My point was, a screaming bargain is a screaming bargain, but only the taster can decide if the wine is actually worth what it is really supposed to cost - even if, the first time they tried it, it cost far less. In the case of the Sterling '78 reserve Cab, for me, it was. I would probably never have tried it the first time, had I not found it for 1/4 of what it was meant to cost. But even when I did, I recognized that it was great and great value at the PROPER price - and proceeded to buy much more of it at the proper price. Only someone who has had the aforementioned wines can make that determination, but the mismark price is just that - an opportunity to try it as a big bargain. But buying more of it should really only be contemplated are the price the wine properly sells for.

I also bought lots of 1989 and 1990 Classified Growth Bordeaux about 18 years ago, for ~$30-35 USD per bottle. Nowadays, they cost at least 10 times as much - I still have many that I bought for $30-35, but I don't personally feel that they are worth anything near the current prices, in terms of the enjoyment they give me, and I would not buy them at their current prices. But Supply/Demand implies that many other folks WILL buy them at those prices.

One thing that I did NOT mention, and probably should have, is that there is an erroneous Robert Parker writeup out there on the 1978 Sterling Reserve - it seems that he mistakenly believed that Ric Forman had already left Sterling at the time the 1978 Sterling was vinified, and Parker basically trashed everything Sterling had made during the few years post-Forman. But in actual fact, the 1978 Sterling was the last wine Forman made at Sterling, and it is, in fact, a fantastic wine - but it is also a fantastic wine WITHOUT a good Parker score, and a Parker writeup that suggests it might be crap (without his actually having ever tasted it). As such, it remains a screaming bargain at Auctions, despite being a genuinely spectacular wine - because it went under the radar of Robert Parker. If Parker had actually tasted any of the great bottles I have had of this wine, it would cost FAR more than it does.