Pitching in to buy a rare bottle (questions?)

I’m interested to see if anyone here ever thinks about, or maybe even often will pitch in to get a rare, expensive, or hard to find wine so that more people can experience the wine. As I’m reading articles about millennials that have “given up” on tasting the rare/great wines of the classic regions I find myself wondering if anyone thinks this is a good/bad idea. To me, there’s something about the experience that is still valuable. For instance; If I could gather 8 people together to all pitch in and buy say a bottle of La Tache or some other expensive & heralded bottle would it be worth it? My thoughts are an easy yes…

I think that’s where there can be real value in theme tastings like “Grand Crus of Gevrey Chambertin” or “Champagne Tete de Cuvees”. I just thought I’d see if anyone wanted to share successful experiences or warnings from their past experiences.

For me, there was one bottle where my old tasting group gathered around to taste. A 1990 Biondi Santi Riserva. It was the most expensive bottle I bought at that time in my life and cost me about $200; I noticed in 2016 when I was visiting the winery they were charging €1,500. Everyone in the tasting group was excited…we had a huge gathering where people all pulled treasures from their cellar to come together to taste this. I decanted the wine for sediment and the 90 minute drive to the restaurant and when the time came to pour the wine all around…sadly it was corked. I think to-date that has been the most disappointing corked wine I’ve opened.

Ugh sorry to hear it was corked.
I am a fan of group buy to taste together. it makes a rare bottle more affordable. I have a 59 Palmer lined up that I will share with my buying partner soon.

I think it is a great idea. From time to time in the past my wine group would chip in to buy a bottle to share at a dinner. Each of us on our own would probably never buy that particular bottle but chipping in makes it a lot more attractive. Also a great idea to get a group together to drink numerous wines from great cellars like Berns and Ma Cuisine.

I’m part of a small group that does this regularly. We pool our funds at each dinner and then decide what we want to try to acquire for the next dinner. We focus on old/rare Madeira or Sherry, which means we do a lot of auction haunting. Each member of the group hosts a dinner in their home where we focus on the special bottle. The other wines we consume are either provided by the host or we each bring a bottle, just depending on what we decide to do for that dinner. Generally, this works out really well for trying wines that we might not otherwise try.

I think it is interesting to think about, but sometimes you need to let the mystery be.

Our tasting group (four couples) has bought several expensive bottles together. I allows us to experience wines that we would likely never buy individually.

I got into wine in a way somewhat related to this. The wine shop I used to go to when I lived in Japan had periodic wine tastings. Everyone attending (8 people or so, I don’t remember) paid something like $50 to taste a handful of bottles the owner of the shop would prepare. It was a great way to be introduced to wines and meet some people. This was in the early to mid-90s, so prices weren’t where they are now, but I seem to recall a bottle of 58 or 59 La Tache at one of the events. To date, it is the only La Tache I have ever tasted, and I don’t think I would have tried such a wine if it were not for joining that event. This is not exactly what you have in mind, but it is not completely dissimilar.

It is a great idea. Although you will find it tough to include La Tache or Biondi Santi, you can afford some really great wines such as a Volnay from D’Angerville, Dujac’s village wines or Rauzan Segla without breaking the bank. Great way to learn wine and meet people.

Splitting costs for a rare/expensive bottle is a solid strategy. I do it every now and then.

It works well for me because I don’t need a full pour. As long as I can experience the wine and check it off my list, I’m good.

I have bought a couple of bottles with friends to try them and share the cost. Nothing I would consider rare or super expensive, but still more than we wanted to spend solo and something we would have shared with the other anyways. It is a good way to try more wine.

speaking from the experience of doing this several times with some pretty great success, I am always happy to split the cost of a “bigger” bottle with a couple friends. it opens up access of experience to a much larger collection of wines than I would be able to taste given my own wine budget. highly suggest finding a good group with similar tastes to split higher cost bottles with.

(PS- millennial here. love experiencing classic bottles)

I’m of two minds on this:

A) Splitting the cost of a bottle is a great way to experience a unicorn wine!

B) Screw it. If the price of a freaking bottle of wine is out of reach just to experience my wine hobby without some heroic group effort, why support that market?

*Things like extreme vintage port, Madeira, etc excepted. I would never see myself needing a whole bottle between my wife and I.

Making sure everyone understands pouring etiquette and the possibility of winning the corked wine lottery, it will prepare you and your friends for a great experience. I have a friend that is new to wine that always sees the large bowl of a Burgundy ballon as an invitation to drain the bottle.

My strategy is to turn 60.

A group of us thought about it too, for a 1968 Unico to have at a communal 50th b-day tasting. It didn’t end up happening (the purchase), but I was all over contributing my share. I do like the idea…when one thinks about buying a wine off a restaurant list and all the table contributes to that cost, not that much different perhaps.

Good question!

Mike

Beyond the super-expensive wine, a couple of my tasting groups have done group buys when there was a gap in a tasting. Despite fairly deep cellars sometimes there is an iconic wine that is missing after everyone declares for a vertical or horizontal. Then group buys (or sometimes part of the group buys- a few years ago when doing an '86 claret tasting 4 of us who were bringing wines that were less expensive - Rauzan-Segla, Talbot Leo-Barton for instance- chipped in on a Ch. Margaux, as some others were bringing Firsts etc).

I set something like that up to buy a bottle of 1978 Q. do Noval Nacional. I laid out the money and bought the bottle at auction. Then the hard part started - trying to herd cats to arrange a time and a place and a perfect menu and deciding what other wines to drink. AND then someone moved out of town and was no longer part of the group. Then half of the rest of the group forgot about it. Every once in a while I see one of the guys and mention it but it never goes anywhere. So . . . I now own a bottle of 1978 Nacional that I paid maybe $350 for out of my own pocket that currently has a Cellartracker auction estimate of $742.32 and a Winesearcher price of $475 (but they don’t have it) or $1,249 (I didn’t bother to call Florida).

I think it’s a great idea and would do it again but it’s too much trouble to organize.