So what have you bought lately?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Mar 23, 2026 2:08 am

2 x 1979 Pichon Lavande
2 x 1981 Pichon Lalande
2 x 1981 Leoville Las Cases
12 x 1988 Pichon Lalande

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Mon Mar 23, 2026 11:36 am

1988 Ch Coutet
2007 Ch Climens - I had this last year and preferred it to an 05 Yquem.

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Tue Mar 24, 2026 7:19 am

And also at auction yesterday

1971 Ch Haut Brion
Ch Lynch Bages - damaged label, date missing (after 1970)
1973 Ch Filhot -Sauternes a half
1988 Ch Broustet - Barsac 4 x Halves
1998 Ch La Louviere Blanc 2 x Halves
1995 Julienas Clos du Fiefs Cuvée Prestige (Michel Tete)
NV Stanton and Killeen Rutherglen Muscat Rare - a half

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 24, 2026 8:36 am

6 x 2019 Canon
6 x 2019 Haut Bailly

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Fri Mar 27, 2026 2:49 pm

3 2021 Montrose

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Sat Mar 28, 2026 3:01 am

Stefan, who is going to drink those?

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Sat Mar 28, 2026 6:48 am

One each of

2017 Ch Labegorce
2009 Ch Duhart Milon
3x 2016 Ch Grand Mayne

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Sun Mar 29, 2026 1:44 pm

Jon, 2021 is a vintage for early drinking. I expect to drink the Montrose when I am in my 90s.

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Sun Mar 29, 2026 2:25 pm

Without doubt my favourite programme ever about wine buying. Jancis Robinson interviews The Marchioness of Bute, one time owner of Bute wines.

“So how many cases of the 89 Bordeaux did you buy? In cases, thousands”

https://youtu.be/vkr2c42F62E?si=XiapwPg70PnEkmuJ

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sun Mar 29, 2026 9:36 pm

On buying cases: “I don’t think I realized I could buy just 1 bottle.”

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sun Mar 29, 2026 10:58 pm

She would have made a great BWEer!

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Mon Mar 30, 2026 6:03 am

There are other programmes on YouTube in the Vintners Tales series, all worth watching. These were made in the early 1990s. My favourites are the ones on Edmund Penning Rowsell (very Bordeaux focused) Michael Broadbent, Harry Waugh and John Avery.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Fri Apr 03, 2026 8:59 pm

I took advantage of a half price sale to pick up some modest items for drinking soon.

2 2021 Lacoste Borie
2 San Felice Poggioetc Chianti Classico
3 NV Frerejeanfrere Ciel Grand Reserve Champagne

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sun Apr 05, 2026 6:33 pm

6 x 2016 Massolino Barolo
6 x 2016 d’Issan

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Apr 06, 2026 2:35 am

Well done, DavidG, I expect a report on the 2016 d'Issan sometime in the next three years.

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Tue Apr 07, 2026 6:43 am

A cheap auction lot that included a bottle of 1978 Ch Chasse Spleen and 3x Ch Caronne St Gemme 1983.

First bottle of Bordeaux I ever bought was a 1980 Caronne St Gemme back in 1985.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sat Apr 11, 2026 2:36 am

6 x 2019 Meyney

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Sat Apr 11, 2026 8:04 am

Ch Gruaud Larose 1978
Ch Gruaud Larose 1980

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Mon Apr 13, 2026 12:02 pm

A recent trading-up swap with a friend: I supplied a mixed case of 12 including a couple each of GPL 95 and 00 Haut Bailly 01 Lafon + some Rhone and a couple of village Gevrey

Got in return a bottle each of
1964 Ch Latour
1981 Ch Latour
1988 Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde -Guigal

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Mon Apr 13, 2026 3:38 pm

I wish I’d bought more 1988 Cote Rotie back in the day.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Mon Apr 13, 2026 5:38 pm

I wish I’d bought more 1964 Ch Latour back in the day.

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Tue Apr 14, 2026 1:58 am

So is this now the "So what do you regret not buying" post?

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Apr 14, 2026 3:26 am

LOL we should have a thread for that!

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Tue Apr 14, 2026 4:53 am

Absolutely! Tonight my regret is not having bought multiple cases of '82 La Lagune at release and storing it well.

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Tue Apr 14, 2026 3:26 pm

Mine would be a bottle of 86 Mouton when it could be had for £50 (about $80). I was still a student at the time so didn’t have much money. I should have just bought it and lived on bread and water for a week.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Thu Apr 16, 2026 12:35 pm

I wish I'd loaded up on more ‘82, ‘86, ‘89, and ‘90 first growths when they were actually affordable in case quantities. Particularly ‘82, ‘89, and ‘90 Haut Brion, ‘90 Margaux, and ‘82 and ‘86 Mouton.

Outside of the firsts: ‘82 and ‘86 Talbot and Gruaud when they were dirt cheap, ‘89 and ‘90 Conseillante and Angelus, and ‘82 Pichon Lalande.

