The critic vs anti-critic debate ad nauseum often neglects the simple monetary issue of buying test bottles in advance of possible larger purchases of the same wines. And considering that at a higher level of quality and/or price, the most one can hope for by consuming the wine at such an early time is an indication of potentiality, are you willing to lay out significant money to explore trial bottles? So, do you buy $100+ test bottles? And if you do, how often?
I have bought wines $100 and above without tasting the specific vintage but have nearly always tasted said wine in other vintages, or enjoyed other bottlings from the producer.
When I have been asked to spring $100 or more to “taste” the wine without personal experience with either the wine or producer I have declined. I have declined even when friends have recommended the wine or producer to me, and I trust my friends quite a bit more that any professional critic.
Frequently (at least when I buy >$100 bottles).
Local tastings suck so I depend on notes from trusted tasters here and trusted retailers/wineries.
I have stumbled into some great wines this way and have rarely been disappointed.
Also what Glenn said in his first statement.
I rarely buy wines in the $100+ range, as a test or for any other reason
I those rare instances when I have, it is almost always a producer I know in a vintage I don’t.
What Glen and Neal said. Producer/wine maker I’ve never had? Not buying no matter who recommends it, even close friends.
Except for one or two possible cases, I won’t even buy from a wine maker I know who is new to a particular region.
And as Neal points out, $100 is a lot to spend on a bottle when there’s so much good wine around for much less.
So, let’s say you are perusing at your local wine store, and you see both the 07 and 08 vintages of Le Pergole Torte. You seem to remember people on wine forums speaking very favorably about this wine, and you know that 2007 was a very good year in Tuscany. You buying one, both, or neither?
I waited until this hit page 2 (which is essentially the ether around here) before adding any commentary. I don’t know whether or not it’s just that not many people posting here acquire $100+ bottles of wine, (I don’t buy many myself) or something else. The reason that I chose that price point is that unfortunately, it increasingly seems to be what is necessary to acquire collectible, long term, age worthy wine. But the price per bottle is not really the issue, until someone (as well intentioned as they may be) cavalierly suggest, “why don’t you try one for yourself”? The point of the thread is that everyone interested in wine has limitations when it comes to exposure and resources. It’s easy for the anti-critic, trust your own palate zealots to proselytize their theoretical idealism, but the real world of acquiring a well planned collection (especially for those just starting) takes information from many different sources. Some of those sources will prove to be reliable and some not. Mistakes, although to some degree inevitable, are costly and waste of time and space. Those who are adamant about self-reliance, should occasionally think back to their formative years with their involvement with wine.
Buying 2007 no doubt. Much better vintage. I preach producer over vintage all the time, and I’m certain that 2008 LpT will be excellent. I’m sure it would exhibit similar profiles to some of the other 2008 Brunello I’ve tried. LpT is always great, but in 2007, it’s just likely to be much better than the “lesser” vintage.
That said, I almost never buy $100 bottles of wine. I splurged on 2009 Sassicaia and came close with 2008 Monprivato, but I didn’t need to try them “blind” in order to do so. At that price, I’m buying what is going to be a sure thing - to my palate.
There’s a whole lot of new wine selling out quickly at the $100 price point. Cirq, Horsepower and coming up Boars View. They are from known winemakers/producers but still new labels. All of the above sold out in minutes, (I’m assuming Boars View will).
I passed on Cirq, bought Horsepower as I tasted the Grenache while in W2 in April, and don’t know from Boar’s View. Life does more than mimic art in this case!
$100 is a lot for me to spend on a bottle but, at least for me, the reality is that I rarely would have had a chance to taste a wine in this price range before buying. Sometimes I have the chance to taste a ‘lesser’ bottle from the producer but not always. Thus, of the $100+ cost bottles in my cellar, I’ve tasted another vintage or another wine of about 30% of them. The rest are best guess acquisitions from the information available to me (this forum, critics, etc.). However, I’m not sure I’d classify any of these as ‘test’ bottles. I just don’t buy enough bottles in this price range. Regardless of whether I’ve bought one, two, or three of these, I’m going to hold off until I think the bottle(s) are at least at the beginning of their drinking window (for my palate).
