Expensive Wine: Can You Tell the Difference?

[hardndslick]

Tonight I am enjoying a bottle of 09 Domaine Allary. It is arguably the best Boudreaux I’ve had since an 05 Pomerol I enjoyed 5 years ago.

I paid less than it’s going for now. And I’m sure a number of people would be irritated that I’m drinking it now, as the price will likely rise a bit more as people like me drink the very limited supply.

So does it qualify as a good deal if I paid what will likely be a fraction of the final price? Does it qualify as a good deal if I remember, as I suspect I will, the wine for some time? What’s the price for a memorable experience?

I've had memorable experiences drinking wine from a box. I guess it depends who your drinking with.

 

[Mr. Joyboy]

I've had memorable experiences drinking wine from a box. I guess it depends who your drinking with.

Honestly, my preference typically runs to a fine cuvée of Dr. Pepper, but I do appreciate a well-paired glass of wine with a good meal. My palate is simply not that refined and my experience and knowledge is sufficiently limited that I’ll always defer to the waiter, sommelier or store owner for a recommendation. I have often been pleased by doing so. But hardnslick is right, so much of what goes into the experience involves the time, the place and who you’re sharing it with.

 

[justme]

I’d much rather drink shitty wine with fine people than fine wine with shitty people.

 

[justme]

From Econ 101 it is based on the utility of what you are buying vs the other uses you have for the $'s.

What’s your thoughts on stated vs. revealed preferences?

I’m luvky enough to have gotten to the point in life where much of what drives my purchases of the high end of anything consumable is about transcending what is good now to what will be good over time. I get to amortize the expense over each time I remember how fortunate I was to try it.

So if you are making 50K/yr and have 3 kids the price has to be low (for the memorable experience) and if you are Bill Gates it can be high.

Interesting that this works two ways. As my utility for money has decreased over time, so had the ease of doing something extraordinary.

Although the thread title was about telling the difference and not about qualifying as a good deal here is a hypothetical question that I think is apropos to your post: Would you felt it was a good deal if someone found out that you had the 09 Domaine Allary and offered to buy it from you at what you referred to as the final price?

Dude, you brought up value first.

The snarky answer is that the final price is random, so I’d have to know something about the term structure, the market price of risk, and the volatility of the price process. But there’s a reason I’m not trading wine futures...

The less snarky, honest, answer is that I have no idea what I’d have done if someone showed up and offered me a bunch of money. As it turns out, I only opened it because I hadn’t realized it was the only red I had on hand, and I had just had a very nice steak frites delivered.

 

[genius]

I’d much rather drink shitty wine with fine people than fine wine with shitty people.

It doesn't have to be limited to those two choices.

I'd much rather drink fine wine with fine people.