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Earmarked for someone else... - 3/21/2024 9:17:05 PM

Hollowine

Posts: 7250
Joined: 7/25/2008
From: Hood River, OR
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Curious how you think about friends and family with respect to the existential fact that we can't predict when our time will come. I know I have purchased various bottles that are labeled with notes wrapped in cling wrap with regard to my daughter's 21st birthday, wedding, etc. And there are others I bought with specific CT friends that I hope to share the bottle with while I'm able but if I should pass I'd want some of them to be consumed by my wine friends, much like we did in Walla Walla celebrating Drycab's life.

Is this something you think about at all, and if so, what forethought are you putting into it?

Post #: 1

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/21/2024 10:03:49 PM

recotte

Posts: 6867
Joined: 1/19/2011
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I do have a small handful of bottles that I've mentally earmarked for certain people--a small number of birth year wines for my kids, a few special bottles that I hope to share with specific people--but I've not put anything in place that would designate them as such for the executor of my estate to know that was my intent. I think for the birth year wines there's a purchase note in CT, but that's as far as I've gotten.

The vast preponderance of what is in my cellar was purchased based on what I want (or wanted at the time) to drink, and while I hope that the vast preponderance of those bottles that I get around to drinking before I slip this mortal coil are shared with friends and family with some modicum of appreciation for the wines, with the exception of the birth year bottles that were purchased with that specific intent, those other specially earmarked bottles have been more emergent over time. A conversation at some point, or another shared bottle that made me want to be sure to save something for that particular person. Intent is there, but nothing formal.

As for what's left over after I'm gone? Not my problem! But in all seriousness, I'm overdue to have my will and trust updated, and your post is a good reminder that I should address the wine, to the extent that it does have a not inconsequential value that should be handled along with my various other assets.

Just let me know if I should leave my velvet Dogs Playing Poker painting to you, Scott. Say the word, and it's yours.

_____________________________

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 2

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/21/2024 10:13:53 PM

Robert Pavlovich

Posts: 1955
Joined: 2/10/2012
From: West Los Angeles
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Definitely not enough, glad you brought this up.

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"Blending muddles the message"

-The Burgundian Monks

(in reply to recotte)

Post #: 3

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/21/2024 10:32:40 PM

Hollowine

Posts: 7250
Joined: 7/25/2008
From: Hood River, OR
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: recotte

Just let me know if I should leave my velvet Dogs Playing Poker painting to you, Scott. Say the word, and it's yours.

Call. And raise you my collection of Cover-band greatest hits albums.

(in reply to recotte)

Post #: 4

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 5:14:14 AM

KPB

Posts: 4649
Joined: 11/25/2012
From: Ithaca, New York
Status: online

I’ve thought about that too, and considered some kind of letters. But my health is good, and revising them endlessly would be morbid and strange. Friends and family may have to sort this out on their own.

_____________________________

Ken Birman
The Professor of Brettology

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 5

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 5:26:35 AM

Ibetian

Posts: 3568
Joined: 7/15/2007
From: Sarasota, FL and the Berkshires
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By the way, does anyone know CT’s policy on allowing access to our cellar to our estates?

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“I was a glutton at the banquet and spilt the finest wine,” Mick Jagger, Wandering Spirit

(in reply to KPB)

Post #: 6

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 8:38:54 AM

ChrisinCowiche

Posts: 7845
Joined: 12/16/2009
From: Cowiche, WA
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Interesting question, but not given it much thought prior to now. My near-death experience last year awakened me to a number of things, 1. family and friends are of the utmost importance to me, 2. I was not happy in my previous job. Well, I already knew that, but more motivated to change that since the numbers for retirement then did not work. 3. Yes finish and update a will, which we still haven't done. and actually 4. wine is a hobby and a beverage, without any deep meaning in the grand scheme. I was disappointed when my wine palate was toast after coming out of 6 weeks of anesthesia, but I'd have been ok if it never came back.

I take wine much more seriously than anyone else in my family, siblings, daughters, nieces, nephews. Nobody really cares, except for the family get togethers where I'll open something interesting. My sis-in-law likes Merlot, my older daughter likes Rocks funk, so maybe I'll earmark those for them. But I hope I have 25 or so more years and most of my current cellar will be gone or fizzled by then.

My granddaughters, 4 now, I hope to see get married someday, and if they approve, I'll provide the wine. I even have some cases of birthyear wine I made for 1 or 2 of them. If I make wine this year, I can fudge it on the youngest.

