2013 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo: The First Winesearcher Hit

[Ian_Sutton]

@johnbonds

For the 2013 Bartolo, I don’t know, maybe $200? Considering the chatter around this producer/vintage, I have a strong feeling that the market is going to push this upwards of $250 a bottle. Yes it’s a big jump but I think great Barolo is sadly next in line to have these kinds of price increases.

Hi John
It’s very much already in progress IMO. I still find plenty of interesting wines at €20-40 outside the prestigious names, and for me $200 would be more than I should spend on mere wine . No right or wrong, just different perspectives.

Regards
Ian

[johnbonds]

@Ian Sutton

@johnbonds

No right or wrong, just different perspectives.

Regards
Ian

Agreed

[R_Nanda]

At the HDH auction, a 3-pack of 2010 Bartolo just hammered for $1300 w/o the vig. Well over $500 per bottle all in. Oh my.

[RyanC]

@Rich Nanda

At the HDH auction, a 3-pack of 2010 Bartolo just hammered for $1300 w/o the vig. Well over $500 per bottle all in. Oh my.

Wow.

[Phil_Smith]

2008 was $350 a bottle.

[Markus_S]

@Ian Sutton

…for me $200 would be more than I should spend on mere wine .

Heretic!!

(Seriously, more than I would ever spend too.)

[NoahR]

Bought two bottles of 2010 for maybe $110 per? There is great wine in Barolo in 2013 for less than that, and good wine for a quarter of that.

[Ian_Sutton]

@Markus S

@Ian Sutton

…for me $200 would be more than I should spend on mere wine .

Heretic!!

(Seriously, more than I would ever spend too.)

I’m surprised my access hasn’t been revoked yet

[R_Nanda]

@RyanC

@Rich Nanda

At the HDH auction, a 3-pack of 2010 Bartolo just hammered for $1300 w/o the vig. Well over $500 per bottle all in. Oh my.

Wow.

In a more sane auction and non-twilight zone universe, a case of the 2010 Bartolo hammered at $2600 at Zachy’s yesterday, which is ~$260/bottle all in. That price is pretty aligned with Ian’s comments above.

[Andrew_Hamilton]

just got gifted a '10 for a wedding present. Talk about good friends!

[J_Galang]

Got a measly one bottle allocation from my drug wine dealer today… Allocations are super tight and he is already sold out.

[JaredT]

I was able to snag two bottles from 67 wine.

[johnbonds]

I finally secured a case. Much late night scrounging was required.

The key is to write your own website searcher and parser that automatically searches all the sites every microsecond until it finds it in stock… Otherwise others will get it first…

[Brian_King]

After getting 6 bottles each vintage for several years @55-60 Euro, the people i buy from in Milan could only offer 3 @ 90 Euro. Still buying of course but older vintages are going crazy as well in Europe

[Chris_Seiber]

When this same thing happens with the price of a domestic wine, the conversation is all about being offended by the winery’s greed, score whores and trophy collectors, and generally everything wrong with the world of wine. When it’s Barolo, Cornas, Burgundy, Cote Rotie, it’s about how great the wine must be.

[Tom_Taylor]

@Chris Seiber

When this same thing happens with the price of a domestic wine, the conversation is all about being offended by the winery’s greed, score whores and trophy collectors, and generally everything wrong with the world of wine. When it’s Barolo, Cornas, Burgundy, Cote Rotie, it’s about how great the wine must be.

The reason we are not speaking about the winery’s greed here is because that is not the cause of the price escalation. Nor is the Importer to blame. The price escalation here is a function of the Retailer along with consumers willingness to pay. The wholesale price of this wine in has gone up only 10% in four vintages

[Ian_Sutton]

Hi Chris
I’d agree with Tom about where the greed lies in this case - most definitely not at the winery’s door, as they create much more problems for themselves by trying to hold the price down, than if they bumped it up to €150, and I’m sure it would still sell through at that price.

There are plenty who cashed in on demand years ago, wines priced well over €100 that play the prestige / exclusivity card.

The criticisms of points whores is a little less deserved than (say) cult cabs which were always more (points) driven by the key US wine critics. However trophy collectors is undoubtedly more appropriate a criticism for these old world icons (and the word icon with religious connotations feels uncomfortably appropriate at times seeing the reverence bestowed on a prestigious bottle of wine). Many of these old world icon bottles are bought for prestige, and are priced equivalently. Every decade the price differential grows between these wines, and good typical examples of the appellation. Even looking back a mere 20 years will bring shock at how *comparatively cheap these icons were.

Regards
Ian

• I’m not necessarily convinced they were cheap, though they would seem so if we chanced across an old bottle at the old price, just cheap in comparison to today’s pricing.

[Michael_S_Monie]

Empire…Gone!

[KatrinaBI]

Grabbed three bottles from Wine Exchange at $149 apiece. Didn’t show up on Wine Searcher and found it by chance while purchasing some 2015 Myglands from them. Sold out now.

[Jamie_Pettigrew]

The wine is mailing list allocation only. I saw a few upset people at cellar door. The wine was released to the Alba trade September 1st and can be had for 70 euros. Most seems gone or retailers ask you to buy some other wines to secure a few bottles .