Most expensive wine tasted?

Mama hit a jackpot in Vegas two years ago. We headed for Areole's. Had two bottles that night, which we paid way to much for! But, alas, it really cost us nothing!

# 1: 1990 Antinori Tignanello $425.00 Last time I drank this was in 1996. It was great then, but better two years ago.

# 2: 1997 Antinori Solaia - $825.00 This 2000 Wine of the Year was by far the best wine I've ever had!

rr

The point is that whether I buy a ticket or not, my mathematical chances of winning are almost the same......

Hmm - I will mention that next time I open a bottle of this - I paid $38 Can (about $25 US) for it......

It makes sense to buy a ticket when the payout is better than the odds. That is, when the payout is $100 million, say, and the odds are 30 million to 1. This does happen.

Dimitri

Actually, he's right. The formula leads to situations (when there's a lot of successive drawings w/o winners) where there is a builtup jackpot. Typically I think the lotteries (in US) are set up with a 60% payout. Pretty dismal. But what happens when there's no winners for 7 or 8 drawings? Initial jackpot might be $3M (based on $5 million spent). That $3M goes into the pot, plus 60% of next wager. Pots grow quickly, as bigger jackpots attract more people. If there's no winner, it keeps building. Once it goes over $100M and there's no winner, on the next jackpot, even though there are long lines to buy tickets (decreasing one's odds of being the sole winner, but not affecting odds of winning), from a mathematical sense it still can pay to buy tickets. That's why there was a scandal (was it in Virginia) a few years ago. Jackpot got huge, a syndicate (Australian based I believe) worked out a deal where they tried to buy every conceivable combination - spend $40 million to get $120 million or something.

That being said, in general I agree that Lotto is for the mathematically inept. Funnily though, my dad always buys a Lotto ticket when he visits NY. This is an accountant who retired as controller of a decent sized furniture company; he's also a guy who always saved 10 % of income (and tithed 10% to his church), and whose idea of a risky investment was Fidelity Magellan. He enjoys spending that $1 though!

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Shared a 1969 DRC with 7 other people a couple years back..........compliments of the host. Was it worth it? Well I can tell you it was delicious! I saved the label which now is nicely framed. :)

Steve

Someone gave me as a gift a bottle of 1998 Opus One Napa Red Wine. I priced it at about $300 USD.

It was very, very good and by far the most expensive I have tasted.... However, in my opinion and on my palate, it was no better than a $35 bottle... So, I'd gladly take ten $30 bottles over the one $300 bottle.... I was expecting more for the money and I couldn't distinguish it.

Phil in Irvine, California

Nah. $160 maybe if you shop around.

Not that Opus One is the be all end all, but 1998 is not terribly representative of this wine.

You've never had any Harlan ?

;-)

Dana

Similarly, i often get asked re Penfolds Grange and the $300AUD normal cost. Whilst Grange consumption is an unequalled revelation, IS it worth 10x the price of some brilliant boutique wines I have followed for years ? Answer. I really don't know. Whilst nothing I have tasted matches Grange's complexity and richness, (yes, I am limited in my exposure to top end French wines), given the choice of say... a 98 Grange to be consumed NOW versus say, 10 bottles of A Hugh Hamilton Shiraz, a Fermoy or Voyager Cabernet... or...hmm...we could rant forever here... I would say....unlikely.

Regards Swooper

Any of the Marcassins I've had have usually been (over)priced at like $300-$350. They were not on my tab b/c I think that is absurd. I had a great D.R.C. at a recent trip to The French Laundry, didn't want to ask what it cost.

After years of stocking up on cult cali wines, I've switched to $11 spanish wines. Why am I paying $60 for a 91 pt wine when I can get a case of 91 pointers for $130? Plus, I don't feel bad serving them to my non wine drinking friends.

-N

Uh - you may be missing the 'point'.

There is a lot more to any particular wine than the point score some critic gave it.

Besides, drinking the same wine all the time just because it got a good score, means you aren't out there looking for other wines that (gasp) maybe no one has ever reviewed, but are still very worthwhile.