Nice thread!
Always kind of hunting on some obscure european auction houses, and the best recently was 2015 Levet Maestria, 12 bottles for an average bottle price of 18€.
Another one will be the 1996 Fauterie Cornas, which i have not yet personally sampled, but gave one to my dad to open on his birthday recently, and all loved it. 12 bottles at 10€ a piece.
You hit the nail on the head.
The secondary market for these wines is going to have a hard time developing if the folks buying them aren’t also looking for them at auction. We see this all the time unfortunately. There is lots of cases where a wine is substantially more at retail at auction (even as much as 3X).
Granges de Peres is a perfect example. Same with all of the geeky Burgundies.
Issue is that the collectors who are buying DRC aren’t also looking for Jean Faure, so it has to be the audience already buying the wines to keep the prices up.
Soft HDH prices are softer than you think since their estimates are normally on the low side.
I think they were mispriced coming into the retail chain. People don’t really want Xavier Gerard wines at Rostaing prices, IMO. I’ve bought them but 2020 might be the last year as they don’t sell at the restaurant (even at less than 2x) and I have more Northern Rhône Syrah than I need by a mile. I think Gerard, Rosenthal or both were misled by the crazy COVID market into thinking they could create a blue chip wine out of thin air. The wines are good, but they are easily fungible.
I grabbed some Cherisey on Thursday that was 28% lower than my wholesale price (part of that is the Kermit tax). I think it’s because it’s not a wine that folks are generally looking for at auction. 2016 Montrose hammered at about the Vint price. I don’t even bother looking at DRC, it’s way out of my league.
Yeah, never really understood the hype behind Gerard’s wines. They are good, but not great.
My comments were meant more broadly, but yes, I agree the Gerard wines aren’t as close to the hype as they should be. Having said that, $48 for a good Cote Rotie still qualifies as a steal, and should have been at least 20-25% more.
That’s a great value. Your comment about “wines that folks aren’t looking for at auction” speaks to my point. I think too many have written off auction, and frankly it’s a better place to buy wines like this!
Bought a case of 08 Koehler-Ruprecht Auslese Trocken during the financial crisis that appeared with a bunch of wines that were obviously from a distributor blowing out older wines. I think the wines were about $35. Took a long time for me to actually get them delivered and when I did I discovered they were RR!
So far the joke is on me though because every one I have opened has been beyond closed!
Bizot seemed like it was selling well, at least at the paulee auction, unless that’s not what you meant by geeky burgs.
I missed a crazy deal at that auction, unfortunately, 3 pack of 2001 Rousseau chambertin for 4k or something absurd, I was decanting something when the listing came up and it went for the reserve lol, someone got a steal. Next was 02 at like double the price. I think it was like 1700 all in or something.
Every 15 year old bottle of riesling, brunello, and Napa cab I buy for 20% under current release price.
Bizot and Arnoux Lachaux are kind of caught in the middle. Thinking more of Jean Faure, Ken Shiogai and things like that.
That’s ridiculous. Had the 2001 Beze at La Paulee (out of mag) and it was outstanding.
Not auction, but came across a pristine private cellar 5 years ago with two bottles of ‘85 Rayas. Grabbed them at $500/bottle, which I thought was a steal. He also had an ‘85 Juge which he threw in for $50! All three bottles showed exquisitely, in my top 7-8 bottles I’ve ever tasted.
This has happened several times - mixed bottle lots from cellars that have been obviously well curated/kept by the owner… This one tops my memory as worthy ---- 18 years ago, a 23 bottle mixed red burgundy lot that I got for somewhere in the low/mid hundred per bottle all-in - filled with '61/'62/'64/'66/'67/'69 bottles - single bottles and a few that had a couple each. Horrible label conditions on most but you could tell these were the last from a 6 pack or whatever the original cellar owner has sampled over the previous decades. A few special bottles from special domaines but a lot of old Volnay/Pommard and random solid vineyards from Gevrey/Vosne, etc. I have to tell you - each one of these were completely enjoyable and exceeded expectations each time other than one from memory that was obviously corked. All have been consumed unfortunately… Would have much preferred to sample these bottles with the original owner but these were the last few standing after someone probably got to old to enjoy them or died. In the end, an auction lot that wasn’t sexy at all and was a complete risk to buy - but - from a loved cellar it still sticks out as a time capsule that someone left for me. Heck - I’m hoping someone someday thinks of bottles of wine from my cellar this way :)! CHEERS
Love this sentiment.
gonna pale in comparison to some of the old stories but about three weeks ago I got a bottle of Dujac Combottes that looks to be in good shape for $240 all in. thats probably the single best deal I’ve ever gotten in a wine auction.
A case of 1934 Justinos Verdelho for $450. Retail is about 10X.
Nothing compared to some of the posts here, but I scored a '67 Heitz MV from K&L for $440 earlier this year. I was the only bidder and shocked to win it. One of my bucket list wines.
Aroma of raw flesh and Eucalyptus with tons of fresh fruit on the pallette. Amazingly lively given how old it was!
I have never heard ‘raw flesh’ as a descriptor…but I guess it’s maybe better than cooked flesh??
It was really an usual aroma but the first thing I thought of!
In the summer of 2000, I was at a Christies/Zachy’s auction at the Christies offices in Rockefeller Center (at that time, Zachy’s was still not a standalone house) and was able to put in a silent bid for a 3 pack of Lafite (86, 88, 89). Hammered at just around $300 plus vig. Opened the 86 on my 30th birthday 6 years later; opened the 89 at another non-milestone evening and sold the 88 at a price that covered the entire lot and netted me a bit extra.
It used to show as a term more.
Think of an unaged filet mignon, or tartar before mixing it.
I find it a positive and useful term!