Yeah this is exactly it. Not so much regret or buyer’s remorse as much as “oh, that was nowhere near as good of as deal as I thought it was.”
Thanks everyone for the responses! Despite the lesson learned, I’m glad the price I paid wasn’t so egregious that it’s something I’ll care about in a few years when these are ready to consider drinking.
Actually, there is nothing to regret IMHO.
If you are going to use winesearcher to make comparative decisions, it is important to dig a little deeper than just looking at the lowest price.
For example, the $432 bottle of 2021 Margaux on winesearcher is a clearance sale item at a small store in Pennsylvania that only ships within Pennsylvania. This store also has the lowest Lafite price per winesearcher. That is great if you live in Pennsylvania and happen to catch the sale (I have no idea how long the sale has been active or will continue), but it is not a great way to make a buying decision of those two things do not apply.
You also have to consider the fact that, as in this case, you would be buying from multiple stores. At current rates it is very common for even a single bottle to cost up to $40 to ship ground. Not at every store, but certainly at many. And so shipping and taxes can add up pretty quick.
You also need to remove auctions and pre-arrivals from your search. Auctions list reserves or low estimates, and pre-arrivals are often subject to tariffs these days plus potentially long waits. Since you can buy these bottles on winebid now, your winesearcher search should just consider what is in hand and available from other retailers. Many of us have learned the hard way that when a pre-arrival is cheap on winesearcher, it often gets snapped up quickly but the pre-arrival offerings can last for days since many retailers are quoting from the same set of European sellers. It is not uncommon for 5, 10 or more prearrival offerings on winesearcher to be for the same European wine/parcel of bottles.
Finally, once you are looking only at retail offerings, look for that price range- on something like a recent first growth it will be a very tight range- from a handful of major national retailers that are accustomed to shipping and who price competitively. The rough average or midpoint on that range is your reasonable comparison.
When I apply that methodology to your situation I come up with about $575 for Lafite and $500 each for the other 3. That is $2,075 plus tax and shipping which is going to be right about the $2,300 all in you are looking to have spent. Plus you got it all at once and just have to arrange shipping once- your time is valuable too.
So in my book you made a very good deal. I bought my favored first growths in 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024. 2022 is not a style that I like. 2021 I do like but I thought they were a bit expensive. Prices may come down, but when considering the current state of supply- I do not expect it. And so I am looking at doing something much like what you did- find a good and convenient way to buy a handful of bottles to allow for an eventual tasting and evaluation and have that rare knowledge that only comes from giving every vintage a chance.
Fine wine and good spirits isn’t a small store in PA., it’s the PA state store. Their clearance sale will last until all the wine is sold, 21 bdx isn’t exactly flying off the shelves, those bottles have been there for weeks.
Morrell has the 21 Lafite for 500 and 21 mouton for 450.
There are a number of stores that have 21 hb for 460-480.
21 Margaux is at Zachys for 480.
You can definitely get these wines for less than 2300 delivered.
Fair enough on how I characterized the PA store. I was not aware of the details- I was just looking at their offerings and making a call. But that does not change the fact the wines are only shipped within PA- and so unless you live there, it is a meaningless statistic for making a decision.
To carry out your precise examples- and I do not mean this to be combative but to show it really is not quite as big a difference as it appears- I went to each of the 3 sites you referenced, 2 of which I have bought from before, and went through the checkout process to confirm final numbers. The only thing I could not get without going to the final step was Zachy’s shipping cost- so I will go with the lowest options offered between the other 2 stores for the shipping options I explored.
Morrell - Lafite 500, and Mouton 450
$1,035 with tax
Ground shipping $60
2 day air $90
Zachy’s - Margaux 480 (and on sale at 16% off)
$522 with tax
Ground shipping $40 (assumed- based on Raeder’s estimate)
2nd day shipping $90 (based on Morrell estimate- same price for 1 vs 2 bottles is materially reasonable)
Raeder’s - Haut Brion 460
$501 with tax
Ground shipping $40
2nd day air $117
Assuming all 3 stores ship to your state,
With ground shipping (which I would never do with a first growth no matter the weather unless it was cold chain) $2,198.
