Wide Margaux pricing spread

Priced out 1995 Margaux on Winesearcher and there is a range from $600 to more than $1,200. When any wine searcher can go to Winesearcher, how can there be this kind of price spread? Why would anybody pay $1,200 for a bottle? What kind of person?

I would be afraid to buy wine over the Internet. What's to prove to me that it's genuine or hasn't been stored next to the boiler in someone's basement?

The market for old wines is wide open. I would prefer to buy from a reputable merchant, and accept to pay more than buy the (supposedly) same wine over e-bay.

Best regards,
Alex R.

I feel quite confident buying wine over the internet (I've gotten dozens of bottles, and haven't had even a corked one in the lot). But, I've always suspected that the reason some shops can ask the prices they do is essentially what Alex has said: one, that if you buy in person you can inspect the conditions. Although I generally believe the reliability and trustworthiness of most online retailers to be very high, I can certainly appreciate this perspective. I also suspect that a lot of people prefer to buy locally, or at least, even if they trust the retailer in question, don't like the idea of having wine shipped. And some people may simply have loyalty to a particular shop.

On the other hand, I have also asked myself Covert's question: how can the market support such price differences in the days of online shopping. For the most part, if there is a particular wine I want, I simply find the lowest price online, and then buy from that shop. Although, I do have a number of online shops that I prefer, and if I just want to browse to find some not particular, and then find something, I might do some price checking to make sure it's not outrageous, but I will generally buy from those places. But, it should be said that my preferred online retailers tend to be those with good prices over all.

[David M. Bueker]

Much of the spread has to do with when and how the wine was acquired. I know of a particular shop in Connecticut that while quite high on new releases, never raises the prices (and has good storage), such that "older" wines become relative bargains compared to elsewhere. (The problem with the place is getting them to part with the bottles - they are rather attached to their stock.)

[Jenise]

I'm used to seeing considerable price spreads on the internet, and all I can say is those prices must work out for whoever's selling them or they'd lower their prices. There are people in this world, you know, who would almost rather pay more because of what it says about them that they can afford $1000 bottles.

Ryan, what does TCA (corked bottles) and internet buying have to do with each other? Corked isn't a handling/storage issue. That said, as someone who buys wine from all manner of sources, I concur with your experience that I've run into very few bottles purchased second hand that show signs of storage issues--but then I don't buy the kind of wines that Uncle George might have stored near a heating vent, either.

A few thoughts:

First, Alex, WS is listing retailers, these aren't private sellers a la winecommune or ebay.

That said, the cheapest retailers (under $600) listed for '95 Margaux are either retailers I'm not familiar with (and for storage reasons I don't pursue those), or "brokers" such as Sokolin, where if you order (a) good chance they'll get back to you that it's unavailable and (b) if they can get, often a minimum number of bottles AND a several month delay.

Most of the retailers I'm familiar with are in the $625-800 range (and some are usually willing to do some discounting). The others? Lots of shops carry a very few bottles of top classed growths, for when someone comes in and wants to spend $1K on a gift. They're seldom holding multiple bottles, and aren't really concerned if they don't move it for a year (or several).

I collect fountain pens, largely using the internet as a tool.

I see sellers listing pens at a 'buy it now' of up to double the going rate (they often sell the identical pen cheaper in their other listings. They are essentially trolling for rubes who will see it, make a fast impulse decision and never look at anything else.

I expect a similar thing happens with wine sellers.

Actually, I relooked at WS. The actual spread is more like $370-1200, with the lowest price at PC for a bottle with soiled label. Blicker Pierce Wagner also has (prearrival )for $425. So some solid sellers for under $500. Zachys has at $725, with last week's 25% sale I presume it was around $550.

Ryan, what does TCA (corked bottles) and internet buying have to do with each other? Corked isn't a handling/storage issue. That said, as someone who buys wine from all manner of sources, I concur with your experience that I've run into very few bottles purchased second hand that show signs of storage issues--but then I don't buy the kind of wines that Uncle George might have stored near a heating vent, either.

There is no connection of course - I was simply emphasizing that all the bottles I've gotten online have been in exceptional condition. Perhaps a bad example.

Wine Searcher retailers aren't necessarily intentionally pricing for the internet. So while someone may be selling the bottle for $900 and be on the high end of the internet market, that price could make them the lowest price in their geographical market. In addition, I believe there are a LOT of retailers that have high pricing on expensive wines because they have clients with tons of money that don't want to shop around the world for their wine.

Matt has it right. Wine geeks who use wine searcher are a tiny fraction of the wine buying public, though obviously a bigger hunk with the over $100 bottles. Plenty of people walk into their local store and buy , without checking prices. Another factor is a lot of these stores are open to discounting, so the prices you see are not necessarily the prices people pay. Someone goes into a store, sees a bottle of 1995 Ch. Margaux for $700, but "especially for you, since you're a good customer, I'll give you 20% off." Voila, $560.
Add in the fact that if bottle is corked Zachys will take it back, and PC won't, and people might not go for the lowest price.

Thanks All for all the good answers.

Covert