Not ‘CCP,’ more like ‘money doesn’t buy someone a palate.’
Theses are name shoppers, basically.
An internet’s worth of crashed exotics with 35 miles on the odometer shows us wealth doesn’t by driving ability, either.
Like I said, free market and freedom to disdain the clientele.
I think a lot of wine today is being put aside for financial investment and not to be drunk. I find this sad as to me wine is for enjoyment.
As for Chinese billionaires, etc., they have as much right to buy and drink wine as any of the rest of us do.
Sigh. It’s nice to reminisce. My first DRC was a 1990 Romanee St Vivant that I split with the guys at work. We chipped in $25 each on a Friday. We all had a nice sized glass. 88-89-90 JJ Prums and Willi Schaefers were like $15-30. Paid cost $66.67 for 1990 Grange. I remember when we joked about how only a billionaire like Bill Koch would pay $1200 for a case of 82 Pichon Lalande.
Why do you think that? When I speak to wine consultants they tell the opposite but would love to hear more from those with info
I reached this same conclusion a year or two ago. Lots a really good wine out there <$50.
How Income Inequality Has Erased Your Chance to Drink THE Great Wines
Eh, maybe some truth to that. Seeing as in 30 years of wine drinking I’ve had exactly one 1st growth Bordeaux from a lesser vintage, precious few Grand Cru Burgundies, no Yquem, no Petrus, etc., etc.
However, income inequality has not yet managed to erase my chance to drink great wines, many great wines in fact. I’ve figured out I just have to play the game smart instead of simply throwing money at it, and that’s quite okay. Maybe in some strange way even better as it forced me to take a much broader view instead of chasing what everyone else is chasing.
The article largely overlooks economic mobility, whereby many in the current cohort of rich wine drinkers were recently nowhere near rich, unable to know about or to afford ANY wine, just a few years ago.
Example: Shareholders of Amazon.
Tell that to you Malbec from Argentina for over $200, your Chilean Cab for over $100, your Rioja for more than $200, your Swiss Pinot for more than $100, your NZ red for more than $100. 
I’d assume they’d normalise to the ex-London spread rather than the random American one, tbh.
Have to agree here. I remember when it was easy to walk into Garnet Wines and pick up a bottle of Clos Rougeard, Verset, Overnoy, etc. because they just sat on the shelves. As did anything without a Parker 90+ point rating.
Lose the Boomer lens and open your eyes. TONS of excellent wines in the price ranges you just mentioned.
There is an entire world beyond Burgundy and Bordeaux.
It seems to me objectively non-disputable that both of these propositions are true:
There is more very good wine available now in the low ranges of the “fine wine” price spectrum than ever before.
The price difference/multiple between all those bottles of very good wine and the “reference point” wines that have traditionally set the bar as the greatest not only of their type but as the greatest wines in the world has gotten so wide that most fine wine lovers can’t afford even to splurge on them once just to see what the fuss is about, where that was not the case a generation ago, or before.
I wonder whether current vintages of producers like Chevillon, Faiveley, Hudelot-Noellat, etc. which are now expensive but not quite unobtainable, may even be comparable in quality to what the very top wines were in the 80s or 90s. The general quality boost works within regions as well as across. Similarly for some classed growths in Bordeaux that are not first growths. In Burgundy it’s particularly salient because a lot of times those producers can work with very similar terroir, obviously not La Tache or whatever but there is some overlap.
Speaking as someone with that Boomer lens, would good if one of you millennials did a thread discussing those wines, to pair with the innumerable threads we have had about Burgundy bargains, etc. I sample other regions but often find that either 1) prices are a bit higher than I expected (stuff seems to elevate incredibly quickly to $50+ these days), 2) quality reputation is exaggerated, 3) if quality is there it doesn’t have the typicity I have gotten hooked in on the regions I grew up with – this last problem is kind of insoluble, but at the very least I want the core elements I go to the traditional regions for, like structure and acidity.
I think that the expansion of knowledge includes winemakers and vineyard owners as well as purchasers. The vineyard owners have more information about the best way to treat their vineyards and the winemakers have more knowledge as to how to make good wine. Not only are wine purchasers more knowledgeable about regions other than Bordeaux and Burgundy, but a lot of wineries that use to ignore everything from good wine making techniques to the importance of cleanliness are now making much better wines. I remember drinking 375s of 1966 Beaujolais while traveling in Europe in 1967. If it weren’t for the fact that I was a 15-year-old kid drinking alcohol insignificant quantities, I would have realized that I was drinking crap or, as François Mauss got in trouble for saying, “Vin de Merde.” These days, that wine is a lot better
I mean there are a million threads on this topic but there is plenty of fascinating international wine between $20-50.
My palate is very Francophilic but even so, there’s a lot of fantastic value even in the old world.
A few examples:
Sicily, both Etna and others. Ariana Occhipinti is making lovely soulful wines.
Greece, both the mainland and islands, including Assyrtiko from Santorini, Moschofilero, and even some reds.
Spain, from white Rioja (Honorio Rubio is a very nice producer), the Basque regions, Bierzo (Raul Perez), Albarino
France, Muscadet and the Languedoc have great values, Bandol.
Austria, beyond gruner and riesling, there are very interesting red varietals.
California has a huge variety of excellent inexpensive wines, from Sean Thackery to Matthiason, to Lodi Zin to the full spectrum of Bedrock wines.
This isn’t really the area that I play but you could do a lot worse.
I think the overall quality of wine has improved since the 80s-90s although there are clearly some exceptions and the prices of marquee producers has gone up without necessarily a concomitant increase in quality, but those wines that would be also rans in years past are much better. Furthermore, at least in the Burgundy/Bdx front, wines are ready to drink a lot sooner.
Marcus, I think Michael speaks a good track. I never had the means to buy/cellar the wines that Howard says you have to have, but I’ve had many good-very good wine experiences being a late Boomer. But there were also many dogs in the hunt. These days the worse you can say about a wine is that it’s boring, but overall, quality is up all over with more good wine from all over, all you need to do is explore with an open mind.
One huge benefit for lesser regions, vineyards etc. has been how they have been able to harness the insights of oenological consultants like Michel Rolland, Jean Luc Columbo etc. to make great wine that would have once upon a time been confined to only those men’s properties.
And the scientific advances from thought leadership at local UC Davis viticulture program has also helped all kinds of larger producers, bring up the lineup’s quality level.
For wine lovers, these are the greatest times in the history of the galaxy.
When I started buying wine 5 years ago I was focused on the $30-$50 price range and have been conditioned to buy bottles up to and over $200. I went bonkers on 19’ BDX futures and have some first growths on the way. I like to spread out my collection with wines that don’t need as much age and wines that I want to drink within 10 years and then those that I want to age much longer. This takes a lot of cellar space, which further increases costs.
All of us have different financial situations and I am fortunate in that I can afford to have a cellar at home and a locker offsite. My average cost per bottle is just over $80 now for my entire collection. This tells me I have veered towards more expensive bottles than when I first started. Most of this is CA cabernet since we typically visit Napa annually.
All this said, I still feel there are wines I can’t afford and don’t want to pay for. Am I missing out? Yeah probably but I am comfortable with the wines I have and try to be super patient so I don’t open anything too young.
Michael and Markus just sold me on two sample bottles of Ariana Occhipinti LOL. Let’s see if you can teach an old dog new tricks.