What is the most egregious wine pricing you have seen?

[tarija]

Come on guys, let's get back to pointing the finger at egregiously priced wine.

Here, I'll start.

Powell and Sons Flaxman Shiraz

[Michael McNally]

Is this the class war I keep reading about in the Australian?

(Just kidding I can't read the Australian - too highbrow )

I recommend we:
a) Stick to wine as far as possible
b) Try to generalise as little as possible, particularly where we refer to people as opposed to wine (but still generalise as little as possible about wine, I mean to do so is just silly really)
b) Keep the direct personal attacks as polite as possible ('pendants' excluded - they are fair game)
c) Remember we are on the planet for the blink of an eye

Yes there are two bs there just to mess with your heads. I mean if you're not having fun what's the point?!

Cheers

Michael

[Michael McNally]

Come on guys, let's get back to pointing the finger at egregiously priced wine.

Here, I'll start.

Powell and Sons Flaxman Shiraz

This is the kind of comment this thread needs right now.

Cheers Tarija!

Michael

[Mahmoud Ali]

[looks to me like a staggering lack of awareness of your own fortunate position in life. I apologise if that seems rude, but I cannot see any other way to understand it.

Wow Mahmoud. I admire your vendetta

Looks antsy to me but perhaps I’m taking this swipe too personal . I’ll certaibly wind back my contributions to the buying thread and will only report on middle class accessible wines . The latter won’t change much because from 5 min on google I’d dispute the middle class being limited to some of the wages quoted .

On your next comment If we are to drag that up again didn’t it end with me asking for your own personal experience and naming of a $50 Mt Edelstone / HofG substitute .

You certainly do get your knickers in a knot and as a result often get mixed up. First off, I'm not sure what you mean by vendetta (yet another personal pejoritive term to add to your collection in this thread) but the quote does not come from my post. Let me help you:

But to honestly talk sincerely about middle class households regularly quaffing $200 bottles of wine such that they are a key driver of demand... looks to me like a staggering lack of awareness of your own fortunate position in life. I apologise if that seems rude, but I cannot see any other way to understand it.

By the way, you've already used the term "antsy" when you responded to Sam (sjw-11) in an earlier post.

I think it takes considerable chutzpah for you say that I am dragging something up when it relates to earlier content within the very same thread, and the earlier content is on topic and refers to the very same wine! This is what you said in relation to the the Hill of Grace:

HofG is a definitive wine and there's nothing I've seen come close at $50.

To which I relied:

I've no doubt that the HoG is a very fine wine however there are other old vine shiraz wines from single vineyards that are also well made. Each has it's own maturation trajectory where it reaches its apogee. At blind tastings it is very possible that some of these wines, like a Wendouree, a Meshach, or a St Henri, could provide an equivalent level of pleasure or satifaction as a HoG. And over time, and at different tastings, the results could easily be different.

Oops, looks like you forgot, I did mention a few candidates, as did a number of other posters within this thread. Please do note that we were talking about Hill of Grace, not Mt Edelstone. So when you later said that in your experience Mt Edelstone has outperformed Hill of Grace it is not unfair for me to point out the inconsistancy. Either nothing comes close to the Hill of Grace as you first postulated, or indeed Mt Edelstone does. This begs the question, if Mt Edelston can indeed outperform Hill of Grace then so can some other wines.

Mahmoud.

[JamieBahrain]

In my experience there’s no $50 alternative to HofG. I asked for $50 alternatives ( not hypotheticals ) and got more expensive options of St Henri and Meshach.

Where did I say nothing comes close to HofG ? Mt Edelstone? I’ve written up and presented comparitive tastings back to the 60’s. I never said HofG can’t be pipped I said it’s a definitive wine and nothing in my experience comes close at $50.

If anyone on the forum can make a call on a $50 HofG alternative with experience, gusto and a bit of passion you have my respect and I’ll hunt it out with an open mind and happy to be on the bandwagon .

Hypothetical responses are uninteresting and robbing of time .

[JamieBahrain]

Come on guys, let's get back to pointing the finger at egregiously priced wine.

Here, I'll start.

Powell and Sons Flaxman Shiraz

I’d really like to try it though . Brother In law by marriage, father”s vineyard and they get a few bottles each year I’ve been begging to put in my cellar and not in their cupboard .

[michel]

Come on guys, let's get back to pointing the finger at egregiously priced wine.

Here, I'll start.

Powell and Sons Flaxman Shiraz

Gulp
Just checked the website
$750
Forget it!

[Polymer]

If anyone on the forum can make a call on a $50 HofG alternative with experience, gusto and a bit of passion you have my respect and I’ll hunt it out with an open mind and happy to be on the bandwagon .

