Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Somewhere along the line I'm going to have to do a bit of rationalising. I've outlined the rationale behind Hughesy's wine purchases elsewhere, but given the likely need to do a bit of sorting out over the next year or two it might be worth outlining the latest version of the state of play before turning my attention to the interesting poser raised by rationalising.
Based on a long-term budget, we've been working on a notional bottle a day at an average per bottle price of $10. Changes in the financial situation once the Little House of Concrete has been paid off will push that average towards $20 over the next year or two, but that's not going to be a major consideration.
That bottle a day formula works out to around thirty cases a year, and when the need to keep stock on hand in the Southport unit and the likelihood of people dropping by and being offered a glass or two is taken into account that means the actual buy is going to be somewhere between thirty and forty dozen each year, which is where it gets tricky, given Hughesy's preference for buying direct from small family-owned wineries. For a start, there are about ten cases that are going to land on the doorstep each year before we start looking at discretionary purchases.
Most of those emanate from The Wine Society, four Regular Tasting Dozens (descriptions of the contents can be found in the Wine Rack) and a Best in Society Shiraz dozen. If something takes my fancy based on taste or outstanding value I'm likely to order a dozen, and TWS has been a major factor in keeping things below that $10/bottle average.
The wine clubs associated with Pfeiffers, Baileys and Brook Eden account for another four dozen, and that's where the complications start to set in.
A dozen from Baileys (in two instalments each year) should be enough to keep me in big Glenrowan reds with the odd bottle of Muscat and Tokay/Topaque thrown into the mix as well. Most of the contents are going to end up in the wine fridge, where space is at a premium, so I'm probably not going to be looking at further purchases by the dozen.
The odd individual bottle from Dan Murphy's perhaps, but not a dozen, even if we're talking a mixed dozen.
The two tasting packs from Brook Eden will probably do to keep me in Pinot Noir and the odd Chardonnay or Riesling invariably goes down well. There's a possibility of lining up for a reorder of the Pinot Rose, which I'm rather partial to, and there's always the possibility of throwing in a couple of other bottles to round out the dozen.
When we get to Pfeiffers, however, things get a little tricky.
Our visit to the winery persuaded us to sign up for the wine club, which at that point that entailed a dozen twice a year freight free and a 10% discount on reorders. Nice.
Now, you can't blame a winery for wanting to maximise their sales without generating a whole lot of extra marketing effort, so it's probably no surprise that there's now a C3 option, with a third dozen being shipped mid-year between the previous dozens in April and October.
The problem kicks in when you realise the old two shipment option took you through the winery's whole range, and now withe three shipments per year there are a couple of wines you're likely to miss trying. The Gamay is a vital component in Hughesy's summer drinking plans and I didn't mind the Chardonnay Marsanne either, so the fact that I haven't had a chance to try the current vintage of either is a problem.
Do I take them on trust and order a mixed dozen on spec? And what about The Carson Gewurztraminer? Goes down well with spicy Asian, so how many do I throw into the mix?
The easiest option would probably be to upgrade from C2 to C3 and maybe order a further dozen or two in November based on what we liked and based around a number of bottles of Gamay....
But that raises a separate issue, given the fact that there's a finite number of cases we can order in a calendar year, and an ever-growing list of wineries I'd like to order from.
At the moment we're likely to be getting shipments from The Wine Society, Tahbilk, Brook Eden, Jim Barry, Kirrihill, Rockford, Brown Brothers, Baileys, Grosset, Paulett, Mitchell and Dal Zotto, and I'd like to throw Olssens, Crabtree, Pikes and Sam Miranda into the mix as well.
That's sixteen separate sources for a maximum of forty dozen, which is where the need for rationalisation kicks in.
Which also explains the regular question regarding reordering that the reader will find throughout these pages.