If you're a wine collector, have you ever given any thought to the number of bottles you "need" to be satisfied with your cellar?  Many wine collectors that I meet buy wine without really planning their purchases or balancing them against what they already own.  As a bit of an informal survey, I'd be interested in how large a cellar (measured in bottles) is enough for you and what factors you considered in reaching your answer. Please post a comment.

My own answer 

I downsized my own cellar in the past few years from 7,000+ bottles to 2,500 bottles.  Based on my consumption patterns and average holding periods for various categories of wine, it provides me with a diverse range of options for my needs.  My main reason to consider increasing it would be if I stepped up my personal wine investing activity or started adding more to the "sub-collections" of my three young children to give them a head start on their own cellars.

P.S.    This post was inspired by "A Rich Person's Definition of Rich" in Robert Frank's excellent blog, The Wealth Report, at the Wall Street Journal.  The story discusses the survey results where affluent households were asked how much it takes to be rich.

Also see related prior posts from The Wine Collector:

• Wine cellar "house cleaning"
• Collecting goals: Depth vs. diversity