For me the price is key…but so is history. If I’ve tasted wines from this producer in the past and think of them as quality wines that “I can’t live without” then I’m going to jump. That’s what lead to my getting on the Scarecrow list…and the price is what drove me off the list after I had a chance to taste the wines. While they’re great wines…they’re not worth the price they’re commanding given the rare times that I crave California Cabernet based wines. It also largely depends on the balance of my cellar. I really love Champagne…and about a year or so ago, I hardly had any of it in my cellar. So I adjusted my buying and to secure some of the last 96’s from key producers I paid far more than I would have had to if I had bought them just 1-2 years ago…but I’m glad to have them in my cellar (or on the way). When looking at your original question the only wines that fall into that category for me would be some of the super-high end Italian & French wines…as I’m just not that drawn to California and I know the producers I love in Oregon & Washington…and for me those producers make enough for me to be happy and not seek wines elsewhere from within those regions. Back to France…do I trust my friends enough to blindly buy producers like Jamet, Allemand, and other producers…yes. Do I trust publications like WA, WS, and so forth…no.
I bought blindly in 2010 Burgs from a lot of producers that I had never tasted before…and for now, I’m happy with those purchases. Time will tell. Yet, I don’t believe that you have to spend $100+ on bottles of wine that will age well. There are far too many wines out there that are in the $50 range (+/- $20) that are VERY age-worthy. Beaujolais ages well in the 15-20 year range with the better producers, Musar ages, German Rieslings, Lopez de Heridia, and the list goes on for producers that have wines that age well and aren’t north of $100…so if I’m going to try a new producer that’s the range where I’m trying wines I haven’t had from producers I don’t know.
I only bought a couple bottles over $100 in the past year, one was a Jamet and one was Ch. d’Yquem. In neither case had I tasted that particular vintage from that producer before, and in neither case did I intend to taste it to see if I wanted to buy more. Not much data for me in this range.
The producer + vintage criteria really applies across all price points, but it’s a lot more common to get a chance to taste wines in the $30-$60 range before buying.
Sure, on a semi-regular basis. The stuff I most like to drink, is aged Bordeaux. So if I find some, say, 1982 Figeac available, yeah, I’d spring for a few bottles. It’s not as if I can pull the stuff out of my cellar - I was 2 years old in 1982 
But I’ve had Figeac before, and like it, so yes, I got a couple bottles. I’ll also buy based on vintage - one of my friends in the business strongly recommended a few producers in 2010, so I took a punt on it. I might be disappointed, but so far his recommendations have been pretty good.
Of course, this is all relative; $100 is an entirely arbitrary number. Once that would have been a massive sum of money for me. Now? Not so much. It reminds me of Roman Abramovich once spending 50K at Nello for lunch, because had 4 bottles of Petrus. On one hand, that seems an enormous waste (I’d assume - I’ve never had any Petrus). On the other hand, given the amount of money he has, if he feels like spending 50K for Petrus, he won’t notice it in his bottom line. And he gets to drink Petrus, which I assume he likes.
Another perspective on the OP is whether you need to buy the bottle and give it a test spin by yourself, or if you’re willing (and able) to share the bottle and test spin with others. If circumstances are that you can taste it before it flies off the shelves, and if you’re able to get at least 2-3 other people to split the test bottle with you, it makes the calculus a bit different.
Bruce
I very much disagree with this premise.
Can you elaborate?
As I said above, I rarely pay as much as $100 for a bottle of wine. When wines I love get to (or close to) that price point, I move on. And yet, I have a cellar full or long term age worthy wines.
Now, I am not sure I understand the term “collectible.” I don’t buy mailing list wines at all, or domestic wines, and I am rarely chasing the “it” wines. So I don’t know how that term modifies the universe of wines you are referring to
If I remember correctly, Neal, your preferences lean towards Bordeaux and Champagne. In fact, it would seem quite a few of your more recent Champagne purchases mentioned here hovered at the $100 price point. I would imagine a large share of your age worthy wines were purchased at a time when prices for classified growth Bordeaux and Champagne were not what they are today. What reasonably priced, age worthy wines are you presently buying?
Recently I’ve been buying lots of already-aged Riojas that will probably outlive me for less than $50. I bought Tignanello and Flaccianello for ~$50-70. I bought 18 different 2010 highly regarded bdx that will outlive me, and only 1 was over $100 (Ducru Beau) and most were between $35 and $65. I bought a fair amount of 2002 and 2004 Champagne – Pol Roger, Vilmart, Lallement, Duval Leroy etc – all less than $75, and much of it ~$50. The Agrapart 7 Crus is a sensational value at @35. The Bollinger GA has been ~$89, and the Taittingers Comtes of course has been more (about $125)
That’s what comes to mind anyway