Last Call for 2005 Bordeaux

Posted 03/13/2008 at 12:51 PM by Ben

If you're interested in 2005 Bordeaux my advice is to speak now or forever hold your peace. Prices are going nowhere but up.

Case in point, 2005 Château Figeac. I tasted this wine at the UGC tasting in New York in January, and thought it was just wonderful. When I got back home, I decided to look into buying a case on futures.

I found a local retailer who was offering it for $125 a bottle, or $1500 a case. Ouch! A couple of months ago, I had paid just $55 a bottle for the very good 2004, and about the same amount a few years back for the great 2000 vintage Château Figeac. Reeling from a bad case of sticker shock, I decided to pass on the 2005, not totally without regret, but feeling virtuously prudent.

This week, I had a change of heart, and decided I wanted it anyway. Alas, bad news awaited me at my retailer. They were sold out of 2005 Figeac. At my request, the manager agreed to look into getting me a case through his wholesale sources. Somewhat ominously, he warned that the price could be somewhat higher, because he had bought the first batch at the initial offering price in Bordeaux well over a year ago.

Yesterday I got the e-mail with the new price of $175 per bottle, a 40% increase. The manager explained that the price had gone up not only because he would have to buy at the higher prices on the open market, but because the dollar has declined precipitously against the Euro since last year. I decided once again to pass -- -- as good as 2005 Figeac is, it's not worth that much to me.

The lesson is that if  you are hovering on the edge with respect to buying a 2005 Bordeaux, now is the time to jump. Otherwise you're likely to get whacked with a bad case of "it might have been."

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