this wine deserves its own thread. Maybe deserves its own website. Jerry opened it with a fabulous dinner he cooked and other great wines but this is the one burned in my calvarium. Probably the best wine I’ve had in years. You read all the classic blah blah blah about Asian spice, soy, hoisin, sous bois and you think, “yeah, sure,” yet here it was, all with that classic peacock tail finish that was just stunning and everlasting. Just simply amazing wine that makes one shake their head and realize that there must be a god.
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When you open a bottle and God decides to partake…you know you have yourself an experience! Bravo! Any pics?
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Bang!
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Sounds great Alan - we all need more Jerry’s in our life! I love it when old bottles show that way, and the few 61 DRC’s I’ve had were the whole package.
Certainly one of the greatest wines I’ve had in the last several years. A pristine bottle, but if you looked at the color you’d say the wine was gone. Watered down cola colored, this was everything you could want in a wine. Just as Alan described - the holy grail that we all search most of our wine lives for. It was from an assorted case direct from DRC in 1980 at the ridiculous price of $1500, which included 4 La Tache and RC, and no Echezeaux. Those were the days. My last bottle form an extraordinary case.
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Dionysus, FTW!
I love the emotion in this post and great wines should elicit strong feelings.
To be frank, I can’t remember the last wine that I had that had me questioning agnosticism!
Completely off topic I have to admit but Alan’s mention of god followed by Kent’s mention of agnosticism made me think of this oldie…
Did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic insomniac?
He lay awake all night wondering if there was a dog.
Okay…back to the thread.
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What else could you buy in 1980 for $1500? A luxury car? A boat? The “inflation adjusted” value is under $5500, but we know that’s not real life. I would imagine that the direct from DRC price on a mixed case like that today is pretty comparable.
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I have a bottle of the 1972 standing up for the holidays. The cork fell into the bottle, so quickly covered the capsule with Saran Wrap. Unlikely to be anything but dreck, but have a friend born that year coming so fingers crossed…
It was $1500 for the case, including 4 La Tache and 1 Romanee Conti, which is certainly way more than $5500
Yeah, but like I said, those official inflation numbers are bogus. $1500 back then could buy you a comparable car that would cost probably $20k today. You can definitely buy a mixed case from DRC today for less than that.
It’s a great buy, nonetheless, my point is just that wine inflation is mostly on the secondary market. The problem is anyone just can’t walk into places like DRC anymore and buy the wine like you could 40 years ago. The people that can are paying comparable prices today for most of the top cherries even.
maybe you can but most of us are totally shut out.
Let me know where you can find a 12 bottle mixed case of DRC, including RC, for $20K. I’ll buy all there is.
Here is a similar case to the 1971 I bought, but I had no Montrachet and no Echezeaux or obviously Corton. I got 4 La Tache and 1 RC plus the others
Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Assortment (1 RC, 1 M, 3 LT, 2 R, 2 RSV, 2 GE, 2 E, 1 C), Burgundy
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Clearly you guys are missing my point.
It just so happens I’ve been going through old records at my parents’ recently and saw a receipt the other day for a 1980 Buick century for $9000. Probably a similar car today would be ~50k?
Maybe. Or maybe $60k depending on options. I think you could get a mixed case today from DRC in the $10k range. Not exact by any means, but I think we’re in the ballpark.
Wine speculators and middlemen have ruined the market. Well, and there’s like twice as many people in the world drinking wine and the vineyards aren’t getting any larger.
A good wine buddy has a rule when drinking fine wine at his home:
No one is allowed to talk about what one paid for a wine nor what it’s worth now.
It’s a good rule.
And I’m glad you both got to enjoy an otherworldly wine together. It’s life affirming when the magic hits!
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not in front of the spouse . . .
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