Buying DRC in the 80’s: 1976 GE $78, 1953 RC $119, 1973 Montrachet $79 (although the retailer said as I was buying it, "I should have changed to sticker price, no?).
Ah, the good old days…
Imagine…
If I read your question correctly, you are asking me if those retailers I referred were originally asking their customers for normal markup or the extra markup to hit secondary pricing? If so, that is a very good question for which I do not have an answer. These were not full engagements for me- it was merely a matter of someone calling and saying “hey, who is making good offers on DRC right now?” and then I point them in a direction. So I have no idea why the wines were not selling for them. That said, logic would dictate that any DRC wine put on the shelf at wholesale + normal markup would disappear fast in any market- whether to an end user or a flipper.
Also, to the group at large- thank you to many for additional feedback here and some good PMs. A lot of helpful insight and at this point I really need to publicly declare that the single bit of pricing information I have been relying on is now not as universally true as I had imagined. And so I will not be relying on it solely again if the conversation comes up.
And just to reiterate one last time- I am not bitter about this and I do not begrudge the DRC or anyone in the supply chain for these special lists. It is not my place to feel that way regardless. I think the intentions are good, but at the end of the day there is no good way to manipulate a marketplace in a universally fair manner- especially when trying to make judgments about what the end user is going to do with the wine. Any way you slice it, DRC is now priced well out of reach for most of us- and that is the free markets at work.
The prices for DRC especially in the secondary market are crazy these days. I have difficulties to understand why people buy the wines even to that prices. At the end it is a bottle of fermented grape juice. There are so many other fine Burgundies. Sure – the Grands Crus are all pricey now. But come on – 10.000 Dollars + for a single bottle of Romane Conti? It seems that some people have too much money and do not know what they should do with all that cash.
Tom, I appreciate your comments here. Not directed specifically at you but to all with an interest in DRC: Is this really a free market at work when accurate pricing information is limited to such a tiny section of potential buyers? It seems even more opaque than limited access Napa mailing list wines, where the DTC release prices are widely known within hours of the offers coming out.
I only started collecting DRC 3 or 4 years ago, when I walked into the temp controlled “back room” of a local wine store and found a pile of perfectly stored DRC from the 90’s and early 00’s at a pretty unbelievable prices. Since then I have been lucky enough to buy 4-8 bottles per year of the various DRC bottlings, usually at a price that I think is reasonable.
I remember when I first started paying attention to DRC prices about 8-10 years ago that they were ridiculous. I mean secondary prices for Echezeaux were always 2k plus. La Tache was 6k to start. My non-scientific opinion is that now there is less interest in DRC at those high prices, many of which were pushed to those highs as a result of DRC fever that seemed to peak between 2010 and 2017. Again, just a gut impression. Most buyers of DRC, myself included, know what the wholesale prices are for those wines. Many retailers do mark up their bottles at a normal margin, but then there are even more that seem to think that they can mark them up to the old high levels. I had a retailer, who I buy a good amount from, email me about a month ago with their '17 DRC allocation and prices:
RC - $16,000
LT - $3,800
RB- $2,800
RSV - $2,800
GE - $1,800
I passed at those prices, and then emailed them a month later, assuming they had sold them, only to find out they hadn’t sold any of them at those prices.
I think that many retailers haven’t quite accepted that the demand for DRC at premium prices isn’t quite what it was. Also, they perhaps get a bit greedy. I mean, if they were to sell Echezeaux below $1k I’m sure they would still make their margin and make a lot of buyers happy. If they were to sell RC at $8k to $9k / bottle, they’d probably have significant demand there too.
I just think that DRC prices are fading and the uncontrollable demand that used to exist, just isn’t there anymore and prices haven’t found their natural equilibrium yet.
You are correct that this year many retailers who priced high still are holding stock. However, in not sure this indicates a broader market demand decrease or simply an aberration this year due to COVID. Retail allocations were larger than usual with so many restaurants closed and many people who might normally have purchased have reduced income or are simply reticent to spend as much.
It’s not really that opaque… at least when I remember, I publish importer private client pricing in TWA. Looking back, I see that the last time I remembered was 2015:
Corton - 390 USD
Echézeaux - 520 USD
Grands Echézeaux - 770 USD
Richebourg - 1200 USD
RSV - 1280 USD
La Tâche - 1400 USD
Romanée-Conti - 4160 USD
I think this must be Wilson Daniels pricing but I’m not certain at this stage.
Someone was really in a hurry to stain that label…
this was the Price(history) from RC in switzerland (swissfranc).
1998 DRC RC 1300.-/5064 bt.
1999 DRC RC 1660.-/6917 bt.
2000 DRC RC 1500.-/6286 bt.
2001 DRC RC 1600.-/6407 bt.
2002 DRC RC 1600.-/5548 bt.
2003 DRC RC 2000.-/3575 bt
2004 DRC RC 1900.-/5663 bt.
2005 DRC RC 2650.-/5489 bt.
2006 DRC RC 2480.-/5546 bt.
2007 DRC RC 2450.-/4088 bt.
2008 DRC RC 2800.-/3151 bt.
2009 DRC RC 3100.-/6465 bt.
2010 DRC RC 3300.-/4636 bt.
2011 DRC RC 3400.-/5673 bt
2012 DRC RC 3400.-
2013 DRC RC 3400.-
2014 DRC RC 3500.-
2015 DRC RC 3800.-
2016 DRC RC 4200.-
2017 DRC RC 4100.-
Good point. At least some of the info, like release pricing from some of the major merchants, is there if you look. But volume is too low and my sense (speculation here, I could be way off base) is that the percentage sold at non-publicly available pricing is too great for this to be considered a fully transparent or free market.
And it doesn’t even take into consideration hostage purchases, to the extent there are retailers that force them.
Latest offer from Acker:
2017 Corton 2@ $1,499
2017 RSV 2@ $2,495
2017 Richebourg 2@ $2,495
2017 RC 2@ $14,500 or banded 3pack for $48,500
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Seems like pretty good deals…
Not bad but not amazing
this appears to be the true pricing through wd before any of the ‘fu¢k you tax’ is added
Wow. Who do I need to sleep with to get those prices! 