Wine inflation; share some of your price:value winners in the cellar

Some of you buying burgundy twenty years ago have some real P:V stories to tell. Sorting in my CellarTracker data for value, then checking what I paid, I found these:

1959 Cristal; Paid $400:Value $5K (I can’t gloat about this one; it’s one ugly bottle, dark and cloudy)
All of my MacDonald. Early supporter. For the 2010, $160:$653
All of the Allemand I paid under $150 (some under $80) 6-10 years ago. For '10 Reynard, $120:$500. 2008 Reynard $98:$434. I remember thinking at the time, “I’m an idiot to pay this much for Cornas but I like it”.
I used to get my Ridge Montebello’s for under $99. 2013 Ridge Monte Bello $99:$339
2015 Burlotto Barolo Monvigliero $80:$331
1999 Clos des Lambrays $85:$306
2000 Aldo Conterno Barolo Granbussia $85:$260 (I should have remortgaged the house and bought all of the A. Conterno when they were blowing them out in 2012)
1996 López de Heredia Blanco Gran Reserva Tondonia $99:$247
1994 López de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Tondonia $85:$169
1999 Château La Mission Haut-Brion $67:$241 (I miss WineCommune)

I’m sure this is amateur hour compared to some of your cellar gems.

Cheers, & Happy Thanksgiving,

Warren

2005 Truchot M-S-D Clos Sorbe where I paid $55 and it’s now “worth” about $1500.

2001 DRC Richebourg - paid $180, and current auction value is about $3000.

There’s a few others, but those are the crazy ones.

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De Negoce #66 paid $19 now $10

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[rofl.gif] I own many examples of steeply diminishing value. Another thread?

Most of the burgs. Bourbon has even higher % appreciation.

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2015 Keller Kirchspiel - Paid $70, now ~$280-300 depending where you shop.

LMHB 1989 and 1990, paid $70 for both vintages in the late 1990s. Now $1700 and $1400, respectively.

When going through my Cabernet to Pinot transition I traded away some Araujo Eisle from 1995 to 1999 to get some Grand Cru Burgundy. The Araujo were purchased in the $100 per bottle range. Nine bottles became three each of 2001 Musigny from de Vogue, Mugnier and Drouhin. Probably pretty pricey today. Still have them all. Time to start trying them?

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90 la Tâche magnum. Cost $550.

I bought 2000 Carruades for $44 each and sold one in an auction a few years later for $452. That was my largest return on wine.

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1989 and 1990 Leroy ‘Corton Charlemagne’. Found in a bid end sale in the early '90s, somewhere in the Carmel CA area. Paid about $25 each. Now $2k.

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Winner, winner, Wagyu dinner.

Was at Winex years ago with a friend. He saw that 2005 Columbia Crest Reserve had just gotten 95 points on the WS Insider newsletter. It was at the bottom of the recession. He said, hey it’s a recession and that’s a crazy score. Maybe it will be wine of the year? We grabbed it all, 2 cases each. I think we paid about $22/bottle. Soon after it was named WS WOTY. We sold it all for about $125 each bottle. Then we bought wines we actually wanted to drink. To this day I’ve never tasted it

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Alan…merci - that bring back my memory :

DRC - Romanée-Conti 90 732917 $859
DRC - La Tâche 90 732909 $347

I sold the most astounding examples years ago for huge profits.

Just not as huge as they would bring now. Sigh.

Some Gonon St. Joseph on sale for 35.00 might be my biggest % increase

2011 Juge Cornas $43 in 2015, now supposedly worth $700.

In 2012 I was getting into northern Rhone and asked Chris at crush for some suggestions. Here’s what he had readily available

Juge, Marcel Cornas 07 750 $54.95
Gonon Saint Joseph 10 750 $39.95 pre arrival
Allemand Cornas Reynard 08 750 $94
Allemand Cornas Chaillots 09 750 $89
Allemand Cornas Chaillots 08 750 $78
Allemand Cornas Chaillots 04 750 $95
Balthazar Cornas Chaillots 09 750 $49

I bought a little, but i guess I should have bought more!

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2005 Opus One $75 - now abut $450
2005 Lynch-Bages $50 - now abut $200

Both at a store in NYC soon after the 2008 crash

Some time back in the early 2000s I bought 2 bottles of 1991 Gentaz from Premier Cru. Can’t remember if the price was $60 or $80 per bottle but that hardly matters I guess.

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