Anders wrote on Sat, 25 Feb 2006 09:56:16 +0100:


AT> "Ed Jay" > skrev i melding
AT> ...
??>> Ian Hoare scribed:
??>>
??>> I can't remember drinking the '59 Moutton. What I do
??>> remember is falling in love with the Lafite and buying it
??>> every time I was able to. And, I remember paying the
??>> outrageous price of...$71/btl. --
AT> 71$? USD? That must have been a late price (in the late
AT> 70'ies?) I have a copy of a Norwegian list from 1965,
AT> unfortunately without the Lafite, but including such items
AT> as Ch. d'Yquem 1960 at 7USD and Ch. Rieussec 1959 at
AT> 3.75USD. Alcohol was, and is, heavily taxed in Norway, so
AT> deduct about 30% to get international prices...

The price ratio for fine to acceptable wine is very interesting.
However, I thought it might be interesting to quote a few US CPI
figures:
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt

1913: 1.00, 1920: 2.02, 1930: 1.69, 1940: 1.41, 1950: 2.43,
1960: 2.99

1970: 3.92, 1980: 8.32, 1990: 13.20, 2000: 17.39, 2005: 19.88.

On a basis of the 1965 CPI (3.18), the 1960 Chateau d'Yquem
would be 43.76 in present USD: quite a bargain if you accept the
stratospheric prices that people will pay!



James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland.