Where *not* to buy wine in Miami (a blog entry about a gift shop that charges outrageous prices)

"Confiscatory" ? - relating to something being seized?

Larcenous maybe?

Leo,

The site/blog would not load, but I get the idea. I recently had dinner at a steakhouse in the Pacific NW, and they had Screaming Eagle at US$12,000/btl - do not recall the vintage, but it doesn't matter. I suppose if one takes their Citation up the Coast with a few buds, then the price is OK. Not MY cup-o-tea, but if they can get it, so much the better - for them.

Hunt

Many wine lists will include one or two such wines priced in the stratosphere. I've come to think of them as "expense account" wines after an incident (reported here) some years ago of a group of lawyers dining in London ordering a $15,000 wine. For starters, who'd have the gumption to return such a bottle to the kitchen because it was corked?

Mark Lipton

Who'd have the balls to drink it if it were?

Jose

Over £44k in total (if we're talking about the same event):

M.

Please give it another try; should be OK now.

By the way, note I credited y'all as my source of Yellow Tail prices around the world.

-- ===============================Check out the MiamiWine blog.

No doubt you're right, Michael. I also recall a followup article in which the people involved were sacked from their firms, but that might just be my over-active imagination at work.

Mark Lipton

Ah, yes, the Petrus event with the Barkleys' Investment Bankers. Now, I would have loved to have had a table nearby for that one. Good friends' son was with Barkleys then, but did not participate. IIRC, of the 4 [?], three, two gents, and a lady, were terminated, while the fourth, also a lady, was suspended. Everytime we dine there, I keep looking around for such a celebration in progress - heck, 4 folk could not consume ALL that rare Bdx (and some Burgs, if memory serves). Who knows, the next trip might yield my hoped-for results. Maybe I could sit, curbside, with a sign, "Will work for pre-WWII 1er Cru Bdx

- God Bless!"

Hunt

OK, maybe there were six, but the Guardian article indicates "City Workers," and I believe that to either be incorrect, or perhaps there were two such incidents, however odd that they would both take place at Petrus within such a short time-span. OR, maybe I am just confused, but I believe that the folk mentioned were Barkleys' investment bankers, celebrating the acquisition. Did I miss something in the Guardian article? (It's still early here and I haven't had my first glass of Latour to start the day off right.

Hunt

Hi Hunt and Mark,

I also remember the terminations, so I think it's the same incident. 6, 4,

City workers would refer to bankers/brokers who work in "London City," the newish financial district.

-E

Emery,

Thanks for that clarification. I now understand the term. At first, it sounded to my US-centric sensibilities, as though they have been employees OF the City. Got it.

Hunt

One minor addendum: the City of London is far from newish; it in fact is the historial heart of London, taking in as it does the Tower, etc. It is, however, the financial district of London, which was Emery's point.

Mark Lipton

OK OK! How about "newishly redeveloped?" ;)

-E