I know prices for some of the hot regions continue to rise year over year to the point that many are feeling priced out. But what about single year changes? I haven’t been in this game as long as many of you, so maybe this is more common than I think, and maybe it’s just a “cult wine + vintage” thing… But yesterday I got an offer for the highly anticipated 2010 Clos Rougeard “Bourg” for ~$279. I paid $110 last year for the '09, which was no slouch of a vintage. This 2.5x differential from 2009 was pretty much the same across the full lineup of Breze, Clos, and Poyeux too. Just couldn’t muster the desire to pull the trigger for any of them at the new pricing. Should be interesting to see what happens in the coming years, particularly with 2013 being so tough in the Loire.
So what’s the record you’ve seen for a single vintage price differential on one label from the same source?
The one I remember most vividly was Leoville Las Cases doubling from 1994 to 1995 (1994 was at roughly the 1990 price) and then again from 1995 to 1996. Futures $32->$65->$130.
I think most of these price increases are going into the importer & distributor’s pockets. With the 3 tier system…once the importer increases the price, with the distributor following suit, and then a flat % mark-up by a retailer…the wines climb in price fast.
I haven’t been in the wine game long enough to see some of the drastic Bordeaux increases firsthand, but this recent one (not that it’s news to anyone) was pretty startling. Same source, same retailer markup %.
Yup. I wonder how much of that huge increase on Rougeard, if any, is because of ex-cellar pricing. Probably not much. I suspect that the folks at Dressner are sick of everyone complaining about their small allocations and are raising prices to where the demand:supply ratio levels out a bit. I completely understand if that’s what is happening. Unfortunately, I won’t be buying.