Janet CollinsThat wine cost how much?
May 3rd 2009 22:41
How much would you pay for a bottle of wine?
I have never been in a position to spend the ridiculous amounts of money on wine that some of our wealthy people do. Even if I was, I doubt very much whether I could fork out hundreds of dollars or more for one bottle of wine but I guess we all have our favoured areas of indulgence.
I have often been baffled at how many expensive bottles of wine are on restaurant wine lists and in bottle shops. There’s quite a few around $485 and I know there are plenty that are much more, some even reaching nearly $1,000.
I know they are often a collector’s item, or a source of pride and good taste but you can get pretty good wines for anywhere between $25 and $50 and sometimes much less than that.
It’s not that I haven’t seen them time and time over but when all the news around is that every one is broke, or pretty well could be soon, it just seemed more noticeable recently.
Do people really need to spend that much on a bottle of wine? It seems almost obnoxious that money like that can be forked out on something like that at a time when there is so much financial travesty.
Since the economy all over the world began to crumble, you would think that the top of the range wines would be feeling the heat. Maybe not, because winemaker, Penfolds, will be releasing this week a 2004 vintage Grange with an expected sale price of $549 a bottle.
Luckily for Penfolds, critics have given it the thumbs up and say it’s “almost perfect”.
Do you have a price limit on a bottle of wine?
Sourced: AAP on www.smh.com.au
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Comment by Anonymous
If you're an international soccer star on over a million bucks a week, I doubt that buying a couple of bottles of Grange is even going to enter your mind as an extravagance.
Comment by Janet Collins
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True but I even think people with buckets of money often consider how much they pay for certain things. If I had lots of it I think I would rather spend that kind of money on something else.
Comment by Anonymous
I understand where you're coming from, but when you have money you think differently to the way you do when you don't have money.
Of course people with buckets of money don't think about how much they pay for certain things. They don't have to.
I was introduced to Penfold's St Henri Shiraz when I had money. Now I'm no wine conner-sewer. But after tasting that? There was no way I was going to buy cask wine ever again.
I sometimes think that people without money always see things from a "poverty" perspective, yet are never happy with their own poverty.
I think a lot of thoughts are generated from either envy or jealousy. I haven't seen many bloggers who don't envy the rich. They go on about these things so much, you can tell they wish they had the money to do what the rich do. But because their lives are so miserable, it makes them feel better about themselves if they find someone to sympathise with their position.
Then the next day, they're miserable again because they really want to be rich and famous, and so the cycle begins again.
I'm not jealous of the rich. I'm envious of them. I'd love to have shitloads of money. Everyone says if they had money they'd donate to the poor. I wouldn't. The minute I had money I'd be like every other rich bastard. I'd go stuff the pricks. I'm ordering Grange.
The test of how much you give in life is not how much money you give. It's how much of yourself you give. When I''m rich again, I'll send you a case of Grange. Until then, I'll give you a comment or two on your posts, cos that's all I have to give. My time. The most undervalued commodity of modern life. Time.
I'm a left field person by all accounts. Well some people will say I'm an out of the stadium person. A person three suburbs down looking for a baseball that was hit out of the stadium. But I like that. It's who I am. I can only be analogised by Americanisms apparently.
I like challenging people's thoughts. Not to upset them. But to make them think from a few different perspectives. It's gotten me into a lot of trouble.
But life is the eternal search for the right partner. Not the right wine. There's something soothing about imbibing a good woman. It makes expensive wines seem quite inconsequential.
That being said, I still like posts like this. It's a valid subject. It creates discussion about the more valid subjects like the rich versus the poor.
As Midnight Oil sang, The rich get richer and poor get the picture.
Bring on Peter Garrett in parliament singing US Forces Give the Nod.
If the Americans could make a decent wine, Obama might even send a crate for the gig. But he'd have to get one of his cronies to pay for some decent wine from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale or the Coonawarra to be flown in by private Jet. Maybe Ruddy could pick it up for him?
If I could afford Penfolds? I'd pour it in Teresa's belly button and sip it out. I think she's getting sick of cheap wine and a three day growth.
David...
Comment by Janet Collins
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I'd like to have shitloads of money to see what it's like to think! Then if I could think, I would probably think I don't want a Grange.
Thank you for that thought-provoking comment on wine.
Comment by Michelle Sweeney
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David's comment on how you think in relation to what you earn is very true though. As an example I went shopping with my daughter for a pair of shoes in China. The last pair I bought here from a Chinese stall were about A$8 which I found quite reasonable. The next pair she eyed off were from a more upmarket mall and they cost approximately A$40. I bought them as she is fussy and she needs shoes but it is only in China that I would baulk at spending a measly $40 on children's shoes. If I was in Australia and earning more then I wouldn't hesitate.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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even if i won the lotto i would still drink Passion Pop, VB, and Bundy . . . it recreates the old familiar feeling of the people i grew up with
Comment by Janet Collins
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Thanks for that and yes. I always think it's funny when we go to countries where the system is to bargain the price down . We all get carried away with the bargaining thing and you go back to your room and realise you were haggling over 20c or something like that.
