Posted on 10/23/2020 6:54:28 AM PDT by karpov
Among the many ways the rich are different from you and me: Only they can afford grand cru Burgundy.
That wasnt always the case. In the 1990s, middle-class wine lovers could still afford to experience that rite of passage drinking a truly great wine, not simply to enjoy it, but to understand what qualities made it exceptional in the eyes of history.
It might have been a splurge, perhaps requiring a few sacrifices. But it was feasible, just as it was possible to buy first-growth Bordeaux, or the top wines of Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino or Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, to name a few other standard-bearers.
For example, back in 1994, a bottle of Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny 1991, a grand cru, retailed for $80 (the equivalent of $141 in 2020, accounting for inflation). Today, that bottle costs about $800.
In a more extreme case, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 1990, another grand cru and one of the worlds great wines, cost $285 in 1993 ($513 in 2020, accounting for inflation). Thats no small sum then or now, but profoundly curious people might have found a way.
Today, a bottle of the 2017 La Tâche goes for about $5,000, well out of reach for dedicated students of wine, except for the most wealthy.
Plenty of other options exist: Village Burgundy rather than grand cru, or any of the many other great wines now being produced around the world. But these bottles, as good as they may be, have not been part of a conversation that has endured for centuries.
For wine lovers, drinking such renowned bottles would be the equivalent of a college course in Shakespeare, Beethoven or Charlie Parker.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Later today, we will be picking up our weekly grocery order from Walmart.
I will be buying 2 bottles of Gallo Pinot Gregio for my wife and my half gallon of Carlo Rossi Sangria for about $12 total.
Eric Asimov? Not related to Issac Asimov.
Income inequality is one of the great drivers of human progress and is highly desirable in any society.
Income equality stifles ambition and innovation. If there is no reward for risk taking there will be little progress.
Are the people of cuba and venzeula all drinking great wines and smoking great cigars??? What BS...typical for leftist nitwits.
Nephew.
90 La Tache....had it, it was indeed a great wine. My buddy had cellered it and when we visited he shared.
Early 80s First Growth Bordeaux, was fortunate to have purchased quantities of them on futures (the merchant was featured in an expose on Greed a few years ago for a failure to deliver fraud in the millions). Most are really good but with anything, sometimes something goes wrong and the wine suffers over time. Purchase price was under $50 ea. Today those and recent vintages sell for over 1K
That said, the value in “collectable” wines is purely in the mind. There is scant difference between a bottle retailing for 1K verses one for 50 IMO. Price is not a final measure on the quality of a wine.
The difference in prices between then and now is one of greed both by the growers and the middle men. There is not enough supply for the demand. Many more dollars chasing a finite quantity. Kind of like Debeers creating a huge value for a stone by limiting its quantity. Diamonds are forever, at least for the payments to pay for them are.
Lastly, wine is the best liquid investment out there....if you cannot sell it, you can drink it! My advice has always been to the question of what is the best wine: it is the wine you like.
Ive taken a few friends to Lost Oak, and they were pleasantly surprised at the quality and the price. Their most expensive wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, retails at $40. The price range for their wines ranges from $20 to $35.
My palette isnt sophisticated enough to discern the difference. When it comes to Riesling, a Mosel Riesling is tough to beat.
I think this is what they call “First World Problems” or “White People Problems.” I can’t see spending $800 or $5000 on a bottle of wine, but I also can’t see spending $80 on one.
Of course, complete income equality is a utopian fantasy. Everyone is endowed with different interests, skills and ability.
Communist/statist societies are, ironically, the most unequal of all. Ive seen it first-hand. Its income inequality is hidden, and is expressed as power and control over collective resources.
“There is more great wine in the world now than there has ever been. If you can pay $50 a bottle, you can drink great wine”
I agree. There are very good Brunellos in the $30 range, for example Trambusti, Terra Nere, Talenti. There are great Bordeaux also, for example Capbern St. Estephe, which is made by Calon Segur, but not marketed as a “second wine”. Its around $31. The 2016 vintage in Bordeaux was extremely good, so the non-classified wines e.g. Clos Du Marquis (which is made by and adjacent to the property of Leoville Les Cases) are rated 94-96 Wine advocate, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, and sell for about $60. Another good one is Lagrange 2016 St. Julien, around $60 also. Burgundy is where IMHO it is difficult to get a good one for less than $60.
Scotch has shot upward. It’s now $500 for a good bottle when it was under $100.
What's the word? Thunderbird!
What's the price? Thirty twice!
I like the Bold Vine brand at Fred Meyer/QFC at $7.99 per.
Zin, Pinot, and Cab. Good value, consistent taste.
Also not bad when mixed with Diet Squirt!
An excellent selection...Personally, I distrust any beverage with a cork in its bottle.
Bordeaux? Napa Valley? Far better wine comes from Kentucky.
Dont forget the Prilosec /s
Absolutely...The only commodity that is provided on an equal basis to the hoi polloi of collectivist societies is misery.
A Louis Vuitton handbag is $3,000. People buy them to say, "You can't afford them." The day they start showing up on Amazon for $50 and people that live in single wides can afford them, the value drops to nothing, cause they aren't any more functional or valuable than a $30 bag, except as a status symbol.
It's a different level of idiocy for the NYTimes to complain that the poor to middle class can't afford status symbols, cause as soon as the poor and middle class can afford them, they're no longer status symbols.
And yeah, beyond a certain point, wine is nothing but a status symbol.
That's why he can afford to pay $90 million to running backs who always fumble the ball.
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