Strictly Aussie? Strictly Shiraz? Strictly Red? They're not $50 (but not far off) but I'd rather drink:

Wendouree Shiraz
Wendoure Cabernet Malbec
Tyrrells Private Bins (4 Acres, Old Patch, Johnnos)

It isn't HoG isn't a great wine..it is...but it also has a ton of oak and often reminds me of a milkshake...

If we expand what are considered alternatives the list gets pretty big..and of course are based off of personal preference...

If what you mean by alternative is one that carries that same luxury or icon tag...I'd argue that the price helps create that..

[asajoseph]

HoG is of a certain style that perhaps is going out of fashion these days, to a degree - I've never had a young version, but tried a few from the 90s which were phenomenal. But then, I enjoy the style. I prefer it to similarly-aged Grange, by quite some distance (though again, my tasting experience isn't all that extensive).

I, personally, can't think of a $50-70 wine that comes close (caveated for Polymer's point around personal preferences) - though I might have more luck in the $150-200 range, especially if I were buying the bottle in Europe!!! Then again, I'd probably still pick the HoG if offered, just due to the scarcity factor.

[Ozzie W]

Surprisingly, nobody has mentioned Bass Phillip Reserve, so I'll add that to the list. At $600 one might as well buy Grand Cru Burgundy.

[Polymer]

Then again, I'd probably still pick the HoG if offered, just due to the scarcity factor.

Well that's just it..if someone offered you two bottles, one is HoG and one is some other wine you prefer that costs 70...You'd probably pick the HoG simply because of how hard it is to get...and obtain..and it still has a bit of that exclusivity and rare factor to it...Even if you don't enjoy the style, people will appreciate getting the chance to try it.

But if I had to open a wine up and drink it myself...that's a different story...

[asajoseph]

Yup, absolutely. I can (relatively speaking) drink $70 wine all the time, but drinking a HoG is not something most of us have the opportunity to do often, nor can financially justify with any regularity.

If I were infinitely wealthy, and money were no object, HoG would (for me) still be a wine that I'd drink, because I happen to really like it. Not at the exclusion of all else, but it would certainly be in the leather-bound, monogrammed wine-list I'd make up for myself.

[asajoseph]

On the subject of egregious pricing, I struggled to keep a straight face when visiting the Ross Hill cellar door & being told about their $100 Griffin.

Their wines are perfectly nice, and at the $40 price point they otherwise pitch their top wines at, absolutely worth the money. But I reckon $100 for a wine from Orange is... well... ambitious.

[Polymer]

Well not even that...If I had to make a list of wine I'd drink all of the time and money is no object, HoG wouldn't make the list while many other cheaper wines would...

The only reason HoG is "exciting" is because it is not everyday you get to drink one...but that's more of an exclusivity factor (Scarcity and price driven) than anything else.

I'm also sure many other people would have it on their list...

[asajoseph]

That is absolutely fair enough. Chacun à son goût, etc...

[Mahmoud Ali]

Then again, I'd probably still pick the HoG if offered, just due to the scarcity factor.

Well that's just it..if someone offered you two bottles, one is HoG and one is some other wine you prefer that costs 70...You'd probably pick the HoG simply because of how hard it is to get...and obtain..and it still has a bit of that exclusivity and rare factor to it...Even if you don't enjoy the style, people will appreciate getting the chance to try it.

Ageed. The cost of the bottle is the price of admission and is unaffordable to me. If offered a Hill of Grace versus another Aussie wine I would most likely choose it instead of the other mainly because I could not afford the HofG. However, given a choice between a Henschke and a Wendouree it is not certain I would turn down the Wendouree as it is a wine that I will almost certainly never see here in Canada as opposed to the HofG.

Given that the HofG is about $800 here in Canada and the Wendourees are $50 off the Australian mailing list, in the event that someone does offer me a HofG, I could carry it to Sydney on my next visit and trade it for 16 bottles of assorted Wendourees. Would there be any takers?

[Mahmoud Ali]

In my experience there’s no $50 alternative to HofG. I asked for $50 alternatives ( not hypotheticals ) and got more expensive options of St Henri and Meshach.

As discussed earlier in the thread, the HofG came up because someone thought getting a HofG discounted from $800 to $600 was a good deal. That's when I postutalated that a $50 wine might, in a blind tasting, sometime in the future, pip the HofG. As I later clarified, the $50 mark was a ballpark figure. At the same time I am not using hypotheticals, I paid less than $50 for my Meshach, St Henri, and Langmeil Freedom, and, as someone said the Wendourees are just above $50 a bottle. Wholesale and retail pricing is not fixed and there are often a range of prices. I used the $50 amount in direct relation to the discounted HofG. If you insist on being pedantic and refuse to accept the original context of the posts than we can go back to the non-discounted price originally mentioned ($800) and that would mean the equivalent wines would be in the $75 range. (Whew, I can't believe the depths I have to go to explain things).

