I'm used to seeing wines I think are probably way over the hill in
offerings, but as someone who doesn't mind a gamble occasionally I'll
bite. But I just got an email from a respected merchant, buried in the
Burgundy section I found a couple of selections that threw me. I
understand that when buying a cellar you sometimes end up with some
marginal stuff, but the pricing on these two items blew me away:
1959 Morin, Macon 750ml, 7 @ $92
1978 Vasseur G., Chenas 750ml, 10 @ $46
A 47 yr old Macon for almost $100, or 28 yr old Beaujolais (not
Moulin-a-vent or Morgon) for close to $50. I've never heard of either
producer. Maybe these are fabled wines that I've never run across, but
I'm really curious if these really sell! I might have tried one of each
if under $10, fully expecting that they were likely to be past it, but
willing to gamble.

To clarify, I'm not thinking about buying. I'm just curious if there's
some history of long-lived wines from these producers to explain that
pricing. Usually if someone ends up with wines that should be past it
they price them at $5 or $10 just to clear out. I bought an assorted
case of '89, '91, '94, '95 white Burgundies - mostly village level with
a couple Bourgogne Blancs for $60. 2 '94s were pretty good, 1 '95 and a
couple '91s interesting. 6 down drain. I'm ok with that. No way I bet
more than $10 on a wine I think likely to be drainfodder.

DaleW wrote:
> But I just got an email from a respected merchant, buried in the
> Burgundy section I found a couple of selections that threw me. I
> understand that when buying a cellar you sometimes end up with some
> marginal stuff, but the pricing on these two items blew me away:
> 1959 Morin, Macon 750ml, 7 @ $92
> 1978 Vasseur G., Chenas 750ml, 10 @ $46
> A 47 yr old Macon for almost $100, or 28 yr old Beaujolais (not
> Moulin-a-vent or Morgon) for close to $50. I've never heard of either
> producer. Maybe these are fabled wines that I've never run across, but

You obviously read your Benchmark spam far more closely than I do.
Given their usual hyperbolic rhetoric, perhaps their pricing just
reflects that. Or, with the departure of Stefan, their buyers are no
longer as savvy as they once were. More likely, it's just P. T.
Barnum's old adage at work... ;-)

Mark Lipton

p.s. Do you think that my '85 Duboeuf BNs are ready to drink yet?

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:29:39 -0500, Mark Lipton >
wrote:

>DaleW wrote:
>> But I just got an email from a respected merchant, buried in the
>> Burgundy section I found a couple of selections that threw me. I
>> understand that when buying a cellar you sometimes end up with some
>> marginal stuff, but the pricing on these two items blew me away:
>> 1959 Morin, Macon 750ml, 7 @ $92
>> 1978 Vasseur G., Chenas 750ml, 10 @ $46
>> A 47 yr old Macon for almost $100, or 28 yr old Beaujolais (not
>> Moulin-a-vent or Morgon) for close to $50. I've never heard of either
>> producer. Maybe these are fabled wines that I've never run across, but
>
>You obviously read your Benchmark spam far more closely than I do.
>Given their usual hyperbolic rhetoric, perhaps their pricing just
>reflects that. Or, with the departure of Stefan, their buyers are no
>longer as savvy as they once were. More likely, it's just P. T.
>Barnum's old adage at work... ;-)
>
>Mark Lipton
>
>p.s. Do you think that my '85 Duboeuf BNs are ready to drink yet?

Glad I read your note before appending my comment on frequency of
nativity of lollipops.

And, Mark, I'd hold those BNs for a bit longer. Their effectiveness at
lacquer removal increases exponentially between 25 and 30 years after
vintage.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

DaleW wrote:

> I'm used to seeing wines I think are probably way over the hill in
> offerings, but as someone who doesn't mind a gamble occasionally I'll
> bite. But I just got an email from a respected merchant, buried in the
> Burgundy section I found a couple of selections that threw me. I
> understand that when buying a cellar you sometimes end up with some
> marginal stuff, but the pricing on these two items blew me away:
> 1959 Morin, Macon 750ml, 7 @ $92
> 1978 Vasseur G., Chenas 750ml, 10 @ $46


Reminds me of a story. A good number of years ago, I was in a restaurant
that was very proud of its wine list. I remember the proprietor coming to
our table because he wanted us to order a really special wine he had.

The "special" wine was a Beaujolais Villages, a good number of years old (I
can't remember how many years, but at least 15-20).

As politely as I could, it told him that it was almost certainly way over
the hill, and completely undrinkable. We ordered something else.

He didn't believe me, got offended and walked away.

15 minutes later, he came back to the table, with the bottle opened and an
empty glass for me to try it. He had opened it, tasted it, found out that I
was right, and came to apologize! He brought the glass so I could taste it
to verify that I was right.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

DaleW wrote:


> 1959 Morin, Macon 750ml, 7 @ $92
> 1978 Vasseur G., Chenas 750ml, 10 @ $46
> A 47 yr old Macon for almost $100, or 28 yr old Beaujolais (not
> Moulin-a-vent or Morgon) for close to $50. I've never heard of either
> producer. Maybe these are fabled wines that I've never run across, but
> I'm really curious if these really sell! I might have tried one of each
> if under $10, fully expecting that they were likely to be past it, but
> willing to gamble.

I did not find Morin or Vasseur mentioned in my reference books,
including one over 20 years old. Of course there are many small
producers in these regions that are not known in export markets, and
who may sell a little wine directly at their door and send the rest to
some well-known company. Such wines could range from vile to very good
in rare cases.

The prices might be closer to right if they were $92 for the lot of 7
bottles and $46 for the lot of 10 bottles :-). If a decent auction
house has wines such as this that many would question, they often will
open a bottle at a pre-auction tasting. Of course a house of good
reputation would not offer such wines at all unless they were a freak
exception that aged far better and longer than expected.