Acker auction last night -- 1985 Dujac CdlR for $131K

I spectated the Acker auction as a tourist last night, and saw a case of 1985 Dujac Clos de la Roche (I think it was CldR) go for $131,000 all in [wow.gif]. ($105K bid plus 25% fee). The case didn’t even seem to be in perfectly pristine condition either, a lot of 3 to 4 cm fills and label markings.

That’s almost $11K a bottle. Enough for a decent condition used car. I have to say, my maximum per bottle spending limit is about like one-fiftieth of that, but I’m pretty sure I have had plenty of wines just as good. Not a knock on 80s Dujac, which I have never tasted, but just a general perception about how celestial a wine can really be.

GameStop billionaires hitting the wine auctions already

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I originally read this as “one-fifth” and in reponze to your comment that you’ve had plenty of wines just as good thought “I should hope”… Hah.

That’s just silly. There is money and then there is F-you money. Maybe I just don’t value any food/drink enough to pay that much. Maybe I am jealous because that is unfathomable to pay in my current situation (or any foreseeable future).

Cool. I wish I was the seller.

Does anyone know the estimated rsnge?

I can’t remember the exact range but remember noticing that the projected max was like $70k (before fees), so not cheap lol

Thirty years ago everyone thought the prices on old Italian stringed instruments had gone bananas. Nothing compared to today, though. Some markets have nowhere to go but up.

My friend put up the 85 dujac CSD 3L that was in the same auction. Went for 42k pre BP.

Impeccable condition with receipts.

Ppl love them some 91 and older dujac nowadays.

Acker was key in that documentary about epic wine fraud. How does anybody trust them after that?

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1985 Dujac CDR is an absolutely legendary wine. That price doesn’t surprise me whatsoever.

What caused me to raise my eyebrows is one magnum of 2018 Duroche Griotte Chambertin hammering in the same auction for $6200 with premium. I guess that cat is now well out of the bag. An astonishing price for Duroche.

Funny that William Kelley recently commented that Pierre Duroche is “chasing Rousseau.” A sentiment I fully agree with. Can we agree that he has caught him (or her) at that price?!?

Ha!
We drank way too much of that juice.
In 1989, we sold 750s for $140 and mags for $290 on the higher end of the retail spectrum. We air freighted it in from Europe directly to SF Bay Area-refrigerated containers through the Panama Canal were unreliable.

I’d be okay bidding on some cheaper bottles, but would be hesitant to go for the big ones after watching sour grapes.

I think that there are good wines, excellent wines, unforgettable wines and fetish wines. While you have a price range that tends to go along with the quality on the first 3 categories, when it comes to the fourth category, the fetish wines, the QPR get’s somehow transported to another dimension that is very difficult to understand for people like me, that would buy a bottle for the sole intention of enjoying it’s juice .

I think he makes around 100 bottles (or less) of the Griotte - with such a micro cuvee I don’t think you can say Duroche has caught Rousseau - not even close (at least market/financially) - just take a look at the price of their village Gevrey wines. Rare wine, rare format.

It’s a nice wine, or it was ten years ago, though I rather doubt in this case that age has conferred only advantage. It certainly won’t change anyone’s life.

I am not and never will be in that market … but I also would never make a purchase from Acker given their history. I don’t think I’m alone in that.

Bowden sighting!

I wouldn’t assume their reasons for buying are different. Some people just have a lot of money so their scale is different. To the person buying, there’s probably no fourth category.

You are absolutely right and it’s not my intention to assume their individual motivations (nor to judge how people spend their money). Maybe the word “fetish” has some twisted connotations, but it’s broad definition is “an object of irrational devotion or reverence”, which leads to another controversy: what is rational and what is not. So what I categorized as “fetish wines” are highly desirable and at the same time extremely limited wines that comes with a “collector” price tag. Is the juice inside a bottle of Screaming Eagle 10x better than the juice inside a, let’s say, Joseph Phelps Insignia? Is the juice inside a 1985 Dujac worth $11K per bottle? That’s the question that I asked myself (and maybe there’s already and answer that I missed…). Again, there is no intention to judge anyone’s behavior, whether people decide to collect fine art, luxury cars, rare wine, stamps, it’s their business, not mine, and I have to admit that for me that’s another league. And you are also right to say that to the person buying, there’s probably no fourth category, but I think that for the “Non Collector” wine buyer there probably is.