Those are the wines in my Bordeaux Hall of Fame which were available at release prices during the time I was in the market.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Thu Apr 16, 2026 4:21 pm

I think most of us who have been around and buying wine for 30-40 years regret not buying more of these kind of wines which were so cheap in the context of much higher interest rates.

I also suspect that a lot of us, with the benefit of hindsight, regret buying so much wine in recent years based on an implicit view a few years ago that wine prices wouldn’t go down and would at worst move sideways.

But by far my biggest regret though is not loading the truck on Armand Rousseau burgundy 20 years ago, when my instincts told me to after an amazing Rousseau dinner. I don’t blame the people who advised against it, I blame myself.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Apr 17, 2026 3:27 am

I had chatGPT value my cellar, it was pretty remarkably perceptive. I don't sell my wine but if I did, it has been a great "investment." I hope to adhere to the DavidG model in the end, that is, drink wine until I die, and leave a modest sized wine cellar to my heirs.
I still say some of the fairest pricing in the wine world is to be found in 2016, 2019, and 2020 Bordeaux.
In fact, I'm thinking of buying significant quantities more of my usual mainstays from those vintages.
2022 Burgundy is prohibitively expensive but I'm going to get a couple mixed cases to add to my cellar.
I'll probably seek out Joel, Jimmy, and others for advice on some grower champagne to add to my replenished stock of Dom, Krug, Cristal, and Comtes....
1980s Bordeaux has gotten really expensive. I'm not interested in purchasing 1990s Bordeaux or wines from this century, other than the three aforementioned vintages. With the 2020 vintage I truly feel like I have reached the end of investing in newer vintages in any quantity.

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Fri Apr 17, 2026 2:01 pm

The aspirational role model has to be the connoisseur and wine writer André Simon. He drank well from a well stocked cellar all his life but as he got older he slowly began to wind it down. The story goes that when he died in his mid 90s all that was left of his cellar was 2 magnums of ‘45 Mouton Rothschild for his friends to celebrate his life with.

Michael-P · Post by **Michael-P** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 12:26 am

Jim: Did you see the case of 89 Lynch that sold a couple weeks ago at HDH for $5976? Nearly $500 per bottle!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 2:58 am

Did not see that Michael. Believe it or not, that is a "not bad" price these days.

Michael-P · Post by **Michael-P** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 3:36 am

I thought they were at $300 the past few years?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:00 am

Those days are long gone. They are well over $500, sometimes over $600.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 7:06 am

The average price on Wine Searcher is $730:

https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/lync ... 9/usa-me-y

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 6:58 pm

I first tasted this wine in 1995 at Sweet Basil, a fancy upmarket restaurant in Vail Colorado, when we paid $60 for it off the list. It showed brilliantly that night even though it was barely six years old. The mind boggles as to how much that might cost off the list at that same restaurant today, if they had it.

P.S. I haven’t bought anything lately

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 1:57 am

You are right, Ian, as enormous as that wine is -- I still say it is a 200 year wine -- it drank very well young as well. Indeed, it was one of the wines in the late 1990s/early 2000s that accelerated my crazy obsession with Bordeaux that has now extended into its fourth decade.

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 6:05 am

Latest auction haul

1959 Ch Durfort (more on that later when I get it)
2x 1975 Ch Montrose
2x 1988 Mondot
2x 2000 Ch Grand Corbin Despagne
1988 Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches Blanc
1979 Moillard Beaune Grèves
Fortnum and Mason Champagne Reserve Extra Dry NV (1980s possibly)
1990 Domaine de la Mercy Sancerre

Not auction
6x halves of 2015 Ch Doisy-Daëne

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 11:01 am

Very well done indeed Kevin.
I'm sure I've said this a number of times and I'm probably wrong, I'm not sure I've ever had a Durfort Vivens from any vintage.
Your notes have got me interested in buying some 2016, 2019, and 2020. I wonder how the modern vintages compare to the older efforts.

KevinH · Post by **KevinH** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 3:24 pm

Durfort has had its ups and downs over the years. I’ll post something on the estate later in the week.

Its reputation has soared since they went biodynamic in 2013. Recent vintages, especially from 2018 onwards, are now getting lots of praise. I’ve not tried any of those yet but would probably seek out the 2019 or 2020.

I like its earlier incarnation as a cool fruited and rather traditional Bordeaux that only showed its best after 20 years of cellaring. The 2000, 2004 and 2005 are all good examples of that era and show their best after a 2-3 hour decant.

JayLives · Post by **JayLives** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 4:48 pm

Branaire Ducru 2014
Château Lagrange 2014
Château Tertre 2014
Couvent Des Jacobins 2016
Chateau Desmirail 2016
Chateau Camensac 2016
Château Capbern 2016
Cos Labory 2016
Lynch Moussas 2016
Pavel De Luze 2016
Giscours 2019
Branaire Ducru 2022
Lillian Ladouys 2022
Mission Hill Quatrain 2020
Bachelder Cuesta Pinot 2023