1990 Montrose just passed $1,000 a bottle

Watching night 2 of Acker as we near the tail end of maybe the most extraordinary auction season I have witnessed in 25 years. The Bordeaux surge in the early 2010s was remarkable enough, but I am just in awe at what is happening now that supplies are really starting to dry up as demand continues to surge. And I wonder if this will prompt more selling in the fall to keep up, or if it will put further buying pressure on retail and push 2019 burgundy prices even higher than they already have become DURING the pre-arrival sales process.

1 case of 1990 Montrose hammering at $10,000 - or $12,400 with BP.

Last night, 3 magnums of 2009 Roumier Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses at $35,000.

And so many other examples with all the auction houses of late.

Even after all I have witnessed in a quarter century as the current wine markets developed, at this point it is almost numbing to watch. The scale of it has just gotten so far outside of everything we all thought was normal. At several points since the mid-90s, the surges were easy to explain because it was new markets, new customers, economic booms etc. But this is beyond that. And I do not see it ending anytime soon.

It is what it is, but wow. I am very glad I did a little buying this spring after selling hard into the surge last fall.

Ludicrous; a crapshoot wine, where at least half the bottles suffer from high levels of Brett. Either glorious or undrinkable.

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I have never had it myself. It was one of those things that was already expensive when I started drinking Bordeaux and the few times I have been tempted it was always just a bit more than I wanted to pay.

The good news is that I did get the 1950 and 1959 Magdelaine at a favorable number. We can now add those to the tasting this fall.

I had the 89 and the 90 side by side. The 90 was better, but I would not pay $1000.

  • 1989 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, MĂ©doc, St. Estèphe (3/31/2017)
    My last bottle. Bought on release. Side by side blind with the 1990. The 1990 was better.More stuffing, which was a bit of a surprise, but this was still outstanding. Elegant red fruit. NO BRETT! Yeah! There is alight earthy herbal component that I do not recall from prior bottles. A bit of smooth saddle leather but not much. (95 pts.)

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At least the Montrose is a great vintage. Heritage Auctions at the end of the month has 2004 Leroy Bourgogne at estimates over $1,000.00 per bottle. Are you kidding me? Declassified juice from a problematic year for over a grand+. That is pure madness. I do think we have to be approaching jump the shark territory. But everytime I think this, the prices just go higher.

Fortunately OR unfortunately, as YOUR case may be, YOU haven’t seen anything yet!!!

Way more winos born/converted every year, and, the vineyards seem to be shrinking!!!

Example:

The latest auction sale of 1989 La Mission Haut Brion at Sotheby’s, $27,500!

  1. Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1989 (12 BT)

Estimate:

$10,000 - $15,000 USD

LOT SOLD:

$27,500 USD

Bidding is closed


Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1989 (1 MAG)
Bidding is closed

Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1989 (1 IMP)
43. Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1989 (1 IMP)

Estimate:

$7,500 - $11,000 USD

LOT SOLD:

$27,500 USD

HTTPS://WWW.SOTHEBYS.COM/EN/BUY/AUCTION/2021/THE-DRC-MAGNUM-COLLECTION-FINEST-WINES?LOCALE=EN

Gotta see what Cajun Man has to say about this

"IN-FLA-TION"

Paging Nathan Smyth…

Time to create some new 1989s and 90s, eh?

Crazy… Montrose 1990 trades at around 600dollars here… from reliable sources (all taxes included).

Its a bit different, but at least some what similar to how people keep saying the house bubble will pop.

I can actually see more arguments for the latter - people need a place to live… but wines arent commodities. It’s inevitable that older wines will continue to appreciate

Some people have too much money.

I’ve been following the 90 Montrose for a while now, it regularly goes in the mid to low 500s (before buyers premium) in K&L and WineBid auctions, so 1-3 bottle lots. At an HDH auction a couple months ago I saw a case go for over $1,000 a bottle after a bidding war erupted between two people. So I guess there are some people who will pay a premium to get an entire case.

Smart money, dumb money and wine investment fund monies. In my eyes, it is the investing in wine as an asset people that are to blame for the current craziness we are now witnessing in the fine wine markets.

Have had the wine twice, and as you say it’s 50/50. One was perfect and the other you could smell the Brett across the street.

I glanced in at the first day of the auction and the prices for over-the-hill champagnes from the 1970s were nuts, like $1000 a bottle or more for individual bottles that from the descriptions seemed kind of beat up.

Perhaps a product, at least in part, of the ever-widening gap between the Haves and the Have Nots.

It baffles me how Acker continues to rake in millions and millions of dollar even after their recent bourbon fiasco.

I just took a skim on free level WS for Leroy Bourgogne to follow up on this out of curiosity (not purchasing interest) is it really running $200/btl for regular vintages?! I don’t have WS Pro

I feel lucky to have had 90 Montrose a lot when I was younger - it was popular on BWE - even though I liked 89 better.

Yes sir, Leroy Bourgogne is $200 a pop. This is simply people buying a label. I can get fantastic 1er Guyon juice from Vosne for less. I hope people enjoy that drink. Hudelot Noellat Bourgogne current offering is still somewhat less than $40 a bottle. Would much rather go that route.