How Different Do The Two Taste?

Having tasted neither, I'd still hazard a guess that they taste very different indeed. On the one hand, a bottle of what is maybe the most fabled bottling of red wine in the world, from an excellent year (1929, not 1926) about 70 years after release. On the other hand, a New World (warm climate? not sure - I've never had a Penfolds PN, unsure where in Oz it's grown) Pinot 4 years after vintage. I'm sure the differences outweight the similarities.

I'm sure the Penfolds DOES taste better to many tasters.

Price in rare collectibles will NEVER have a linear relation to quality (or more accurately, perceived quality). There are generally diminishing returns as one spends more and more money on wine (or virtually any other product). The "best" $20 wine is probably not twice as good (whatver that means) as the best $10. Luk's point of the relationship to Pareto's law (something like 80% of resources are spent on top 20% of consumption) is very valid.

But if someone else pays, I'd REALLY like to taste the DRC Romanee Conti. :)

Salut/Hi Raymond,

le/on Mon, 31 Jan 2005 01:33:22 +0800, tu disais/you said:-

How different are these two cars in terms of performance, a 1926 Austin 7 and a Lamborghini 2001?

If you need to ask, you don't need to ask.

I agree completely. In cases such as this, it is less the taste of the wine, as it is the experience of having something that nearly all of the people who have ever lived, or will live, on this planet will ever taste. It's like having an F-40 Ferrari in London - a SmartCar will get you around, and is far easier to park, AND you can't really unwind the F-40, but some have them.

Hunt

BTW when you crack that DRC, I'd love to be on the guest list! Also, I'm not at all familiar with any Penfolds PN.

The Penfolds (if it is the Cellar Reserve, which is the only Penfolds branded PN I know of) is from Adelaide Hills fruit. The Hills area is classic cool climate. Some of OZ's best Chardonnay & PN come out of these hills. Yattarna (Penfolds white Grange) is made mostly from Piccadilly Valley & Adelaide Hills grapes. There is usually some fruit from Tumbarumba in the Snowy Mountains (yes very high altitude vineyard with 60 year old vines) tossed in as well. Piccadilly Valley is almost a subset of the Hills BTW.

Pour a glass (or 2) for me too please :)

Have you driven both these cars Ian?

Tasted both these wines?

Remember Ian prejudice is something to be avoided in ALL its forms.

Andrew, the good news is no one makes a person buy the more expensive ones.

So if you enjoy the Austin and the Penfolds....thats GREAT!

Salut/Hi Andrew Goldfinch,

le/on Mon, 31 Jan 2005 09:28:55 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

A '32 Austin 10 and a TVR Griffith, would they do ;-)))

Nope, but I've tasted a good range at Penfolds and know Penfolds wines reasonably well. I have also tasted Romanee-Conti in several vintages.

For what it's worth, I don't think any R-C justifies its price. However, a La Tache or a DRC Richebourg most certainly does in my opinion. As for the vfm of a collector's item, my point is that it's not open to debate. Either you ARE a collector and in which case YOUR perception is yours and no one else's, or you ain't and the question is meaningless in that you have answered it in asking it.