With 2 day air shipping (which is similar risk to cold chain offered by winebid in terms of time wine being kept in the cold) $2,355
For those curious, my total price including shipping / commissions / tax was ~$2,150. I doubt its the best deal that could be had with unlimited time / energy, but good enough for my purposes.
We cross posted- assuming ground shipping of the alternative, which is higher risk than the cold chain shipping you will get- you saved $48 over the cheapest configuration buying based on lowest individual prices for wines in stock, assuming they would ship to your state.
That doesn’t make any sense assuming the final price of 1790 was accurate. With BP alone the price would be $2094.30.
I would ship anything ground in this weather unless you were actually shipping somewhere like TX or FL where it was too warm to receive. I’ve shipped magnums of la tache recently etc. in fact the only package I had any issues with lately was shipped next day air (although the wine ended up being ok.
There are also vendors like grand cru liquid assets that have the wine for slightly more but don’t charge tax, as well as coupons that would lower the price even further. I don’t think it’s the worst price in the world but I’m confident you could get the wines for a lower price.
and on whether it’s good/bad value, time and what’s in the bottle will tell.
Given the extreme focus Bordeaux gets in the wine world, it’s amazing how variable the predictions of wine writers have been over the years. Vintages and wines lauded, that proved to be immense disappointments, whilst others dismissed, which shone years down the line.
I hope in time those bottles give a lot of enjoyment.
I’m not sure why the link shows $1,790, as the price I paid was $1,690. After the premium and taxes the charge came to ~$2,100 and then it was about $40 for shipping.
That’s a pretty decent price; I don’t think you got ripped off, but it isn’t a steal per se.
Winebid pricing is usually not too bad, although there are some wines where the reserve price is above wsp low.
Recently I bought 1969 Yquem for 380 which was very good and 22 confuron rsv for 400 which is also great.
Have you seen many 2021 Bordeaux hit the live auction scene yet? I have not been looking for them- but I would imagine in a few months time some really killer deals will come along via that avenue- but more in full 6 packs than individual bottles. Even some really good 2022 burgs have been getting dumped for less than retail.
So - totally agree there are/will be other ways than current WS (which a lot of local wine shops now exclude themselves from) to get lower prices.
No but I also don’t buy Bordeaux so haven’t been looking.
It appears you rated both the Haut Brion and Margaux 97 points – is 97 points merely “good” and not in the realm of greatness?
I should read that Leve guy more often 
I forgot what I said… I am changing what I said to “Those are very good, but not great wines.”
Jeff, I pay more attention to your notes than your scores but this got my attention. What’s the lowest score you would consider appropriate for a “great” wine? Is that a one-score-fits-all or does it vary from variety to variety?
I’d like to ask the same question about the lowest score you’d give to a wine you would consider buying but then the issue of cost enters the equation, making it unanswerable. Any way I try to qualify it seems to make it only slightly less unanswerable:
by sticking to this handy flowchart, you can alleviate any angst around future purchasing decisions:
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Hey David
I do not really look at wines like that. A few answers to your questions. Scores do not vary from varietal to varietal or appellation to appellation. They can differ based on levels of maturity. Young wines should hit or come close to my projected score when mature. But young wines are about their maximum potential, They have a better chance of hitting the mark, going above the mark, or underperforming with time. But things happen. Thats the thing with young wines. Mature wines are what they are.
I never consider cost in my notes or scores. It’s what’s in the glass that counts.
FWIW, scores without notes are worthless. Notes without scores are cop outs. They should be in tandem or they lack context and value .
Thanks Jeff, appreciate the insight.
Agree with you on the importance of the marriage between notes and scores.
