I just paid close to $10 for a plastic bowl of granola and yogurt with honey and sliced banana with a small cappuccino sitting in a tiny café in the West End of London. It’s expensive to be in Europe as an American paying with dollars. But I am feeling very wealthy today, maybe not in the bank but at least in heart and soul.
I am thinking about all those cases of Bordeaux 2010 I could order today, particularly the first growths. So, I Wine-Searched C-h-a-t-e-a-u M-a-r-g-a-u-x, and I noticed I could buy the 2010 Margaux for 8,500 pounds. That’s about $13,600 with the bank exchange rate. Obviously I get less as a tourist. But let’s just say that if I bought a case of 2010 Margaux, I would not get much change back from 14 thousand-dollar bills – does the mint still print thousand-dollar bills, or did it ever? (I checked my pockets and in my suitcase and I didn’t find any.)
The Margaux 2010 is my Wine of the Vintage along with the Vieux Chateau Certan. The fruit and structure of this wine are like a complex, beautiful dream. My mind fills with poetry tasting the wine from barrel, and it is sure to be similar from bottle. But $1,130 a bottle for a wine that is in barrel? Granted, I scored it 100 points from barrel – a perfect wine.
I decided to look at other 100-point Margaux’s, and I am not embarrassed to say that I rate a number of them 100 including 2005, 2000, and 1995. The 2005 sells for about $1,150 a bottle. The 2000 goes for around $1,135. And the 1995 is about $666. The 1983 – a legend in a sometimes overlooked vintage – sells for slightly more than $700.
Interesting stuff. I just took another sip from my cappuccino and thought about what I had to do today besides write this blog and deal with some other things with the website and business. The main thing was that I have to go pick up my son at his school and then drive him up to his mother’s house in Yorkshire. My daughter also graduates from the Minster School in York tomorrow. Bought her a gift at Selfridge’s last night.
I guess my first growth 2010 purchase will have to wait… Have a good weekend.
You think your hard done by,I have just returned home from central London where I had supper at Zafferano's they charged me £61 plus 13.5% service charge for a half bottle of Cervaro over $100.
Enjoy your weekend with your talented hard working children.
Going to Zafferano on Monday...I love the restaurant. But I will probably pass on the Cervaro! My column was a subtle satire on the whole situation. I am not sure how many people are seriously contemplating spending thousands of dollars on first growth en primeur. I am not. I have my children and everything else to deal with.
PS - thanks for sharing your daughter's beautiful voice with us through the Divino videos!