I guess probably not!
It’s kind of ironic that the pdf for this sale is too large for me to upload to this site – rather like the size of many of the bottles that it features.
Rudy Kurniawan may be getting an early release from his 10-year prison sentence, this month, but Sotheby’s seem to be keeping their wine-ship straight with decently involved checking of provenance behind all their sales. That said, I’d want to have a lot more information about those pristine (almost new looking – right) 1942 DRCs…
We can complain about the pricing bubble of today – what else would we have to talk about if not(?!) But, from a certain perspective, great wine has never been easier to source. What do I mean by that?:
For a long time in Burgundy, those with access to the best took what they could and ‘that was that!‘ – the wines overwhelmingly disappeared, presumably largely drunk as their makers intended. It’s a different world now; many of those with access to the best see the wines more as investment vehicles than as something to consume – less the enthusiasts, more the collectors – why else so many jeroboams and larger? – Oops! Said the man with ‘too many’ magnums in his cellar 🙂
But what did I mean by a certain perspective? Well, of-course I mean money – the resources to buy these wines. There’s no getting away from the financial aspect of this, but if money is a trivial discussion point for you, you have never had it so good in terms of the opportunities to buy great burgundy. Sales like this are now every year, perhaps 2-3 times per year, and they offer wines that you couldn’t dream of acquiring 20 years ago – by practically any route!
It’s a great new world for the players – times have never been so egalitarian for the millionaires…