2002 La Tache: Sell now or later?/update: I may have messed up

I bought this on release for a future anniversary wine. It has got to a price point where I am probably looking to sell.

Background: My wife and I were at an anniversary dinner, and I started to talk to the somm about 2002 wines. La Tache was discussed and he offered $1.8K for the bottle. My wife was shocked.

We have lots of special 2002s for future anniversaries. Wife thinks it would be special to sell and fund an anniversary. I don’t think she would fully appreciate the wine at going rate prices.

So sell now or later, and if later, when?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

$1.8 seems quite cheap… i can offer $2.

Oops. Forgot the “K”.

You own it, have it.
I would drink it.
If your wife does not appreciate it, share it with your friends.
Enjoy…

friends…or girl friend

Out of curiosity, how much did you buy the 02 La Tache on release?

I think this depends on how much money you make and what is a dollar-cost to you?
For me, I would sell it, and finance a nice trip. If you make $120k+ a year, perhaps money is not so important and the wine not so precious to drink.

Paid $725.

The sell/keep calculus is dependent entirely on whether you think you and your wife will get real pleasure from drinking it. If your wife thinks selling is the best path and you don’t, you setting up a tremendous expectation about the bottle when it is opened. It will have to be a religious experience for her to say in retrospect that keeping the bottle made sense. I am not sure I would want to set up that dynamic.

As for whether to sell now, I would think that depends on your finances. Since they put Rudy out of business, they aren’t making any more 2002 La Tache. So it will almost necessarily be worth more as the number of bottles diminishes. If you don’t need the money now, I’d wait.

In Quebec, Canada LT 2002 was released at CAD $ 595 (directly from the importer or SAQ ).

• 1…

2002 LT is from one of the top vintages : 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005…etc…etc…

Wine-Searcher shows the average price at $ 2721 ( and 2001 at $2481).

There are typically two schools of thought on wines that have escalated drastically in price:

1. You bought it to drink it, so the only relevant consideration is what you paid. Current value is someone else’s issue, life is short, enjoy it.

2. The value of the bottle vastly exceeds the enjoyment you will get out of it, so it makes more sense to sell it (probably at auction) and use the $$ for other wine, or a vacation, or…

Since you bought it specifically for an anniversary, ask your wife how she feels. If she would rather have the $$ and go on a nice anniversary trip, that’s the right answer.

If you do keep it, keep it buried in the cellar for much longer. I don’t think the 02 La Tache is showing a fraction of its potential at this still rather early stage. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Bruce

Thanks all. I would prefer to keep and drink for a special anniversary, but wife prefers otherwise.

So going with the “Happy wife, happy life” mantra, I will sell at some point.

I guess the crux of my question is whether people think there is a lot more upside to the price based on amount of time I will still need to hold it for.

More context, I would not hold for longer than 10 years before selling.

There is certainly price upside to this bottle in the next 5-10 years barring economic collapse.

Hey Tom - I suggest that you check-out Wine Market Journal. You can take a look at a limited number wines with a free account. The WMJ tracks all major auction houses - live and online - and also provides a few indices that might help you with this. The WMJ also provides custom data to several of the major auction houses to help them give estimates for perspective buyers.

Full Disclosure - Benchmark and WMJ are affiliated companies, with the same owner: Dave Parker. It’s why we have the best data in the business…

Only one bottle? Drink it. Multiple bottles? Sell most.

But if it’s only one bottle it sure will sting if it’s corked or otherwise affected.

The question isn’t whether it will go up in value but whether it will go up in value at a faster rate than an equivalent amount of cash you parked in a mutual fund or other productive investment. Of course there is no way to predict such things, but I’m inclined to doubt it. Very few wines do. DRC over the previous decade was one of them and went up in price astronomically–but how much more astronomical can it go from here? In your shoes I would sell (but hold out for more than $1800).

It’s easy for me to say because I would sell it. But if you are a La Tache buyer, even when it was “merely” $750 a bottle, you probably should just drink the wine and still go on a nice vacation.

Excellent. I’ll give you thirty-seven fifty

On the question, tough call. We’ve been having this discussion on my cache of Allemand, and Lori is 100% sell. I’m thinking, the only way I can’t afford to drink the wine anymore is if I sell. So I say drink.

If it’s a question worth discussion (esp w a spouse), I lean toward sell. That’s a sweet pile of money that would go a long ways.