I have a pretty fancy cellar and the hardest part of having a cellar is keeping track of what and how many you have of each. My cellar consists of 4 cardboard wine cases in my downstairs bedroom on the north side of my house. I keep a close eye on my cellar and I know pretty much what is there all the time. At the end of every month I go shopping to replenish stock that I have used in the past month. My real estate taxes were due in January and I decided that I would rather keep my house than shop for wine, so I am behind a couple of months on my wine purchases.

Right now I have 22 holes in my cellar or 22 spots where I need to fill up with some choices. I am down to my last bottle of Canyon Oaks 2006 Zinfandel from the 12 bottle case I bought last summer. This is a terrific wine that is suitable for any occasion and the price is only $4.99 per bottle. I always buy a case of this when I am at the restock point and at $50 for a case, it is a good pick to have on hand when friends stop in or come over unexpectedly, with pizza. They all know that I have a cellar and where it is. That case will take up 12 of the empty holes leaving me with only 10 holes to fill. I am down to my last 2 bottles of Col di Sasso, so I will be looking for 4 of these.

I am also down to my last 3 bottles of Famega. This is a really nice white wine from Portugal that I have not written about yet. It has a slight effervesce to it. It is not a sparkling, just a really nice white wine. So I will try to get 3 of these to bring my stock up to 6 bottles on hand. I have 3 bottles of Eye of the Toad Pinot Noir Rose’. I have not written about this one yet either, but I will shortly. This one can be hard to get at this time of year – and easier in the summer - and I will see if I can order some. If I can get it, I will probably have to get a case. We had 4” of snow here recently but summer is just around the corner, and this is really a nice wine, so while getting a case is a splurge, I will go for it.

The next wine I need to replace is one from my weekly Saturday wine review. I only have 4 Tilia 2006 Malbec left. This is a big, rich, luscious wine and I should always have at least 6 on hand, so I need 2 more. I think that should do it for my wine purchases for this month.

Until next time, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?

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Jim Fortune - Bella Online Wine Guy