The other bottles earmarked are mine and Barbilocks' anniversary wine, which is a cheap 2004 Moon Mountain Cab. Two bottles of the original still left and our 17th anniversary is in a few weeks. We will open one then for sure, and last bottle maybe save for 25th. I did buy a case and half of a de Negoce Moon Mountain Cabs as a (drinkable) surrogate recently, so those will go into the rotation marked for April 7.

Our girls will have to figure out how to divide the estate which will likely include, the house with wine cellar, and vineyard. I expect they'll take a few bottles, but donate the rest, or maybe sell the remaining inventory with the house. Not my problem at that point!

Fun things to think about, thanks Hollow!

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Post #: 7

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 11:26:36 AM

wadcorp

Posts: 9330
Joined: 10/29/2008
From: Kansas City, MO
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Yes, we have a few on the shelf marked for individuals or occasions.

Just had one last week that I'd put aside for a friend's 70th birthday. He was bowled-over, so all good.

We have a few anniversary / birthday wines for us, but since we are nowhere near any other family, no birthday wines for them.

And then we have one shelf made up of bottles to open when we have a CellarTracker event, or CellarTracker friends in town.

.

_____________________________

"Wine is light held together by moisture."
— Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642)

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 8

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 1:34:22 PM

jmcmchi

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Joined: 8/6/2013
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Ibetian

By the way, does anyone know CT’s policy on allowing access to our cellar to our estates?

Not aware of a policy as such, but unless the member specifies otherwise most cellars are visible to all. I would guess you can make a cellar visible only to friends and make your executor a friend

(in reply to Ibetian)

Post #: 9

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 1:50:14 PM

ChrisinCowiche

Posts: 7845
Joined: 12/16/2009
From: Cowiche, WA
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I'd think passwords to any and all on-line stuff should be part of an estate.

When I got suddenly knocked out of commission, I'm not sure what Barb did, other than my work cell phone and work computer had all my stuff and she figured out what she needed with help from my employer on insurances, bank accounts, etc... She did not access CellarTracker I don't think.

I remember at some point so, several years ago, someone signing in to thank this group for comradery with a lost CTer.

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Post #: 10

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 1:59:13 PM

BobMilton

Posts: 2876
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From: Newbury Park, CA
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My wife and chief wine tasting partner, passed away last December. She did not want some teary memorial service, so I got bottles of 7 of her favorite wines, invited a dozen of so wine drinking friends and family, ordered pizza and did a proper wine wake in her memory. It was a great success, and I plan of leaving a list of wines I would like served at mine, when the time comes.

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 11

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 8:47:13 PM

champagneinhand

Posts: 10281
Joined: 5/30/2011
From: Upstate New York, California born.
Status: offline

Hi Scott.

I know we have often had very different opinions on things but I know you are a well intentioned passionate man. That being said I have dealt with a lot of people passing/dying in my adult life.

I am also a bit sentimental because I seem to take interactions a bit more personally than I should both good and bad initially, but I have done a bit of buying special bottles with specific intent of sharing with a dear friend or three whom I knew would appreciate it at least as much as I did. Then they were gone. From 2016 on it seems to have been a rolling casualty list and doesn’t seem to be slowing. Even my wife can barely sip and taste, remnants of some radiation therapy leftovers on her esophagus. I can’t drink as sustainably as I once could and with friends passing I sold a lot of those bottles just because nobody in my extended household was/is prepared to handle what to do with the funding involved. I still have 400+ bottles and plenty of gems but life can take you at anytime.

My wife’s sister lives to drink champagne with me. I’ve been saving a 2008 Cristal. We almost lost her breast cancer within the last 3 months. Survived chemotherapy, surgeries done, all clear, but as soon as she’s physically able, I’m popping that bottle infanticide be damned!
I also lost a best friend to being hit in hit full sized Toyota Sequoia turning left to a screaming street racing Acura, literally in the safest rig barely moving across from one of the Wasatch fronts (Rocky Mountains) best trauma centers.

I probably should have messaged you. I apologize if it’s too graphic. These were things that were just so unexpected that it through everybody. Luckily my SIL although still bald, is on the mend and hopes to start back at doing some marathon stuff. That’s her gig. My friend did suffer too long but his vehicle was flipped like a dive. After a week along with his family, we all agreed he wouldn’t want to live solely on life support.

