+1 and they are few and far between. Gotta keep it all in perspective.
Started somewhere around the $50, then hit $100, and now tops is 165 but it’s a rare treat for me. I’ve not purchased with the intent to invest or sell, but I would now definitely trade around my inventory to find something special.
I will say, my time here as a WB has exposed me to a great cross section of wines; some push those $ limits
I’ve tried to hold the line at $150 for new releases, but I would have said $100 two years ago. I think of myself as a rational person, but even the limited self reflection I’ve allowed myself while reading this thread leads to think that I’m in part motivated by the idea that my favorite wines (especially barolo) will just keep going up in price much faster than inflation, so I should buy as much as I can now – even though it’s not clear when I’m actually prepared to get off the elevator.
I’ve paid ~$300 for some well-aged wines and will probably spend up to around $500 going forward for special bottles. My wife was born in 1978, so I have a great excuse to spend money outside of our ordinary wine budget on 1978 barolo. Best money I’ve spent on wine I’d say was $250 last year for a 1978 Cavalotto Riserva Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe.
At this point in my life, I won’t spend more than $100 on a bottle. At a restaurant, in the right circumstances, it’s probably $250, but those would have to be some really right circumstances.
It depends on what the wine is, what the price is, and what it would sell for at retail. I bought a 2000 Leflaive Montrachet at a restaurant in France for 690 Euros ($1000 US) but it would sell for at least four times that IF you could find it. I’never even seen one bottle.
I also recently bought a 2005 Rousseau Chambertin off a list in Paris for 500 Euros ($750 US) that would sell for around $1500. It is way too young, but at that price I had to try it.
But I won’t pay $150 for something that is available at a wine store for $30.
$75 at home
$125 at a restaurant
Chris Ringland
New release, or something unavailable otherwise?
I have spent close to $1000 for a new release of a 19th C Madeira recently bottled from demijohn. Only a few dozen bottles available worldwide.
At home $100. Dinner/special occasion/vacation $150.
I’ve certainly spent some bills buying first growths retail, but candidly, I am much more comfortable with $150-$200 being my very top-end. I will spend that on fine Bordeaux, Rougeard and some other obscure things. Passed on Allemand at $125, which was a mistake. I have to say, however, the risk of disappointment at those price points can be high. I just popped a 2003 Haut Brion, say cost of $400, that was a decent wine but disappointing at that price. I’m much happier buying sure-shot winners in the under $75 camp. And there is a plethora of fantastic wine to be had at the price point, at least for the stuff I love. I drink everything I buy. I do not buy anything for investment or to sell.
I don’t buy wine that I don’t plan on drinking. I’m on most of the upper end California mailing lists, and actually drink the wines. For anything that doesn’t require a mailing list, I tend to buy only in strong vintages and sit out the weaker ones.
I have also started to become very selective on my mailing list purchases, and have been culling wineries from the active list.
+1, on the concept. Wish I’d seen a good vintage bottle of Leflaive ‘Monty’ on a wine list for $1k, that cork would pop. Never seen a bottle.
I paid ~ £120 for a Penfolds 1991 Grange and will drink it.
Apart from that ~ £60 is the highest I’ve paid, though I’d happily pay ~ £70 for birth year port.
Not sure I have a strict number - Probably graded along a floating curve along the lines of Jerry.
I have only a VERY few bottles in my cellar that since buying, have ascended in value that I would have to consider whether or not to drink, sell or trade.
My number is a lot higher at home or at a friend’s, than at a resto. I loathe restaurant mark-ups.
I think long and hard on any bottle above $250 even though I do buy above that price point. Above $250 very few drinking experiences justify the dollar value. I know this, but those are bottles I’m buying for special reasons (sentimental value, special vintages, collector bug, hoarder, investment, bragging rights)
The most I have spent was app. $225 which was IMO a good deal on some 1999 Soldera Case Basse.
I almost bid much more than that on some Trimbach Hors Choix but had some unexpected expenses at the time and decided against it.
I only buy wine I plan to drink. My max so far is $150 for a 750ml and I don’t think I will go over that unless it is a very special occasion. Bottles over $100 only make up 1% of my cellar and I am fine with that. I see a point of diminishing returns above that. All of the wines over $100 were bought from wineries we tasted at and a lot of it was about the experience. And all of the wineries were ones we had bought from before so it was not a situation of thinking it was better than it was because we were in the tasting room.
I don’t spend more than $50 a bottle, and most of my purchases are well below that.
Couple of kids, tight budgets and all that.
That said, while I’m priced out of Burgundy and don’t know the finer Bordeaux, Champagne, Barolo, Napa Cab, etc., I can still get the best of the Loire, Beaujolais, Oregon, Washington and top offerings from producers like Bedrock and Carlisle, etc etc.
I have way too much delicious wine despite sitting in the cheap seats and I’m totally comfortable not knowing what I don’t know right now.
Only in my mid-30s, though. Catch me a decade from now when I’m squandering my retirement on Burgundy.
Simple answer: way too much.
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I would never buy a bottle that I don’t intend to drink
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the answer is: “It depends”
A) for a normal bottle to store in my cellar, my ceiling has been $250. But this is extremely rare. Mostly I don’t like to go over $150, and that is still at a dead max. Probably $150 for Cabs, $70 for Syrahs, I don’t want to think about Pinots.
B) it’s someone else mentioned, if I was to com across a tremendous deal I would definitely spend more. '82 first growth properly stored for $500? Sure, I’ll pull the trigger on that. But this is really mostly a pipe dream.