Inside Eric LeVine's Cellar: What CellarChat and Eric Revealed
- v-ana7
- Nov 24
- 8 min read
We asked our members: If you could ask Eric’s cellar anything, what would you want to know?
Our community chimed in with insightful and imaginative questions about Eric’s cellar: his oldest bottles, his sentimental favorites, the regions he reaches for most, and even which animal best captures his collection’s personality.
We ran your questions through CellarChat, then followed up with Eric himself, to uncover the deeper stories behind the bottles. Here’s what we discovered.
CellarChat Answers
Below you will find CellarChat answers based on the questions our community submitted about Eric’s cellar. These insights were generated directly from his collection data to show how CellarChat interprets and responds in real time.
CellarChat is your AI-powered cellar assistant, built on your actual inventory, drinking windows and community tasting notes to turn your collection data into actionable insights.
Try CellarChat today to uncover insights about your own bottles, habits, and collection trends.
Q: What is the oldest wine in my cellar? A: Your oldest wine in the cellar is:
· Type: Red
· Drinking Window: 2000–2100
· Location: Upper | Bin: Corner
· Community Score: 85
· Price: $0 | Value: $50
This remarkable Margaux dates back nearly a century—an extraordinary piece of history resting in your Upper corner. It’s well beyond its ideal drinking window, but undoubtedly a collector’s treasure.
Q: Which region do I have to most of in my cellar? A: You have the most wines from Bordeaux, with 768 bottles in your cellar. This region clearly dominates your collection, followed by Rhône (641 bottles) and California (289 bottles).
Q: What does my cellar say about my personality? A: Your wine cellar paints the picture of a seasoned and thoughtful collector — someone who values both discovery and refinement, with a balanced appreciation for quality, diversity, and provenance.
Vintage Range:
With vintages spanning from 1928 to 2023, you clearly enjoy both history and evolution in wine. Older bottles in your cellar hint at sentimental or investment-driven collecting — patience and foresight are hallmark traits. That said, the average vintage around 2009 shows you keep many wines that are fully mature or nearing peak, suggesting you enjoy drinking gracefully aged bottles rather than simply hoarding them.
Producers and Value Patterns:
Your pricing profile — an average spend of about $95 and a current estimated value near $157 per bottle — shows a collector who invests wisely, balancing pleasure and prudence. You appreciate wines of real merit and staying power rather than chasing hype. The mix of everyday bottles with premium or even iconic producers (those approaching $1000+) denotes taste for fine craftsmanship and a readiness to celebrate special occasions properly.
Personality Reflection:
Overall, your cellar reveals a confident, thoughtful collector with both aesthetic and intellectual curiosity. You’re balanced — neither strictly traditional nor experimental — but rather guided by quality, authenticity, and readiness. You enjoy variety, appreciate nuance over flash, and are likely the kind of person who values experiences and stories as much as the wine itself.
Diversity and Style Preferences:
With 1,180 unique wines and more than 2,700 bottles, your collection suggests a dynamic curiosity and a broad palate. The range of types and varietals indicates you’re not confined to a single style — rather, you enjoy exploring different expressions, likely matching wines to context, mood, and cuisine. The strong representation across both reds and whites — possibly including sparkling or dessert outliers — points to a collector who enjoys contrast and nuance. Your average personal score of 93.1 shows discernment; you value well-made wines but aren’t swayed solely by labels.
Regional Composition:
The cellar’s geographic spread reveals an appreciation for balance between Old World tradition and New World precision. The diversity across countries, regions, and appellations indicates a collector with both intellectual and sensory curiosity — you enjoy learning as much as drinking. Having a mix of classic European regions (likely France, Italy, Spain) alongside strong New World selections (such as the U.S., Australia, or Chile) suggests confidence in your own taste, judging each wine on merit.
Q: If my cellar were an animal what animal would it be?
A: Your wine cellar would be a wise old elephant.
Like an elephant, your collection is vast, balanced, and deeply rooted in memory. With 2,748 bottles spanning nearly a century of vintages (1928–2023) and an impressive average score around 92–93 points, it exudes both experience and quality. The diversity of 1,220 unique wines suggests a wide-ranging curiosity, while the high value and age spread show patient stewardship — traits associated with wisdom and endurance.
This isn’t a flashy collection seeking attention; it’s one with depth, history, and purpose — reflective of a discerning collector who values longevity, nuance, and quiet strength.
Would you like me to tell you which traits in your cellar most contribute to that “elephant” personality — rarity, age, or overall quality?
Q: Which region and price range do I consume the most?
A: Here’s the summary of your wine consumption over the past two years:
· Most consumed region: Rhône — you’ve opened 135 bottles from this region since November 2023. This shows your strong preference for Rhône wines, likely across appellations like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Cornas, and Hermitage.
· Typical price range of consumed wines: Your consumed wines over this period had a median purchase price of $50, with an average price of $77 per bottle. This places your most common consumption range in the $40–$80 range, a solid mid-tier reflecting excellent quality-to-value balance.
In summary: Over the last two years, you’ve been mainly enjoying Rhône wines, favoring bottles in the $40–$80 range. That’s a profile of someone who appreciates expressive, age-worthy Rhône reds at their optimal drinking window.
Q: Analyze my German wine collection please?
A: Your German wine collection shows impressive depth and balance:
· Total wines: 129 distinct wines (241 bottles)
· Vintage range: 1990 to 2022 (median 2006)
· Average Community Score: 92.0 (ranging 82.5 to 98)
· Average Value: $51.4 per bottle | Average Purchase Price: $48.3
· Total Cellar Value: ~$12,376 | Total Spent: ~$11,637
It’s clear you favor high-quality bottles, with both your personal and community ratings averaging around 92. Your collection skews toward refined, age-worthy wines—many likely Rieslings from world-class producers—spanning several decades but with a strong mid-2000s focus.