Drink you good stuff with friends new and old. Life is just unpredictable and control is just a thinly veiled illusion.

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As I age my finger tips seem to be bigger, my iOS keyboard seems to be less kind, and my need for wearing reading glasses has never been greater. I hope you are forgiving and can read between my lines.

(in reply to BobMilton)

Post #: 12

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/22/2024 10:54:06 PM

Hollowine

Posts: 7250
Joined: 7/25/2008
From: Hood River, OR
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quote:

ORIGINAL: champagneinhand

Drink you good stuff with friends new and old. Life is just unpredictable and control is just a thinly veiled illusion.

I agree with this more than you can know. Really sorry to hear about your string of hurt.

(in reply to champagneinhand)

Post #: 13

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/23/2024 4:06:51 AM

khmark7

Posts: 11413
Joined: 7/6/2008
From: Chicago suburbs
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hollowine

quote:

ORIGINAL: champagneinhand

Drink you good stuff with friends new and old. Life is just unpredictable and control is just a thinly veiled illusion.

I agree with this more than you can know. Really sorry to hear about your string of hurt.

Sorry to hear about all this CIH.

So much in life is variable, and the best we can do is try and improve the odds in our favor. I find myself quite often telling my patients that these medications etc help improve your odds.....but they are not a guarantee. There are no warranties on your life.

An interesting question Scott. I do have a potted mango tree that is all yours if I get T-boned by an Acura FYI. Musedir can have all my pottery if he wants more.

_____________________________

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(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 14

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 3/23/2024 5:38:32 AM

CranBurgundy

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Joined: 1/5/2016
From: Philly / South Joizey
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Hollowine

quote:

ORIGINAL: recotte

Just let me know if I should leave my velvet Dogs Playing Poker painting to you, Scott. Say the word, and it's yours.

Call. And raise you my collection of Cover-band greatest hits albums.

I'll be sure to split my collection of Ronco Kitchen Products with both of you. Don't fight over the Slap Chop!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxGn2Egekic

_____________________________

Purple Drankin' Cretin.

Vote NO on Proposition S1ct1516 "BAN the CRAN!" this Election Day.

“Let it be recorded: henceforth, December 15 shall be known as 'The Day of Dennis'.” - Prof. Ken "KPB" Birman, 12/17/23

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 15

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/3/2024 2:55:33 PM

RedLoverJim

Posts: 271
Joined: 9/25/2008
From: Hurstville, Texas
Status: offline

I have collections started for both my girls, and intend to add to them until they're ready to take possession themselves. Those bottles are inviolable, and designated for them both by labels and in CT. My wife knows about them, and should something happen to me she will keep them for the girls. The rest of the cellar would be for her to do with as she pleases, I'm sure she'll keep some that she's partial to and sell or otherwise dispense with the rest, and we've had conversations on how to best handle that.

Some other bottles are more casually earmarked for sharing with certain people. One such bottle was for for a friend known by some here in person, Tom Floyd, and by many by his handle, floydtp, as he was a regular poster before passing unexpectedly two years ago. He and I were both 1977 kids, and both enjoyed opening birthyear wines together. I had a last bottle of 1977 BV Georges de Latour, and had it mentally earmarked to share with Tom. The day he passed, I opened it in his memory, and poured two glasses, with his untouched.

Another bottle is a birthyear 1945 Rivesaltes I'd purchased to open with my dad for his 75th birthday. While he wasn't much of a sweet wine drinker, he would have appreciated and enjoyed the significance. Covid shut everything down and put the kibosh on the kind of 75th birthday party he deserved so I held off on opening the bottle, then Covid took him the following year. God willing, I'll open it in honor of his 80th next year, but I wish I'd opened it with him.

So I love the idea of having those special bottles for and wish special people, but I'm all for not waiting too long.

_____________________________

RLJ

(in reply to CranBurgundy)

Post #: 16

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/3/2024 8:07:27 PM

CranBurgundy

Posts: 8272
Joined: 1/5/2016
From: Philly / South Joizey
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This sort of fits into the theme of the thread…. Tonight, the Central Florida gang did a tribute to Don. He was my Secret Santa a few years back, and gifted me a 2009 Brunello di Montalcino.

https://www.cellartracker.com/forum/tm.asp?m=460514&mpage=2&key=dontime񰜷

Hey Don - if they have CT access up there, I just wanted to say we all loved that bottle! Most ‘09 BdM is a little rustic or even rough but this was drinking VERY well. Thank you once again, kind sir.

