It is widely known. As a well made red wine ages, it is more delightful to drink. The most expensive wine ever bought was a bottle of 1787 sauterne from Chateau d’Yquem for A$113 500. One would wonder whether a wine made the year before Captain Cook discovered Australia would be any good today. On face value this may not seem like a good value for money purchase, but this is not the point. If offered to hold onto the bottle, we would probably turn it down in fear of an imminent butterfingers moment. Like any collector’s item, the value of a wine is largely determined by it’s current condition & past history.
Penfolds ‘Grange’ is widely considered the benchmark by which all other Australian wines are measured. Whether you like it or not is a separate issue. ‘Grange’ commands attention based on precedence & history. At over $400 a bottle, it is not usually the bottle you open to have with Sunday lunch. It is kept as a collector’s item or drunk at a special occasion.
I met with an associate this last weekend who once owned a bottle of every Penfolds ‘Grange’ made since 1951. Realizing that he was never going to drink any of them he sold the complete set as a collector’s item for a 6 figure sum. Wine at this level is well out of reach for the majority of us. The question is then, at what stage does a wine cease to be a drink and move into the realm of a collector’s item?
The truth is you can collect any wine. If you are looking to start a collection, look for wines that will cellar well & therefore increase in value over time. Ask what other people have. At Veraison we carry some premium Australian shiraz from current vintages, right back to the early 1990’s. Peter Lehmann ‘Stonewell’, Grant Burge ‘Meshach’ & Yalumba ‘The Octavius’ are examples. These wines are robust & made to last at least 10-20 years. Most of them are drinking well now but in another 20 years they may become as sought after as the Penfolds ‘Grange’. However, the bottom line is most of us are limited by our budgets. This will largely determine what we put away as an investment & what will go into our glasses with lunch.
My selection will give a brief idea of some toys for boys available on the wine market at the moment.
Salute,
Andrew Smith
Penfolds ‘Grange’ is widely considered the benchmark by which all other Australian wines are measured. Whether you like it or not is a separate issue. ‘Grange’ commands attention based on precedence & history. At over $400 a bottle, it is not usually the bottle you open to have with Sunday lunch. It is kept as a collector’s item or drunk at a special occasion.
I met with an associate this last weekend who once owned a bottle of every Penfolds ‘Grange’ made since 1951. Realizing that he was never going to drink any of them he sold the complete set as a collector’s item for a 6 figure sum. Wine at this level is well out of reach for the majority of us. The question is then, at what stage does a wine cease to be a drink and move into the realm of a collector’s item?
The truth is you can collect any wine. If you are looking to start a collection, look for wines that will cellar well & therefore increase in value over time. Ask what other people have. At Veraison we carry some premium Australian shiraz from current vintages, right back to the early 1990’s. Peter Lehmann ‘Stonewell’, Grant Burge ‘Meshach’ & Yalumba ‘The Octavius’ are examples. These wines are robust & made to last at least 10-20 years. Most of them are drinking well now but in another 20 years they may become as sought after as the Penfolds ‘Grange’. However, the bottom line is most of us are limited by our budgets. This will largely determine what we put away as an investment & what will go into our glasses with lunch.
My selection will give a brief idea of some toys for boys available on the wine market at the moment.
Salute,
Andrew Smith
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