We all know that prices are getting silly but $33,000 for a magnum of 2011 DRC
The price of a nice family car for one bottle of a great wine but in a crappy vintage, how in the hell can anyone justify a years salary for a lot of people on a bottle like this that is probably a 92 or less ( OK haters feel free ) it just seems like there is no end to how much money rich people have to burn.
I think im being extravagant when i buy a $150 Napa cab and while not being rich im lucky enough like most berserkers to be in the top 10% of income, so how do they blow what for me is 3-4 years budget on one bottle, thats real f*ck you money right there
Not nearly as stupid as $500k – the price of a really nice house in Houston, or a fifth floor walk up efficiency off an alley with a Murphy bed in Williamsburg – for a 6L of Screaming Eagle.
“Shaq is rich, but the white man who signs his check is wealthy. Oprah is rich, but Bill Gates is wealthy. If Bill Gates suddenly woke up with Oprah’s money, he’d slit his throat."
It would be silly (actually downright insane) for me but there are a lot of people for whom that amount of money simply doesn’t make any difference. And I’m not about to say they shouldn’t spend it on that wine because that would open me up to complaints about my spending $100 on a bottle of Champagne.
Most newly created wealth goes to the very top of the income range. It has been a trend for years now. As long as it continues, collectables like wine, watches and classic cars will do really well. I hate that I can’t afford to drink the burgundy that I did even 5 years ago, but I don’t see the market going down in the near term. It really is nuts.
What is crazier in respect to the HDH auction in general is the amount of lots that went way over retail pricing. The people bidding don’t seem to care about checking wine-searcher.
Definitely a weird phenomenon, especially for widely distributed wines like Krug and Dom P.
The atmospheric pricing on Burgundy is what it is. Small production prestige products are going to surge in price when demand outstrips supply … here we are. Buy as much Piedmont as you can before Cavallotto goes the way of Mugneret-Gibourg (to take two semi-random domaines that I like).
Several factors including quantities available, one stop shopping and provenance. Many of the DP’s which were consigned directly are not available anywhere.
If somebody wants two cases of a particular 30 year old wine they don’t want to get a bottle or two from 15 retailers in x number of states to save a few dollars.
We all know that prices are getting silly but $150 for a Napa cab?
The price of a week’s groceries for one bottle of wine? How in the hell can anyone justify a whole day’s salary for a lot of people on a bottle like this that is probably an over oaked Parkerized fruit bomb (OK haters feel free ) it just seems like there is no end to how much money rich people have to burn.
I think I’m being extravagant when I buy a $10 Trader Joe’s upper shelf wine in a bottle that has a cork and, while not being rich, I’m lucky enough like most Berserkers to be in the top 90% of income, so how do they blow what for me is more than my case budget on one bottle, that’s real f*ck you money right there.
Totally agree. He made a substantial donation to charity and received a nice bottle of wine for it. Characterizing it as paying $500,000 for a bottle of wine is inaccurate, IMO.
I think the above scenarios are perfectly reasonable. It’s the 6-pack of '05 Dom Rose or '02 Krug that cause me to raise my eyebrows. But as you say, for some the one-stop shopping convenience is worth the premium.
I don’t travel to NY auctions so have nothing really to make a comparison with, but I have gone to very many HDH auctions since they started them, and it has always been the case that whatever the state of the market at that point, people were willing to pay more than they would have had to for the wine. I think the firm has been brilliant in the way it has cultivated and maintained relations with an international clientele, without ever seeming phony, to the point that you have to keep yourself from bidding just to please the auctioneer who has done you some favor in the past.
On another point, where do these recent vintages of DRC wines in auctions come from? I know someone who is invited to an annual event where an inner circle is given the opportunity to buy mixed cases, but he tells me people would be stricken from the list if they ever put the bottles on the market – which can apparently be traced with some kind of technology.
I drink $300 bottles of wine (on a special occasion here and there) and sometimes think to myself that I am lucky to be in this position. Then someone drinks a $33,000 bottle and I think damn, get off your lazy arse and do something so you can buy wine like that!! However people want to spend their money is none of my concern so to each their own. On another note, I have a friend that lfoves wine but if it is over $20 she is not interested in buying it as that is just too much damn money for some wine that gets you drunk the same at $7 or $700. It’s all relative I guess!! haha
David,
no not really true, You might have some issue if you listed your wine with images that show the serial number shortly after receiving your allocation but 2011 was released 5 years ago
The lucky folk in the USA with access to the Wilson Daniels “friends and family” pricing lose that privilege if they are found to have sold any within 5 years.
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