Now that the thread on wine goals 2021 has turned into a reflection on whether goals have been met or not, it is probably time to establish a new thread where people make outrageous promises to themselves about their drinking and purchasing habits for the next 12 months.
So come on, tell us your goals and promises, and the rest of us can bear witness. We can then all get really judgemental in 12 months time about your lack of willpower
My goals
-wines purchased will be less than wines consumed. I āinvestedā (over-bought) in the 2019 Rhone EP campaign and picked up lots of other goodies along the way, so I really need to do some stock management
-drink more random and unexpected wines. Greek wines were a big discovery for me this year, so letās see if I discover something new and exciting
My goal is deepen my understanding and try new wines. I have just made an order for a couple of Greek wines recommended in the pocket book which I hope will be the start of a project.
Yes @Oldandintheway number 3 is one I want to take on as well - if I have something nice, I will try not to always wait and save it for a later special occasion, unless it could do with ageing. Iāll try and drink it sooner and enjoy it.
The lost of my partner in December means that my wine goals are radically changed. Iām going to be on the look out for good wine in half bottles. Found some with the W/S and some good 2016 Claret halves with DBM Bristol. Important to keep a close eye on my consumption as I recover from my shock.
One of the things I miss is sharing good wine with Katie who had broad and adventurous tastes.
If itās not too painful, why not make it a feature of your purchasing? In every order you could include something totally out of your comfort zone and share āKatieās bottleā with some treasured memories.
Continue to keep consumption and buying under reasonable control.
Encourage my younger daughterās interest in wine - which she has started to drink and enjoy. I look forward to sharing some good bottles with her when she is home from uni.
Fewer bottles, better quality, same budget. And as @Oldandintheway says, 5 year time horizon - for similar reasons.
By ābetter qualityā I mean: Varied & interesting, aged tertiary flavours, complexity, more nuanced.
Perfect example would be: Adega de Colares āArenaeā Ramisco, Colares 2008 50cl (was Ā£22 in 2018) - all manner of unusual and interesting notes, just kept on evolving in the glass.
take stock of what wines I actually possess - I have an unwieldy accumulation both here in England and in my place in France; mostly travel souvenirs and the majority forgotten about.
And start drinking them rather than assuming they will universally improve indefinitely
No more EP campaigns for me. For reasons alluded to by other contributors. This means inactivating the FOMO Siren Chip in my brain and activating the Not Going to Live forever Truth Chip.
Try and complete one of two long-ambitioned wine trips - either through the mid-west of USA from Texas and follow the Mississipi through Missouri and Illinois, or hit the Balkans again and look at the smaller countries between Greece and Croatia.
(looks like Lebanon is off for another yearā¦)
Finally
Maintain an active interest in English wine, itās not a been there done that scene, itās a keep going back to scene, as vineyards and producers multiply and viticulture and wine making improves and becomes more adventurous. When will we see the first English alvarino, I wonderā¦
I can thoroughly recommend this trip. A friend and I traveled from Austin in Texas to New Orleans and then all the way up highway 61 to Chicago. Probably in my top three trips, though an interest in blues and country music certainly made it even more memorable (standing on the stage at the Ryman Auditorium and being in both the Sun and Stax studios were particularly memorable).
My only slight unease is that Iād want to go near harvest time - September - which is also Hurricane Season ! Agree would want to include New Orleansā¦ Weād do a one way RV hire from Cruise Americaā¦
Well I never - good info; and in fact I see is mentioned on their home page, but sadly / predictably not available; on-line anyway. Maybe at the cellar door ?
I have a lovely story from that area of the US! Back in 1981 my then girlfriend and I took a holiday in the US and for the first couple of weeks we got an unlimited travel Amtrak ticket and went from New York to Flagstaff by way of Washington, New Orleans, Memphis and Chicago. We were going to stop for a night in Memphis as my girlfriend was heavily into Elvis so a visit to Graceland was required.
So the train pulls into Memphis around midnight/1 AM and we disembark and we go off to find a taxi. This is/was one of those stations that maybe was, once upon a time, in the better part of town but definitely not any longer. So weāre stood there nervously looking around with not a soul in site. Just then the only other couple that got off at Memphis come up to us and ask if we have someone meeting us. When we say no, they inform us that no taxis will come to this part of town at this hour. Oh! They establish that we have a hotel booked and tell us not to worry they have a friend picking them up and theyāll drop us at the hotel.
So very gratefully we say goodbye at the hotel and figure thatās that. In the morning the phone goes and the receptionist puts through the couple that had given us a lift. āWhat are you planning on today?ā when we tell them they say wait there and theyāll pick us up. They duly arrive and take us to Graceland and go round with us. Then they ask what weāre doing that night and we regretfully say we canāt afford another hotel night (my very much impoverished youth) and will be back on the train to Chicago.
No way, they tell us, thereās a blues festival on in town that night and they insist that we stay with them. Which we duly do and have the best time. They have to have been the most openly hospitable people Iāve ever met.
Buy less wine online and support my local wine shops more. Buy less cases and more mixes/individual bottles. Buy more for drinking now and less for keeping.
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