Costly Thy Bordeaux as Thy Purse Can Buy

I casually turned over the bottle in my hand. The most storied chateau in France, Mouton Rothschild. The most storied year in French wine history, 1945. This indeed was a bottle above all other bottles. Just imagine it, over 50 years old, this wine was vinted during the Nazi occupation of Bordeaux and France. I was holding history, liquid history.

And I turned the bottle over and saw…$13,000.

Yes, thirteen thousand dollars. One bottle. I came very close to owning a pair of those brown pants that the French Army wears, if you follow my meaning.

Serious coin. Mucho dinero. Beau coup bucks. And one of the reasons so many folks are scared away from trying Bordeaux wines. So what is the story about the price of Bordeaux?

Yes, there are first growths from top vintages that command huge prices. You can buy these and cellar them and drink them. And often they will be scrumptious. The 2006 vintage is just selling right now but only as Bordeaux “futures”. That’s right, you can buy expensive wine right now that you won’t even see for another year. There are also many “everyday” wines from Bordeaux that don’t cost a lot, don’t need much cellar time, and you can drink them too. You can have them right now today this very minute and some of them are scrumptious, too.