Fair or unfair? It happens and it’s best not to dwell on negative thoughts. There are certainly plenty of prestigious wines that were already priced above a level I’d be willing to pay, plus others that I have bought in the past but I see no value in these days. Luckily there are plenty of great wines out there that aren’t hyped and where the owners aren’t ‘up their own a*ses’, but rather more endearing and hospitable. You could put every wine currently in my cellar outside of my price range, yet I could easily find plenty of interesting wines to replace them.
Indeed I have sometimes reflected that the excessive hype and pursuit of certain wines (for investment, pride or prestige) is actually quite a useful thing. Such wines become more and more sought after and scarcer and scarcer, with the prices going crazy, but in directing the big money at such ‘luxury goods icons’, other wines remain accessible to larger numbers of people.
I think this is true to a certain extent, but good wine does not remain accessible to the masses for long. In fact, I would imagine that these types have the resources to acquire $150 bottles as everyday drinkers (and I bet they do - I would if I could). It is simply a supply vs. demand thing and the demand side is not going away. Those of us without deep pockets can get caught up in the “injustice” of it all, but it just doesn’t do much good to lament situations over which we have no control.
Yes, but I put complaining about escalation of prices for wines I like to drink in the same category as complaining about the weather. It lets off some steam but I don’t expect anyone to do anything about it.
Actually, I find that the rarity and high prices of certain wines gives me something to look FORWARD to eventually trying. Like the hard-to-get girl is more satisfying once you get her!
Isn’t it supply and demand? Less supply, more demand, higher prices… What one does with the wine once they have it seems to be their call.
The fact the winery whose wine is flipped does not just raise the price to the market value is what shows “loyalty” to me. In US, SQN, Schrader, Screaming Eagle, come to mind as wines whose value is much more than what they sell it for based upon market demand. So instead of the winery being rewarded for their hard work and perseverance, their list members - many of whom persevered on a waiting list for good part of a decade - make that extra buck.
In 17 years of making wine a hobby (or habit as my wife calls it an addiction), I have bought thousands of bottles of wine and I have flipped a total of eight bottles. I admit to buying a few above original cost, but most were at my favorite charity auction so the charity is the one who profited. Sold a few more at my cost but that is not what the OP is concerned with.
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