Buyers and Cellars - The Economist on Bordeaux Futures

Or to be more accurate, on how Parker's nose has been eclipsed by brand snob value in emerging economies, at least when looking at prices on Bordeaux futures - http://www.economist.com/finance/displa ... d=11986076

A friend who lived in Tokyo for many years told me that the best saké on a restaurant's wine list was usually the second most expensive. The was because westerners on expense accounts who knew nothing about the subject would usually just order the most expensive saké on the list, and the restaurant naturally didn't want to waste their best stuff on people who were buying it for the wrong reasons.

I was reminded of this story because the article (thanks for the link) released a mean-spirited and resentful genie that, for a split second , made me wish the top Bordeaux estates would start reserving their best grapes for their second wines.

Only The Economist would refer to Bordeaux as "The popular grape-based alcoholic drink..."

It's hard to know what to think about this, except that my world will not collapse if I never taste another First-Growth wine. I am also quite sure that whenever something like wine becomes an "asset class," that there is a speculative bubble that soon will burst. Lafite and Mouton and the rest may be shoveling in the gold now, but as has become painfully obvious elsewhere, what goes up does come down.

Only The Economist would refer to Bordeaux as "The popular grape-based alcoholic drink..." ..

That was funny.