_____________________________

Purple Drankin' Cretin.

Vote NO on Proposition S1ct1516 "BAN the CRAN!" this Election Day.

“Let it be recorded: henceforth, December 15 shall be known as 'The Day of Dennis'.” - Prof. Ken "KPB" Birman, 12/17/23

(in reply to RedLoverJim)

Post #: 17

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/4/2024 9:51:46 PM

jmc167

Posts: 81
Joined: 12/30/2015
From: Portland, Or
Status: offline

To be sure a somber topic, however, I find this to be a heartening thread with great thoughts of those who meant the most to people and reality checks about the fleeting aspect of this thing we (some?) call life.

I started collecting much later in life in 2016 when I was 54. As a result, I have not earmarked any bottles for any friends, as I was a raging workaholic until transitioning to semi-retirement in 2022 and relocating to Portland, Oregon.

My time in Portland has been rewarding as I have established a circle of friends and made a valued friendship with a person in the wine business and as a result have updated my trust to ensure my entire collection goes to him. He has a way of matching wine to people and a taste memory that is uncanny. I have no expectations as to how he will handle my collection, but I trust him to allocate appropriately and monetize the rest for the good of his family.

_____________________________

Just a guy trying to drink as much as I purchase, and losing this battle brilliantly!

(in reply to CranBurgundy)

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RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/5/2024 9:33:25 AM

Rieslingfan

Posts: 58
Joined: 12/17/2004
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From all too recent personal experience - drink them sooner rather than later. I was holding a bottle of DRC Richebourg to have with my dad for his 80th birthday. He passed just a couple of months before that milestone. Drink the good stuff - alone or with friends and family.

(in reply to jmc167)

Post #: 19

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/5/2024 7:52:59 PM

daviladc

Posts: 1689
Joined: 3/3/2019
From: Myrtle Beach SC
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Scott, this thread just points out we must drink some Huet together this October.

I have birth year bottles for my kids along with special signed bottles for their weddings. I also have been collecting a ton of anniversary year wines that my wife and I have been sharing. They make a Wednesday night meal very special.

The will is up to date and my local friends all have instructions with my wife on how to drink down the cellar.

PS: Because we have no idea what or when anything will happen, my wife and I agree we only buy the wine we like. There's no time for "Cellar Defenders". Every day wines are the cause of why we might never enjoy that special bottle.

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Wine is not furniture. Drink it!

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RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/5/2024 8:18:47 PM

jmc167

Posts: 81
Joined: 12/30/2015
From: Portland, Or
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: daviladc
There's no time for "Cellar Defenders". Every day wines are the cause of why we might never enjoy that special bottle.

Here, here, I learned this too late...

_____________________________

Just a guy trying to drink as much as I purchase, and losing this battle brilliantly!

(in reply to daviladc)

Post #: 21

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/6/2024 11:07:27 AM

WineGuyCO

Posts: 3797
Joined: 9/5/2017
From: Living at 7200 ft. in Monument CO
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My son has already filled up his 350 bottle wine cooler and is in search for another one. I did tell him when he bought it that at some point he’d need a bigger one. He’s only had it a year and a half so he’s moving quickly.

At this point, he know much more than my wife about Producers, specific vintages and what they should cost. When my wife and I are gone and IF there is any wine left he will know what to do. He’ll need to share with his sister but the two of them will figure it out. She loves wine too but is not nearly at the same level as my son.

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La felicità, come un vino pregiato, dev’essere assaporata sorso a sorso.

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Post #: 22

RE: Earmarked for someone else... - 4/7/2024 9:10:02 AM

sastewart

Posts: 589
Joined: 8/16/2012
From: Greater Nashville
Status: online

quote:

ORIGINAL: WineGuyCO

My son has already filled up his 350 bottle wine cooler and is in search for another one. I did tell him when he bought it that at some point he’d need a bigger one. He’s only had it a year and a half so he’s moving quickly.

At this point, he know much more than my wife about Producers, specific vintages and what they should cost. When my wife and I are gone and IF there is any wine left he will know what to do. He’ll need to share with his sister but the two of them will figure it out. She loves wine too but is not nearly at the same level as my son.

You are very fortunate to have 2 children interested in wine. If I were in that position I'd worry a bit less about buying younger wines or having too many.
I think that gives you have a green light to keep buying!

(in reply to WineGuyCO)

Post #: 23