flyboy60

Interesting you mention Lynch Bages. I recently put much of my high priced Bordeaux from the vintages between 1982 and 1990 up for sale through a broker, and one of the first wines that completely sold out was 1989 Lynch Bages - at a price comparable to many first growths. I couldn't believe it - I sold out my Lynch Bages faster and at a significantly higher price than my Leoville Las Cases - which is in NO WAY supported by either the quality of the wine, the Parker scores, or what I paid for them back in the day. Yes, all to Chinese buyers.

ma91pmh

Yes indeed

Though I will say mature Lynch Bages has traded at a high premium long, long before the Chinese came barging in. When I first got into wine speculatively in the early 2000s I ended up buying Lynch Bages because after 10 years it priced more like a super-second than a fifth. And the 1989 is a 99+ Parker score compared to the 91 rated Las Cases (which personally I have always found overpriced versus the likes of Ducru or even Gruaud in St Julien - which happens to be my absolutely favorite wine region). Though I am surprised you got more than you did for first growths (the RP100 Haut Brion 89 looks like it trades around 4x the price of 99+ Lynch Bages)

Anyway I am sure that was a good trade for you ^

flyboy60

Actually, Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion were the exceptions. I cleared $875 a bottle on the La Mission, and $1200 on the Haut Brion. The Lynch got $375, most other first growths got in in mid-high $400s And the Leoville got only around $225.

BTW, I disagree with you about Leoville Las Cases - IMHO, it's consistently the best of the super 2nd growths (along with Ducru) - but it's also the largest production, so supply vs. demand is affected. Personal taste, I guess, but I find the Lynch Bages to be a less nuanced wine.

In 1992, I paid $22 for the Lynch, and $70 for the Haut Brion

arjunrc

I am embarrassed to post my cellar list here. Lots of rare, great and extremely expensive wines being listed here. I like drinking wine every evening and try to keep each bottle price less than $40 (with a few rare exceptions), and usually less than $30. Having said that, I've concluded I like oaky wines and usually ones that have the words 'smokey', 'leathery', 'earthy' in them and 'blueberries' listed in the fruity tastes. Like wines that are more full bodied. Cabernet, Nebbiolo and certain types on Sangiovese and Pinot Noirs are varietals I like, but I don't know enough to identify other types to hone down on what works best for me by just looking at bottles in a shop (I have tried to read up on regions/years but never manage to keep them in my mind, especially since normally avoidable wineries seem to produce classics in some years, etc. - too many things to remember). So instead, I've teamed up with the awesome Erick Urbina of Pearson's wine in Washington DC - he's been building combination cases for me once in 2 months. On my end, I catalog every wine using Vivino Pro and rate the tastes, and then let Erick know what I liked/did not like and he modifies my next combination case. So far so good.

Yep, I've not yet commented on what my top wines are, because they'd likely be your worst

ma91pmh

not at all. while the high end bordeaux stuff is fabulous, on a daily basis it's more in the $10-20 range. i find that is where you get the best bang for your buck. sure it's fun to pull out some high end stuff christmas time and new years and what-not but with my kind of habit i need quaffing material

ma91pmh

that is amazing what you paid in 92. the lynch is definitely pre-parker affect!

i guess it's down to taste, i've always found the las cases' i've tried to be too closed and inaccessible. ducru is sex on legs, and i've found gruaud always pleasant.

out of curiosity who did you sell through? i sold a bunch of 2000s last year through farr. they were talking their book down during the initial process but actually ended up getting great prices

dhammer53

You may want to take a look at www.wineberserkers.com It's like Flyertalk, but the discussion is about wine. When I say it's like Flyertalk, it means there are board personalities there too.

My motto: Read up, drink up. They (we) have offlines that are like Flyertak DOs. It's fun going to a wine themed dinner and drinking some serious juice.

Dan

flyboy60

When I bought most of those Bordeaux 20-25 years ago, I was typically paying $20-40 a bottle. It's only because of the wine boom in China that the stuff has typically gone up ten-fold in value - while inflation has probably gone up only 3x during the same timeframe. And that's why I've been selling the stuff. 99% of the stuff I actually drink is stuff I still pay under $40 a bottle, with a big slug of it being in the $15-20 range.

Quite a bit of what I actually drink nowadays is Argentine Malbecs and Chilean cabs, and Aussie Shiraz and California Zinfandels that today costs under $20. The more I've tasted, the more I've come to be comfortable with my own tastes rather than what wine-writers tell me I should like best.

BTW, the broker I've been using is OWCwines in San Diego.

mkjr

having auctioned off my last 85 sassicaia, I would think my top wine is probably a 2005 Romanee Conti Echezeaux...some SQN's and other odd california stuff, but this is probably one of the gems...

arjunrc

Interestingly, I started my adventure at this range, but I found too many misses compared to hits and gave up - when I moved to the 15-30 range, I found many good wines and lesser misses.


Great link, Dan thanks! I was looking for this sort a a forum. What is a "DO"?

Now that's a great perspective - I never thought of preserving my collection for that many years. Since you mentioned Argentina, I thought I'd mention that one of my top wines in the "under $10" category is actually the Alamos Red Blend

mkjr

beserkers is the best...having been banned by squires. I agree, I drink it all and I know what I like and know what I don't like and it does not matter what it cost. If it sucks, it sucks...

ma91pmh

Yeah I am not going to disagree with that. In the 10-15 it can be a bit hit and miss. 15-30 is a good sweet spot to be in. 30-100 puts you in a place where you can find excellent wine and everything above that is really diminishing returns (that $600 Lafite really is NOT 12 times better than the $50 Napa blend)

I do shop mostly at Total Wine and their prices are truly fantastic though, so their 10-15 is frankly more like 15-20 at your average store.

DLroads

Too bad you gave me the link few days ago... did too much reading there ^
But got good advice and insights for my NY storage problem. Final interim conclusion- once I exceed 10 cases, there are good price/terms solutions in the New York area. below that, I'd be better off storing with the current solutions (at the purchasing store, at home, or drink )

dhammer53

A Flyertalk DO is a gathering of 12 or more Flyertalkers., usually at a dinner (locally or somewhere far away). An Offline is a gathering of people that enjoy wine. Those folks are like us. Knowledgeable, but a little wacky.
Information on get togethers are in the Community forum. There's at least 1 WineDo every June in NYC. Here's the thread from this past June. This event is open to everyone. The wines we drink are more than acceptable. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...-post-brt.html

Mark Squires is not a nice person.

dh

zoonil

I love my 2008 FAUST Cabaranet Savignon!