- But maybe it’s not about the wine at all. Maybe you can actually taste the money. A 2008 paper found that telling people a wine cost more than it did resulted in more positive reviews from the drinkers. But, moreover, a higher faux price increased “blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity in medial orbitofrontal cortex, an area that is widely thought to encode for experienced pleasantness during experiential tasks.” More expensive wine may actually taste better, for literally no other reason than the price on its sticker.
I had a client that had a massive cellar and would give me a nice bottle as a bonus on a fairly regular basis. Bottles worth between $700 and $2,000. Bordeaux reds like Petrus, LaTour, LaFite Rothschild, Margaux, etc. I googled them before hand so knew what I was getting into, but did not have any respect for them as I drank them right away instead of saving them for a "special" occasion. So I do not think I had any subliminal predisposition to overrating them. All of them had extremely high Wine Spectator ratings. In my opinion about 60% of them were extremely good, 20% were OK and 20% crap. One was undrinkable as sometimes happens. I am not exactly stingy when it comes to treating myself but would say that none of them were worth the money. But none of them compare to the $2 bottle of Bordeaux I pulled out of my backpack with a baguette and some cheese and pate on a hill in a park with a fling I had in France. For me, that one gets the best review. It is all about the experience one is looking for.
Nailed it. I have friends who are vintners in places as diverse as Bordeaux, Napa, Hungary, and WA State. I have had exquisite wines, and have I had crap. And rarely has the quality of the wine been accurately indicated by the price tag. The Valley Of The Beautiful Women (Szépasszonyvólgy) in Hungary's Egér wine region is a road that ends in a cylindrical valley about 200 feet across. Built into the hillsides are individually-owned wine cellars: The vintners are just people who do this as a hobby. They sell a 2-liter coca-cola bottle filled with their wine for $3-5. Some of it is terrible, and some is wonderful. But sitting out in the shaded park, surrounded by these wineries, grilling some meat, drinking the wine you just purchased 30 feet away... the experience is unequalled. It is amazing. And that's really the point of any alcohol, isn't it? Sitting and enjoying it with friends. But none of them compare to the $2 bottle of Bordeaux I pulled out of my backpack with a baguette and some cheese and pate on a hill in a park ... it's all about the experience one is looking for.
Spent the weekend drinking lots of nice wines that my father in law bought. Had some really nice chateauneuf du pape. -They were on sale for $19 bottle and were really tasty. You can find some amazing wine for under $20. Hell, you can find amazing wines for under $10. I wouldn't buy wine from the Koch brothers though. I think it would taste like ass, just by proxy.
In my experience the only difference between a decent $20 bottle and a $200 bottle is your hangover the next morning. The most I've ever spent on a bottle was $120 for a 23 year old bourbon. Tasted like candy with zero hangover.
I've got a few years until I really have to start worrying about what's going to give me a worse hangover. I'm trying to think of the most expensive I've bought and honestly it was probably that time I bought the $15 bottle because they were out of the $10. This reminds me of when I accidentally went to a fancy restaurant because it was part of the Inn I was staying at that had $1000 bottles of wine and I ordered a Caesar. Clamato juice comes in 3 sizes: Why would I bother buying one this small (Small), Enough for myself ( Medium), and Enough to share with a few people(Party Size). This restaurant had the bottle so small I wouldn't even bother buying it for myself and they had it for the entire restaurant. It's a toss up between that moment and when I started googling things on the menu that I realized this place wasn't really my kind of place.
I thought we could be friends until I discovered you drink Caesars. I bought a bottle of Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne to crack open when my daughter was born. It was delicious, and we still have the bottle 'cuz it's gorgeous. I bought a bottle of cask-strength Macallan in July 2004 to celebrate Kerry's victory over Bush... and then didn't get to drink that shit until Obama was president. And it wasn't good. It was icky. I poured the last quarter of it out, I think. Macallan isn't bad scotch but that cask-strength shit was cursed or something. When I was dating the rich girl one of her rich friend's dads gave her a bottle of wine as old as she was (1976). When he found out we didn't drink it he cracked one open, had a glass, re-corked it and sent the bottle along so we'd be forced to drink it. It was French and delicious but not, like, crazy good. When I made it known to him that we welcomed champagne we tended to get five or six bottles at a time, always left over from parties, the cheapest being Piper-Heidsieck. Also good, but not good enough to not drink Freixenet. Or, lately, Barefoot because who the fuck pays $14 for Freixenet. The rich girl's dad used to drink vicariously through me so for my college graduation I scored a bottle of Hennessy XO. Also good, but not nearly as good as Kelt VSOP. The biggest bummer about Washington State is a $60 bottle of Kelt VSOP is $110 with taxes.
Well then, now I'll be drinking a Caesar as I finish my list of winter activities in Banff just to bother you. It's great so far. I'm sure one day I'll branch out and start drinking fancy alcohol however for now that will be when other people buy me shots. Or that random person who brings fancy champagne to the party.
Hang on... you didn't drink the cask strength straight did you?!? All whisky is watered down after it comes out of the cask. The point of cask strength is that you get to adjust the amount of water you add, to make different flavors bloom. Nobody is expected to drink it like that...
Black Maple Hill. It was back at my first real job as a dock worker for a wine and spirits distributor. I got the employee discount. That same bottle is going for like $400 these days. Not a bad first job; of course I'm an alkie now so... Beer, wine or liquor I think my point stands. It's like anything else in life: Cheap shit is cheap because it's often just a quick high with a shitty end. You buy the top shelf stuff with respect, and it respects you in turn. Then you've got the flamboyant purchases the 1% like to wank off to.
This stuff? I'd never heard of it. And to prove the point, I became immediately interested when I found out I couldn't get it. And I had a shot of Pappy back when you could still get a shot of Pappy for $14, and I continue to drink Woodford when I feel fancy. Your point absolutely stands, and I did not mean to question it. My argument was that a "cheap" bottle of wine is like $4 but a "cheap" bottle of scotch is like $18 so a $200 bottle of bourbon is expensive, but $200 is like Roederer Cristal.
Yeah I hear ya. The orange label "small batch" is crap. This is closer to the real good shite I remember. Blue label. Back then the company was just starting out I think. You are making me thirsty enough to see if I can find a decent bottle. Even a guy like me would save something that good for special occasions.
It's funny - two years ago Washington passed a craft distillery law that allows anyone with a permit to sell, like, 200 gallons of distilled spirits. I thought that sounded like an awesome business opportunity. Apparently so did everyone else. There is now no shortage of overpriced "craft" spirits that cost like Macallan and taste like Ballantine's. Maybe it'll be better in a few years, but...