine bottle brigade.  And then I thought . . . where am I going to put all of this?  My wine cellar is already full — there’s no room in the inn.

Wait.  Do I have too much wine?

Mark Twain once quipped, “Too much of anything is bad, but too much good wine* is barely enough.”  *Mark Twain didn’t really say that.  Twain was talking about whiskey — I put a word in his mouth.  But Twain is a good sport . . . he doesn’t mind.

A handful of years ago, I got a piece of advice from Jay McInerney . . . via his book,
A Hedonist in the Cellar (I don’t actually know Jay McInerney).  But the advice really stuck with me:  Get on as many winery mailing lists as you can.  So I did.

Patience and a little bit of stalking paid off, and now I’m a member of half a dozen wine clubs, and somehow I managed to secure allocations form half a dozen more.  And you know how allocations work — once you get an allocation, you gotta order . . . or you risk getting black-balled the next year.  And the wine accumulates.

But do I have too much wine . . . or barely enough?  I have a modest wine cellar.  My wine cellar is a basement closet, not a temperature controlled safe-room.  And I have hundreds, not thousands of bottles.  But sometimes I wonder if I’m already well on my way to becoming one of those people who have more wine in their cellar than they can drink in a lifetime.  I hope my kids end up enjoying wine as much as I do . . . their inheritance is going to come with a cork.

In the spirit of moderation, I broke-up with a handful of wine clubs recently.  If the wines don’t make my toes curl, it’s time to move on.  And already, I’m >>this close<< to joining a new wine club.  Alexana Winery in Oregon has been seducing me with their gorgeous Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.  I’m trying to resist, but . . . who am I kidding?  I’m gonna fold like a soft taco.

There’s just so much great wine in this world . . . changing the scenery from time to time is a good thing.

And let’s be honest . . . “too much of a good thing can be wonderful”.  ~Mae West

Do you belong to any wine clubs or have wine allocations?  Do you have too much wine . . . or barely enough?

Salud!