I can already envision some of the response this is going to get, but it is what it is. I am merely sharing my observations and experience as a serious fan of this wine with regards to what promises to be a spectacular vintage (I have not tasted it yet) that just got released in perhaps the most heated champagne market in my lifetime. Grateful to hear from others what you are seeing in your neck of the woods.
2008 Dom Rose hit one Texas retailer yesterday at $475 per. There were 24 bottles, 30 hours later, there are 3 bottles left.
Total Wine’s main Dallas store is expecting an allocation in 2 weeks. Price unknown. They have the 2006 Rose at $335, and the 2012 Brut at $170 (it is $199 at Costco), so there might be a nice price to come here, but hard to predict. Quantities to come unknown.
On Tuesday, Flickinger (Chicago) showed 3 bottles available at $419 now, and a 6 pack on future arrival at $580 per bottle. The $419 bottles in stock were gone by that night. $600 is the current Benchmark price for future delivery.
Anecdotally, I am hearing fact patterns that support what the above suggests- the first tranche is out right now and appears to be retailing for $425-475, give or take, depending on state and retailer. But once that is gone, $600 seems to be the next target.
I’ve never had it. Do you expect that it will be sublime on release or need 5-10 years in the cellar? Also, how does the production level of the Rose compare with the Brut?
I have always enjoyed the wine at release and then periodically thereafter. It starts off quite nice, but does cream out a bit - if not quite to the extent of the Brut. For some reason, and this could just be based on the few vintages I have had repeatedly, I seem to prefer it a bit youger these days. I am down to my last box of the 1996 and plan to drink them soon. But the 1982 seemed like it could have gone on forever (I ran out too soon.)
For 2008 I did not get enough to justify my usual pattern of 3 bottles in the first 2 years to see it evolve, so I am likely going to wait until fall to try it.
EDIT- missed your second question. I am not sure what the production level is of the Rose, but given my time ITB and observing general allocation levels, I would have to think it is just a small fraction of the Brut. Only some of the restaurants and high end retailers that buy the Brut also buy the Rose, and the Rose allocation is much smaller. And in liquor stores, groceries, and mid-range restaurants where a bottle of Dom is the top item- you will almost never see the Rose.
On Winesearcher pro in the US I see 7 listings at or below $450. One - Flickinger- is sold out- as I said above. The two TX Total Wines are erroneous- as I said, TW confirmed TX is getting the wine in 2 weeks and just has 2006 right now.
So are you saying 4 listings is “pretty widely available”? Even ignoring what I qualified above, do you honestly consider 7 listings at or below a certain price to mean “widely available”?
21 bottles sold in 30 hours doesn’t sound like much of a feeding frenzy, but this is an easily playable market and I’ve no doubt LVMH is keen to play it.
I get it. This post is probably meaningless to 99% of the Board.
“Big champagne house releases wine at new record high price, and the price will only go up” is not exactly stunning news.
But I posted it because the second tranche price hike looks to be about 50%, with first tranche allocations being very small. That is meaningful information for the many of us who love this wine and for whom a price point of $400 vs $600 is the difference between deal or no deal. I am not surprised by the pattern- but I am surprised by how quickly the price is escalating.
Having some thread drift here but at least here in North Texas it seems like most Total Wine stores still have 2012 DP at $169. They have a one bottle limit but nothing prevents driving store to store or anything like that.
I looked back at my purchases of '02 and the lowest price I paid was $290 in 2013 so $400 does not sounds crazy for '08. The difference back then was that if you wanted to buy 20 6-packs, you could. Now it is tough to buy just a couple of 6-packs.
