I have seen some crazy prices for 750 ml wines but really wonder if people are buying them to drink or as an investment. For me, I am willing to spend about $250 for the Shafer Hillside Select with every intention of drinking it within a year or two of purchase. That is one bottle at this price point about once per year.
Anybody else want to share.
I am also buying the Shafer HSS to drink. But not in 1-2 yrs! I would prefer to pop the first bottle in 5-7 yrs, and then see when to open the next…i am also holding a few decent Champagnes to drink 10-15 yrs from now.
Buck fifty.
Arbitrary, I know.
$100. Tops.
Under $100 for drinking now.
$100 - $300 for various off-lines, or plans on arranging some serious tastings or special occasions down the line.
~$1K is my limit.
I don’t buy anything I don’t intend to drink, though it might be many years in the future. I think 2008 Rayas was $245 (up too much from 2007!). I bought one bottle. In Epernay I bought a bottle of Selosse Substance which was something like $275 and one of their Les Carelles for maybe $230. Those were exceptional as we had just stayed at their hotel and my wife was still under the spell. Other than those, I don’t think I bought more than a handful of bottles this year over $100.
$150-$200; and I seriously question the declining marginal utility/enjoyment at or above that price point.
I only have a few bottles over $125 and I plan on drinking them. I don’t think I could spend more at this point but only because I am young and still new to wine. It’s difficult for me to find the nuances between a $75 and >$125. I haven’t had hss next to other wines but if I do this may change my upper threshold.
I don’t purchase any wines that I don’t plan on drinking. A poll would have been better for this question if you want more answers.
<$100 is comfortable, up to $150 I will do occasionally with good reason. Above that is pretty much just Yquem.
Of course, if I buy a wine for less than that and it appreciates, then it’s fair game. Rational economics aside…
^
Schrader is 175 (+ +)
Scarecrow is 250 I think.
For Burgs I really don’t have a number in mind. IF I don’t have the money I don’t buy. I cannot afford to trophy hunt with the big balla boys but if I do an extra gig I have no problem with applying all of those funds on a single bottle if it’s something I really want to try.
The most I’ve spent on a wine to-date is $350 + shipping. The BEST money I’ve ever spent on wine was $250 for a Magnum of 1970 DRC Grands Echezeaux in the summer of 2007 from a passive cellar in Maine. I flew it out to California and we had a fun little gathering in December that year. A great little party.
I am comfortable with 100$,and occasionally 150$ for something like Giacomo Conterno Cascina Francia.But with the price increase,for 2010 barolo,i guess i will have to backfill.And i intend to drink all the wine i buy.Have bought.
Don’t we all intend to drink the wines we buy? If not, perhaps you ought to be reading the Wall Street Journal or some “money” magazine. I think there is a difference between ‘willing’ to buy and ‘doing’ so, as sometimes emotion takes up the buying experience. For instance, I always have a psychological reversion to prices above $100. but then, Allemand comes out with the 2011’s, and the Chaillots is 100+ now, and makes Faurie Hermitage seem ‘cheap’ in comparison. Same with many 2010 Barolo: what used to be $110-120 now seems cheaper in comparison when measured against $150 for the 2010’s. So the scale seems relative, but when your income is modest, you have to adjust. And then some things pass beyond the threshold, like Clos Rougeard now.
I will spend $400 on a 750 ml bottle of wine that I will drink. Not often, mind you, but I will do it.
I buy about 6-10 bottles per year over $150. I plan to drink them all. This thread reminds me that I buy them faster than I drink them. At my age - 63 - I need to fix that. I must say that the 09 Schrader that I opened two weeks ago, the last wine in that category, was delicious.
Average bottle price - cellar inventory: $49
Average daily drinker price (not inventoried): approx $26 and wish it was lower!
Most expensive bottle in the cellar: $255 paid, current retail est: $500
I plan to drink everything. None of it is designated for investment or resale.
I think twice about buying over $75. Paying north of $100 - $125 pains me and those bottles make up less than 3% of my cellar. It seems that “great wines” (best of their genre) are now $150+. Despite the quality and thoroughly enjoying great wines, I’m not a big fan of chasing scarcity, popularity or prestige. $500 is probably my top limit for an extraordinary occasion and I haven’t ever spent that much…yet. Jumping in to the high end game now, after missing the days when the “greats” were “cheap”, is going to hurt…and hurt a lot.
RT
I max out around $400. I recently made an exception for a $500 bottle, but I’m not sure I would have bought it if I didn’t think I could sell it for more if necessary. But I am happy to go way higher if I’m splitting with other people–I’d have no problem ordering a $1K bottle at a restaurant with 2-3 other people and each paying $250-$333, so long as I thought it was a good deal (e.g. at Bern’s).
The most I’ve ever spent, and this was only once, was $250 for Huet’s 1947 Le Haut Lieu (totally worth it); a few months ago I paid $150 for a 15+ y.o. Grand Cru red Burgundy, but that was well above my normal psychological limit of around $100, and that itself is a level I very rarely get to these days.