How Much is Too Much?
The question- how much is too much?- does not necessarily mean how much you should have or not have to drink. It really refers to how much of your hard earned cash you are willing to spend for a bottle of wine. Would you buy a bottle of wine at an auction? If it’s being auctioned off, the digits must be up there. Some people would not entertain the thought of buying a $200 bottle of Dom Perignon, let alone anything in the thousands.
You read right. Thousands. Let’s start out a little smaller than that, though. For instance, a 1996 Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac is worth the $290 price tag. In the 18th century, Lafite wine was used as a tonic by a French politician who liked it so much that he offered some bottles to King Louis XV. Thus, it was dubbed “the King’s wine.” It is remarkably dark, and the aromas are reminiscent of mint and black currant.
As long as we’re on the subject, how about a 1928 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild currently in the auction circuit reserved at $2000? You must understand that this exquisite wine has the original cork and is in the original hand-blown bottle. The seller of this particular bottle describes it as having “a bouquet that hand delivers a wonderful palate with mature herby fruits and a touch of walnut. Visually, the wine illustrates a refracted garnet core, running towards a light brick/tawny rim. The flesh of the wine is medium/light bodied. Well-knit sweet red fruits, cigar box, cured tobacco leaves, and well loved saddle leather dominate the mid palate. It’s very gentle on the finish with notes of banana skin. This is all elegance and subtlety rather than power. A sublime wine that though drinking beautifully now is still vivacious and seemingly tireless enough that another half century could be anticipated. Exquisite. It is simply a beautiful wine to behold, from a legendary vintage.”
So are you convinced to open your pocket book? Keep in mind, that is the auction price not what it would sell for in the open market.
While you’re contemplating writing a check for that one, let’s talk about another Lafitte. This bottle was a Bordeaux, a 1787 Chateau Lafite. It sold for an astronomical $160,000 in 1985. No, there aren’t one too many zeros. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is still the world’s most expensive bottle of wine today. Wine is usually only good for about 50-100 years, more or less, before it turns to vinegar. So who would pay this amount of money for a bottle of vinegar they cannot drink regardless of how pretty the bottle is? If you were a collector and the initials Th.J. were etched in the glass you might think about it. This bottle was part of the private collection of our third president, Thomas Jefferson, who was also an avid oenophile. Jefferson spent much time in France and visited the vineyards of Bordeaux and Burgundy buying wine for his friends and his collection. Also in the Jefferson collection is a 1775 Sherry valued at $43,500 and the most expensive wine ever sold, a 1787 Chateau d’Yquem at $56,588. You can consider these more memorabilia like old stamps now than wine since none are suitable to drink.
Have you started writing that check yet? There comes a time when price is just too high. For instance, in 1989, there was a wine merchant who had a bottle of Chateau Margaux 1787, also with Jefferson’s initials, on consignment with the owner. He was asking $500,000 just for the heck of it. He had no cash offers, (wonder why?) but he brought it to a Chateau Margaux dinner at the Four Seasons Restaurant probably knowing he would not get an offer even close to that amount, but it generated a lot of publicity. He was getting ready to leave when a waiter carrying a coffee tray bumped the bottle and broke it. Luckily, it was insured and the insurance company paid $225,000 for the broken bottle. The merchant and the owner shared the payout. No one knows what happened to the waiter. Moral of that story is to remember to insure your valuables, especially collectibles. You could get top dollar without even trying.
When you’re talking about eye-popping prices like these, it’s the scarcity that drives up the value. The world has developed a thirst for antiques and collectibles, and wine is no different when it comes to collectibles.
So how much is too much? It depends if you plan to drink it or dust it. You decide.
© Copyright 2010 Connections Magazine
