It’s that time of year when I encourage our customers to avoid the last minute rush and withdraw wine from their reserves.
We have done our best to provide a colour-coded system, alongside drinking dates, to give you an idea of when and what you should be withdrawing (although these are always open to interpretation). If unsure, nothing quite beats a closer look – for this Cellartracker can be a useful source, or we are of course on hand to help where we can.
I would advise you in the strongest possible terms not to use to use the ‘to’ date as a target – unless you are dedicated necrophiliac, there’s nothing worse than realising that a wine you have looked forward to for years (or decades) is now completely over the top.
When I worked for Steven Spurrier in Paris he said that the French drank wine too young and say ‘this would have been even better if we had waited another two years, but it’s so delicious now’, while the English are (and I think still are) inclined to say ‘you can tell that this would have been marvellous if we had drunk it five years ago’. I think you can tell who he thought had more fun, and I’m with him.
So if it says drink ‘from’ 2015 ‘to’ 2030, it’s definitely time to have it delivered and get stuck in – it won’t get any better, and the best you can hope for is that it will maintain quality while heading for the exit. While we often do buy wines if customers find they have too much, it’s not very appealing when it has gone past its drink by dates. So check your stock this weekend, and let us know if you would like to have any delivered.
There are not many ways to cheer yourself up after the Budget, but this might be one of them. Happy drinking!
Charles Lea
If you don’t know how to look at your stock online, here is a very brief tutorial:
- SIGN IN in to your account on the website (top right of the home page)
- If you do not know your password or want to change it, click the ‘forgot password link’ to be sent a new one.
- Once logged in, click the ‘Wine Storage’ link on the left of the screen
- Use the ‘Column visibility’ button to adjust the columns available on the screen
You can also download reports in Excel or CSV – these will match the visible columns, so if you want all the info, make all the columns visible.
Visual aid:
- SIGN IN in to your account on the website (top right of the home page)
- If you do not know your password or want to change it, click the ‘forgot password’ link to be sent a new one.
Once logged in, click the ‘Wine Storage’ link on the left of the screen
- Use the ‘Column visibility’ button to adjust the columns available on the screen