Overall, your German wines combine maturity and precision beautifully, showing careful curation rather than accumulation. These are bottles that reward patience and showcase Germany’s balance between minerality, sweetness, and longevity.
Q: Which bottles are projected to be drinkable in 20 years from now?
A: Here are the wines in your cellar projected to be drinkable for another 20 years or more:
· Type: White
· Drinking Window: 2022–2065
· Location: Upper | Bin: Wall B-01
· Community Score: 89.6
· Price: $29.90 | Value: $31.10
A classic Mosel Riesling known for remarkable aging potential, balancing sweetness, acidity, and minerality that will develop complexity through 2065.
· Type: White – Off-dry
· Drinking Window: 2025–2060
· Location: Upper | Bin: Wall B-02
· Community Score: Not yet rated
· Price: $30 | Value: $27.50
Molitor’s Kabinetts are built for long evolution; this will gain honeyed depth and polished texture as it matures.
· Type: White – Off-dry
· Drinking Window: 2020–2060
· Location: Upper | Bin: Wall B-07
· Community Score: 92.2
· Price: $35.70 | Value: $62.90
A benchmark Auslese with bright fruit and slate-driven precision—its balance ensures life well beyond 2050.
· Type: White – Sweet/Dessert
· Drinking Window: 2010–2050
· Location: Upper | Bin: Wall A-02
· Community Score: 96.0
· Price: $242.20 | Value: $179.30
One of Germany’s legendary sweet wines, this Eiswein can age effortlessly for decades with incredible purity and energy.
· Type: White
· Drinking Window: 2028–2045
· Location: Upper | Bin: Wall B-02
· Community Score: 92.7
· Price: $65 | Value: $63.20
A premier dry Riesling from Pfalz with superb structure, built to hold and improve gracefully through mid-century.
· Type: Red
· Drinking Window: 2022–2045
· Location: Upper | Bin: Wall E-05
· Community Score: 91.6
· Price: $68 | Value: $45.30
A beautifully structured Loire Cabernet Franc that offers freshness and firm tannins, ideal for extended cellaring.
Answers from Eric
Below, you’ll find answers directly from Eric. Candid and surprising, they offer a peek inside the bottles, memories, and choices that define his cellar. There’s even a story or two you won’t see coming.
Q: What bottle do you keep that is way past drinking age but held for sentimental value? A: A friend gave me a bottle of 1928 Château Durfort-Vivens which he had gotten from his father or grandfather and treated poorly for probably 40 years. He is convinced it is dead. It is a gorgeous glass, deep punt, clearly hand-blown. The fill is actually pretty solid. He moved away to LA for a number of years but recently moved back to Seattle. The next time he is over for dinner I want to convince him that we should open it, as it might actually be a solid century-old Bordeaux.
Q: Which appellation of wine is most commonly consumed after cellaring for at least 7–10 years? Of those wines, which vintage and producer are more common? If noted, what foods (if any) are paired with them? A: Definitely Bordeaux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I shoot for 20+ years on the former and 10+ (if not 15+) on the latter. On the CdP front, Domaine du Pegau dwarfs everything else with Beaucastel a distant second. On the Bordeaux front it is Pichon Lalande, Léoville Poyferré and Léoville Las Cases. Lynch Bages and Montrose are there too.
On the food front, I love a good steak, a braise and, especially above all else, a well-roasted chicken. The last is my favorite food to cook. (I cook most days of the week).
Q: Back in 2003, you built CellarTracker simply to replace your Excel sheet. Now it’s a million-member community. Was there a single moment when you realized it had become much bigger than your own cellar? A: Two moments:
Literally the moment I had two friends on there in 2003, it was like a lightning bolt. I knew 3 people could be 300, 3,000 or 300,000.
The real a-ha was 2 years later when I first started looking at the web logs (still from a server in my basement) and realized that half of the traffic was "guest" or anonymous traffic. People (and crawlers) were showing up just to read the reviews. That is closer to 10 million visitors a year now.
Q: Your cellar is famously organized. QR codes, dedicated Riesling wall, only eight bottles ever lost! What’s one small system or trick you use that you think most collectors could easily adopt at home? A: CellarTracker barcoding. It is the most valuable feature in CT for me. I never remove a bottle without scanning it out (either with our app or via a dedicated kiosk on a PC in the cellar). And nothing ever gets racked until the barcode is printed and affixed to the bottle.
Q: After all these years surrounded by extraordinary wines, what’s a simple wine-and-food pairing that still makes you smile every single time? A: I already said it. A nicely roasted chicken, good pan gravy, maybe some sautéed mushrooms or crispy potatoes. Washed down with Domaine du Pegau Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It makes me smile every time.
Q: If you had to identify one bottle that best represents your cellar identity, the wine that embodies your taste, philosophy, and attention to detail; which would it be, and why?
A: Hah, the answer to the question is that there actually is not just one bottle. I am heavily Francophile, but I love most any interesting wine from so many regions. And there is so much more to learn. If anything, I like too many things.
Now, if you were to force me to one bottle, well does it get any more precise, detailed, and subtle than German Riesling? I still love the off-dry ones, especially Kabinett and Spätlese. With some producers the fine print (e.g., the AP number) matters a lot. Particular foudre, particular auction. But hey, while we are talking lasers and precision, it is 2001 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett.
