Defining the term "ballah bottle"

The word “ballah” gets tossed around here often, and I’d like to know if there’s a quantitative way to determine what is and what isn’t a Ballah Bottle.

Is there a formula? Something like Average Cost on WineSearcher x [Rarity + Exclusivity] ÷ Quantity Produced?

Are there points just for the name on the label? More points for top vintages? How about if it takes YEARS to get upgraded from the wait list to receiving an allocation - does that increase the points exponentially?

Obviously, Screaming Eagle or DRC gets you automatic Ballah Status. But then there are very cool wines like the old dusty bottles that Nicos posts:

Could that be considered a Ballah Bottle because of it’s age & coolness factor?

The aforementioned Screaming Eagle is the benchmark for Ballah Cult Cabs. So where does that leave Shafer Hillside Select? It certainly isn’t rare, is fairly easy to get, but does have a little cache to it’s name. How about MacDonald? You just don’t pop into the local Costco or Canal’s and grab a bottle on Friday night. It isn’t terribly expensive in the realm of Cali Cabs if you manage to get an allocation of a mere 3 bottles, yet it sells for double to triple that on the secondary market. Does either Shafer HSS or MacDonald Oakville qualify?

So, is there a defined way to calculate Ballah Bottle status, or is it completely subjective?

Ballah bottles are the ones a person can simply throw money around to get. I call them Koch bottles!

The kind Nicos gets are treasures for which he has invested time and effort to hunt for. Different ball!

If you have to ask if it’s a Ballah bottle…then you already know the answer.

Hard to get at auction as you can Koch blocked.

I would define it as any bottle I can’t afford.

Not sure about the term, but maybe it has something to do with the German “ballern” which means “shooting around just for fun, without thinking about what may happen …”

So for me it has nothing to do with Nicos´1947 which simply seemed to be a great mature wine at the right moment …
also not meaning a well-structured tasting about a certain theme (no matter how expensive) …
but it´s an attitude to open (too many) expensive, prestigious (and rare?) bottles (usually of totally different types) - also usually far too young to be mature - just to show off (what one has) and to raise ones self-esteem …

(wow - we opened bla-blah-ballah … GREAT!)

My 0.02

For me it’s about conspicuous consumption, about showing others that here is a person who is proud to be seen drinking the best (allied to similar scenarios with food, cars, clothes, watches etc.).

Thus a Screagle drunk at the dinner table with the family isn’t IMO ‘balla’ behaviour, but drinking Roederer NV out of the bottle and posting photos on social media could well be.

Thus (again IMO) there is a bit of that behaviour in most if not all of us. From someone posting a photo of a meal with truffles, to a vertical of Huet Vouvray. Never forget that there are people who think spending > $25 on a bottle of wine is evidence of stupid pomposity.

We all need our ego kept in check at times.

A ballah wine is a moving target, just as the limits of QPR are a moving target.

You first need to learn how to spell before you can define. The term is “Baller”.

Ballah sounds way too much like somebody whining to the mods.

True, but ballah has been the WB vernacular for a while now. It’s a lost cause, like people referring to grape “varietals.”

Besides the lesson from Teacher Tuite, there seems to be a consensus that the term (no matter how it’s spelled or what kind of vest you’re wearing, if at all) has as much to do with flashiness as it does with bottle cost or name brand.

Didn’t consider that, so thanks to everyone who added that angle to the picture. With Halloween coming, I guess I gotta work on my conspicuousness if I ever want to nail a Ballah costume. Just carrying the bottle into the party while wearing Brioni and Ferragamo loafers isn’t enough - I gotta be loud and get noticed. Got it - thanks!

Just go as Rudy, or is that too 2014?

Not a bad idea. Of course, I’d need to wine-stain my teeth and get a wig, but it could be done.

I always thought it was “balla”.

Ah well. I guess I’m just not a hep cat.

That one was current vernacular, right?

Ballah-ness/baller-ness is an attribute of people, not wines.

It appears to be of more recent, and distinctly American origins, according to the Urban Dictionary:

A thug that has “made it” to the big time. Originally refered ball players that made it out of the streets to make millions as a pro ball player, but now is used to describe any thug that is living large.

Well, certainly possible.

At least I think both explanations have in common the term “ball” … a round item to shoot around with …

I suggest that it refers to a bottle you would never drink at home in private with you spouse just to enjoy and that you do not tell everyone you drank via a published tasting note.

Proving that we are consistently inconsistent spellers.