I still think that if I had bucket loads of money, I wouldn't care to spend that much on a bottle of wine.....maybe other things, but not wine.
Good of you to drop by.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I am with you....sort of. Passion Pop and cask wine isn't really on my shopping list but neither are the ridiculously priced wines. I doubt very much if they would be if I was rich, either.
Thanks.
Comment by katyzzz
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Thanks.
Comment by Lilla
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I don*t think I am either rich or poor and what I buy will depend very much on the occassion and the time of year, but I have to agree with you on this one,. $450 and the like on a bottl e of something which in my experience has sometimes tasted worst than a cheaper variety has seemed like a complete waste of money, but if someone earned their money (like actors : from working 17 hour days), well who am I to judge.
Do people really need to spend that much on a bottle of wine?
I certainly hope so as I put a few special ones away as investments, one from as far back as 1972. I am no coinessuier, but my goodness I hope they are not vinegar when the time comes to put them to auction and pop the cork?
Which reminds me of reading about John Howards wine bill for the lodge in his last year of office. If was $36,000 to restock what he had drunk. How much of that is overpriced prestige and how much of it a really good blend or wine, is anyone*s guess.
In the eye (or taste bud) of the beholder I guess *shrugging* who knows?
For me personally, like most things, wine is a mood thing, although *mood* isn*t the exact definition I am looking for because it*s not the entire truth either.. it*s the fact that life is about change and experiencing new things, and whilst I have my old favourites in everything, I tend not to get fixated on any one thing and like to try new tastes and experiences, so I guess it is a mood thing after all, but not a prestige issue (is more my point).. . which is what happens to the rich, where I think (some) things that are of little value in reality become a symbol of wealth, more than something valuable because of its genuine superior quality.
Certain symbols then go on to erroneously mark certain benchamarks in affluence, that the poorer people clamour for in their ignorance.
Lilla ...
Comment by Janet Collins
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I couldn't have said it better myself! I guess we all have "things" that we will go overboard on and really pay more for them than they are worth. I don't think I could ever get caught up in the wine thing though.
Thanks.
Comment by Kristin Wolgemuth
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Comment by Janet Collins
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I have to admit I like a good wine but there are plenty of wines, especially Australian ones, that are a very reasonable price and are really good. At a restaurant $50 is not a big deal because they charge something like three times the price of the same bottle at a bottle shop.
I shudder to think what price a $549 bottle of wine at a bottle shop would be in a restaurant.
Thanks for the comment.
Comment by Carolyn Cordon
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I would love to make it a glass of some special Barossa Valley shiraz, and sometimes it is that, but I have family ad dogs to keep fed, so bottles don't happen that often.
I have had some fine clean skins though, you have to trust your seller with these. Chris Champion could probably do some good deals for his Orble friends. I'm surprised not to see a comment from Chris here, I guess he's busy working.
Comment by Janet Collins
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It's always for medicinal purposes. Red wine is actually good for you and I think you are supposed to have two glasses a day so you can increase your regular nightly drink to two.
I often think clean skins are a bit hit and miss but I often have a look at where they come from and that often helps. I think Chris must be working hard. Hopefully, Salient Point is really taking off.
Thanks.
Comment by Cheryl J
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I agree with David that what you consider expensive would all be relative to what you earned. I have never been wealthy so I can't imagine spending vast sums on wine. Although I have had many opportunities to drink expensive wines, sometimes they are sublime and sometimes they certainly don't have anything special to warrant a high price tag. I think Bollinger champagne is vile, Grange is (usually) wonderful but I would never spend more than $60 and that would be for a gift or a special dinner party. My general spending is around $18 for a nice white and around $25-$30 for a red and you can get some lovely wines at those prices.
I've had some amazing cleanskins but they are always risky - lucky they are so cheap!
Comment by samaritan
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I think it's not as much money you can spend on things that counts. It's how much you appreciate the things that you actually have. And so in some ways, the person who is poorer can be richer in the sense that they often appreciate what they do have more.
Samaritan
Comment by Janet Collins
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I agree with your price range. We have such good wines in Australia for that price and spending a lot more for wine that often is anything but superior seems just silly to me.
Thank you.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I do realise that most things are relative but it probably also depends on how much of a real wine buff you are anyway.
To me, it's just like good food - I can really enjoy it but the experience is very short lived.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Comment by Cheryl J
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But NEVER out of a can. I'm a beer snob, who'd have thunk it?
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Yes, beer definitely has to come out of a bottle.
Lola
I'm not quite sure what Mogen (or is it Mogen David) is but I am guessing it is beer on tap. I don't mind that either so long as it is not out of a can.
Comment by Lola Tahlulah
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For the record I like beer as well!
Comment by Janet Collins
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Cheers to you!
Comment by Wilson Pon
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Comment by Janet Collins
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I remember you told us of your drink in the dark! At least you enjoyed it.