Basic question on cellaring wine
 

Hi there. I have a basic question on cellaring wine, or rather on its
appreciation in value when cellared. How much does a good bottle of
wine gain in value when it's aged?

For example, let's suppose I'm in the wine store and see a nice
Bordeaux, vintage 1995, and for argument's sake let's also say it's both
peaking and selling for $80. Had I bought that wine back in, oh, 1997,
what would it likely have cost?

Any other guidelines/rules of thumb/etc. welcome.

Thanks.

- Sean

Basic question on cellaring wine
 

SeanR wrote:
> Hi there. I have a basic question on cellaring wine, or rather on its
> appreciation in value when cellared. How much does a good bottle of
> wine gain in value when it's aged?
>
> For example, let's suppose I'm in the wine store and see a nice
> Bordeaux, vintage 1995, and for argument's sake let's also say it's both
> peaking and selling for $80. Had I bought that wine back in, oh, 1997,
> what would it likely have cost?

Unfortunately, there's no set answer, Sean. The increase in prices that
many fine wines (esp. Bordeaux) have experienced over the past 20+ years
have far outstripped inflation and currrency exchange rates. However,
the price increases differ from wine to wine. In your example, one
would really have to know which Bordeaux it is and where it is. Some
wine merchants don't change their prices much, even as their wine gets
older (and sometimes don't store it very well, either); others track the
price increases carefully. Since much of the price increases of older
wines are market-driven by the "secondary" (i.e., auction) market, it'll
come down to the old question of supply and demand. If you're
interested in specific wines from a specific time, you might think about
looking for older editions of a book like Robert Parker's Buying Guide
that would list prices at release for wines of that era.

Alternatively, if it's just a few wines, post them here and folks like
me that have back issues of various wine magazines can probably track
down the original sellting price.

Mark Lipton

Basic question on cellaring wine
 

I agree with everything Mark said, much as it pains me to say it. :)

Your $80 wine could be anything. I regularly see winestores selling
crap for big $$$ because it's 10+ years old ( I saw a '96 Lalande de
Pomerol from a no name producer for $48 last month). Alternately, it
could be a great bargain. If it IS market value, there still is no way
to extrapolate what it costs. Some '95s have doubled in valued, others
gone up fourfold. Today you'd probably find Leoville Poyferre and
Pichon Baron at about that, my vague memory is that they probably were
$25-30 on futures in '97 (release would have been '98). A few would
have done better, many more would have appreciated less.

If you're trying to extrapolate wine appreciation (in market sense),
it's even harder than individual wines. I'd guess very few '97 Bdx are
trading for much more than the release prices. Wine is NOT a safe
investment (especially in times of very weak dollar).

Plus, all these values are dependent on good (provable) storage.
Besides opportunity cost, there are real costs in cellaring wine.

Basic question on cellaring wine
 

First, do you know if you like properly aged Bordeaux? If you do the answer
is easy.

Nice Bordeaux really needs a few years in the cellar. Therefore what you
give up by not cellaring is the availability of a wine you might think you
would enjoy.

I do find many times I am dissapointed with the result of aging and my
conditions for cellaring are perfect.

That said the 1995 Prieure Lichine that I bought to much of was from Parkers
3rd edition I think and he had a high rating from barrel. I won't fall for
that one again.

Yes, there is risk involved. That said my case if PL mentioned about was
like $18 bottle. The 1995 Pontet Canet was worth it. So was the Chateau
Margaux.

I would not pay present value for any of the top classified growth of recent
vintages. So my buying from some 1980's and mid 90's really set me up for
the future of fine wine. Like buying in the stock market. Timing is
critical.

Back to your quesiton...what makes it worth more? From investment others
have really answered that. Real question is what would it be worth to you
to store, nurture, caretake some bottles for many years.

For me: Priceless.





"SeanR" > wrote in message
. ..
> Hi there. I have a basic question on cellaring wine, or rather on its
> appreciation in value when cellared. How much does a good bottle of wine
> gain in value when it's aged?
>
> For example, let's suppose I'm in the wine store and see a nice Bordeaux,
> vintage 1995, and for argument's sake let's also say it's both peaking and
> selling for $80. Had I bought that wine back in, oh, 1997, what would it
> likely have cost?
>
> Any other guidelines/rules of thumb/etc. welcome.
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Sean

Basic question on cellaring wine
 

I have a bunch of 89's and 90's firsts and seconds.
I bought them within a year of release at favorable prices.
I do not think they have held with inflation. Seconds back then were
about $30 if blessed by RP, and firsts were about $100.

'70 was a halfway decent year, and firsts were about $18, while
seconds down were $5 or 6.

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 20:57:02 -0500, SeanR > wrote:

>Hi there. I have a basic question on cellaring wine, or rather on its
>appreciation in value when cellared. How much does a good bottle of
>wine gain in value when it's aged?
>
>For example, let's suppose I'm in the wine store and see a nice
>Bordeaux, vintage 1995, and for argument's sake let's also say it's both
>peaking and selling for $80. Had I bought that wine back in, oh, 1997,
>what would it likely have cost?
>
>Any other guidelines/rules of thumb/etc. welcome.
>
>Thanks.
>
>- Sean

Basic question on cellaring wine
 

Thanks, all, for the helpful replies.