Most Expensive Bottle of Wine You've Ever Purchased?

Today at Costco I spent $35.00 for a bottle of Franciscan Magnificat. The most I've yet spent on a bottle of wine. I sure hope the stuff is good!!

Reply to
Gary Childress
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I'm sure there will be people who have paid $100's or more. Thats out of my league! I've paid $50-$60 for a few. Most of my wines are in the $12-$25 range.

Reply to
miles

Do you recall off hand what the name of the most expensive bottle was which you've ever purchased? I think before this my most expensive bottle was $22 for a bottle of d'Arenberg Laughing Magpie. I've been buying in the $8-22$ range myself. $8-11$ for a regular bottle just to sip on for an ordinary run of the mill evening and $11 or more for those special occasion wines. I don't see myself ever paying over $40 for a bottle though. There seem to be enough good wines out there for under $40 for me to ever need to spend over that on a bottle.

Reply to
Gary Childress

I don't think this really counts as a bottle of wine, though, I think this is the most I've spent -- MALVEDOS VINTAGE PORT Bought at Costco $33.49

But I know that some of the wines that I drank in the 70's (according to DH) are now in the $50 range. My salad days. I've been trying to up the ante in price recently, working more toward a $25 range, although DH seems to be lagging behind, shopping at Trader Joe's and other wine places for around $13. He bought maybe 15 wines in that price range within the last month and I've not liked one of them -- with the exception of one that I could drink: Argiolas Costera Isola 2005 $13.99 I believe that UC mentioned "Argiolas" It was different, but if I bought Argiolas again, it would be a different year or ... Dee

Reply to
Dee Dee

An year ago, with two friends from the italian wine newsgroup, we had a bottle of Barolo Monfortino Riserva 1993 from Giacomo Conterno: very well priced at 160 euros, probably less than what it costs in a wine-shop. In fact, I have seen it on many wine charts with prices in the 200's.

Reply to
Vilco

1996 Chateau D'Yquem, was about 350 for 750ml and worth every penny.
Reply to
vMike

They have Chateau D'Yquem at Whole Foods (upscale grocery store in U.S.) for $358 (750 ml), but I can't remember the year. You can taste it for $24 an ounce. I limited my spending to $4 an ounce for an Amarone.

Dee Dee

Reply to
Dee Dee

Most of my more expensive wines are from small California wineries who don't distribute. I've got a few bottles of various varietals from Rideau in Los Olivos, CA. Their wines are expensive $28-$75 but are just incredible.

I too buy some very nice wines in the $10-$12 range. Seven Deadly Zins from Costco is about $12 and is a very good Zin for the money.

Reply to
miles

Oh, about $100. The most I usually spend is $40-50, however.

Reply to
UC

Was the $300 bottle and the other $130-170 bottles what you expected. Did you realize (by taste) that you were drinking a fine(r) wine? Could you have done a taste test with, say, a $50 vs. a $100 bottle in the same category and feel like you could discern?

Thanks. Dee

Reply to
Dee Dee

Most of the stuff, especially around here in China, I buy is around

10USD. There again, the wine quality is more akin to the 5USD range with a mark-up. I have yet to find anything that doesn't have that "cheap wine" flavor sans a bottle of Malbec from Botega SomethingorOther a few months ago. Ya'll pray for me in my newfound voyages into the universe of wine, please. I'll need all the luck I can get.

So much more difficult than tea.

Reply to
Mydnight

Granted. But, I live in China currently. All of the stuff I drink is imported at least, regardless of quality. Locally made wines here resemble strong, bitter grape juice and DO SUFFER from adulteration of all kinds, I'm sure. They have recently found all kinds of bad things in the locally made beer, not to even mention the wine; foul concoction that it is. Most of the things I have found have been the lower end of the spectrum from some decent vineyards. So I hope I'm not ingesting too many additives in my quest for understanding. I know I did with tea.

Reply to
Mydnight

Hmm. I thought Chinese tea had little additives, if any. Am I wrong? I've drunk my share of Dragon's Well tea after visiting as a tourist the farm where they picked and boxed it. Other teas from China, I've trusted to not have 'additives."

Don't want to change the topic, but just wondering. Thanks. Dee

Reply to
Dee Dee

The most expensive bottle I've ever purchased was the '61 Lynch Bages for Jean's 40th birthday. Was it worth the price? Of course, as it was an experience unlike any other, and had sentimental value as well.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

If you want to get into it, a recent report found various heavy metals including lead in LongJing (dragon well) tea at market. It also found huge quantities of pesticides/herbicides as well as coloring, flavoring, and scent additives. The adulteration of tea has caused most people to give up drinking the more popular types and simply drink "Pu'er" or countryside grown teas.

I visited Hangzhou in 2004 (home to Dragon Well) and was taught by my friend's aunt how to pick the better quality leaves. We picked a bunch, cooked it up, and drank it fresh there. I think that was maybe some of the best Longjing I have ever experienced...but that still doesn't count for the pesticides and other stuff that's in the soil.

China is a scary place.

Reply to
Mydnight

I bought the '83 Cheval Blanc because I had tried before and felt it a top example of what was in my opinion was the finest predominantly Cabernet Franc wine in the world (and one of the 4 or 5 best bottles I've ever had). This bottle lived up to my expectations, actually surpassed. My note from last year: I had chosen the Cab Franc theme as an excuse to get this bottle, which had stunned me previously. That's a recipe for disappointment, but not this time. Rich, vibrant, and young, with powerful blackberry and black cherry fruit, some light mocha notes, and a clean long finish. The nose becomes more exotic as it sits in glass, with coffee and sandalwood curling around the solid fruit base. Great great wine for my tastes. A+

I think most agreed. Two members of my group are professional wine writers, one declared it better than the more expensive 1982 CB he'dhad the previous week, The other I believe gave it a 97 (very hard grader, as high a score for a Bordeaux as I remember him giving).

The '86 Margaux was not one of the brightest stars that night, but more a question of tightness than lack of quality:

1986 Ch. Margaux Tight, brooding, monolithic. I had double-decanted this about 6-7 hours before (giving it half-hour in a decanter as I was cleaning bottle and other chores)- it wasn't giving up much then and it wasn't giving anymore now. Big, needs time (25 years!). Think it will eventually be amazing, seems to be a lot hiding there. Saving some in my glass eventually resulted in a big powerful cassis-driven wine. A-/B+

In both cases I was glad I purchased.

In general, most of the over $100 bottles I've purchased have been because I've tasted them.The exceptions have been things like 2001 Haut-Brion (I bought for 20th, 30th anniversaries based on my love of HB) and a pair of '59s (Sauternes and later harvest primitivo) I bought for Betsy's 50th.

Reply to
DaleW

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