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pushing the limits with Beaujolais and Macon

I'm used to seeing wines I think are probably way over the hill in offerings, but as someone who doesn't mind a gamble occasionally I'll bite. But I just got an email from a respected merchant, buried in the Burgundy section I found a couple of selections that threw me. I understand that when buying a cellar you sometimes end up with some marginal stuff, but the pricing on these two items blew me away:

1959 Morin, Macon 750ml, 7 @ $92 1978 Vasseur G., Chenas 750ml, 10 @ $46 A 47 yr old Macon for almost $100, or 28 yr old Beaujolais (not Moulin-a-vent or Morgon) for close to $50. I've never heard of either producer. Maybe these are fabled wines that I've never run across, but I'm really curious if these really sell! I might have tried one of each if under $10, fully expecting that they were likely to be past it, but willing to gamble.
Reply to
DaleW
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To clarify, I'm not thinking about buying. I'm just curious if there's some history of long-lived wines from these producers to explain that pricing. Usually if someone ends up with wines that should be past it they price them at $5 or $10 just to clear out. I bought an assorted case of '89, '91, '94, '95 white Burgundies - mostly village level with a couple Bourgogne Blancs for $60. 2 '94s were pretty good, 1 '95 and a couple '91s interesting. 6 down drain. I'm ok with that. No way I bet more than $10 on a wine I think likely to be drainfodder.

Reply to
DaleW

You obviously read your Benchmark spam far more closely than I do. Given their usual hyperbolic rhetoric, perhaps their pricing just reflects that. Or, with the departure of Stefan, their buyers are no longer as savvy as they once were. More likely, it's just P. T. Barnum's old adage at work... ;-)

Mark Lipton

p.s. Do you think that my '85 Duboeuf BNs are ready to drink yet?

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Reminds me of a story. A good number of years ago, I was in a restaurant that was very proud of its wine list. I remember the proprietor coming to our table because he wanted us to order a really special wine he had.

The "special" wine was a Beaujolais Villages, a good number of years old (I can't remember how many years, but at least 15-20).

As politely as I could, it told him that it was almost certainly way over the hill, and completely undrinkable. We ordered something else.

He didn't believe me, got offended and walked away.

15 minutes later, he came back to the table, with the bottle opened and an empty glass for me to try it. He had opened it, tasted it, found out that I was right, and came to apologize! He brought the glass so I could taste it to verify that I was right.
Reply to
Ken Blake

I did not find Morin or Vasseur mentioned in my reference books, including one over 20 years old. Of course there are many small producers in these regions that are not known in export markets, and who may sell a little wine directly at their door and send the rest to some well-known company. Such wines could range from vile to very good in rare cases.

The prices might be closer to right if they were $92 for the lot of 7 bottles and $46 for the lot of 10 bottles :-). If a decent auction house has wines such as this that many would question, they often will open a bottle at a pre-auction tasting. Of course a house of good reputation would not offer such wines at all unless they were a freak exception that aged far better and longer than expected.

Reply to
cwdjrxyz

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