Where did I say nothing comes close to HofG ? Mt Edelstone? I’ve written up and presented comparitive tastings back to the 60’s. I never said HofG can’t be pipped I said it’s a definitive wine and nothing in my experience comes close at $50.

Well that's a bit disingenuous because if you want to refer to tastings back to the 60's then you are looking at a sliding scale of prices. Back in the 60's you could buy 1961 Latour for under $10 so pretty much every good wine under the sky would qualify. You are using sophistry and being pedantic.

If anyone on the forum can make a call on a $50 HofG alternative with experience, gusto and a bit of passion you have my respect and I’ll hunt it out with an open mind and happy to be on the bandwagon .

Hypothetical responses are uninteresting and robbing of time .

There are so many problems with that statement. You're effectively saying that you have trouble discussing this in a rational dispassionate way. That only people with experience in owning and drinking HofG are entitled to comment on how good other wines are and how well they might develop. That would be like me saying that there is a winery in Canada (say Blue Mountain) and that their chardonnay and sparkling is better by far than any other Australian chardonnay and sparkling, and that those without experience cannot dispute this.

As for the gusto and passion, you have shown plenty.

Cheers ................ Mahmoud.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Say, if the HofG retails for $800, and the Mt Edelstone for $200, and if Mr Bahrain is correct about the latter being able to outprform the HofG, then why wouldn't one buy four Mt Edelstones instead of a single bottle of HofG?

Therefore if someone were to give me a bottle of HofG, then in a dollar for dollar trade I could get two Mt Edelstones and eight Wendourees!

[JamieBahrain]

To end the tedium I’ll accept the Wendouree Shiraz as being a $50 HofG substitute. Of course that’s for those who the Brady’s let pick up their allocations .

The wine has the X factor of HofG though it’s view locally is so polarising its not as definitive in my view. Abroad though on a small scale , with recent commercial events , it has some attention .

I’ve no idea how Mt Ed ended up in the fury though if it helps I accept it’s a good HofG substitute too.

There’s a hot wine tip every day . For some there’s a HofG substitute on the shelves of Aldi

[Matt@5453]

To end the tedium I’ll accept the Wendouree Shiraz as being a $50 HofG substitute. Of course that’s for those who the Brady’s let pick up their allocations .

The wine has the X factor of HofG though it’s view locally is so polarising its not as definitive in my view. Abroad though on a small scale , with recent commercial events , it has some attention .

I’ve no idea how Mt Ed ended up in the fury though if it helps I accept it’s a good HofG substitute too.

There’s a hot wine tip every day . For some there’s a HofG substitute on the shelves of Aldi

Can we please put an end to this ?

Jamie, Your strength is high quality tasting notes of awesome wines.

I think I speak for a lot of people - this Henschke discussion is dying an agonising death.

[JamieBahrain]

Yes it’s been tedious rebuttal and troll like . Glad for it to end . Not a word more.

[bdellabosca]

Putting aside the rest of the discussion for which I have no interest, I'm always up for a challenge. I have no experience with HoG (my budget does not extend that far) so I defer to the Winefront gents to come up with something of comparable quality at a fraction of the price.
Last two vintages of HoG released:
2012 $825 97pts WF
2010 $650 96pts WF

Compared to my proposed answer to the challenge (not better but comparable quality):
2012 $45 97pts WF
2010 $40 96pts WF
...and the latest vintages of the same wine...
2016 $55 97pts WF
2015 $55 96pts WF

I'm sure you can figure out which wine I'm talking about.

[Ozzie W]

Putting aside the rest of the discussion for which I have no interest, I'm always up for a challenge. I have no experience with HoG (my budget does not extend that far) so I defer to the Winefront gents to come up with something of comparable quality at a fraction of the price.
Last two vintages of HoG released:
2012 $825 97pts WF
2010 $650 96pts WF

Compared to my proposed answer to the challenge (not better but comparable quality):
2012 $45 97pts WF
2010 $40 96pts WF
...and the latest vintages of the same wine...
2016 $55 97pts WF
2015 $55 96pts WF

I'm sure you can figure out which wine I'm talking about.

It's Marius.

Another wine that hasn't been mentioned yet is Standish.

[bdellabosca]

[Mahmoud Ali]

Too funny for words.

[JamieBahrain]

Wondered why the Marius took so long to be mentioned.

Just got a discount offer for a sav blanc. $35,000 AUD for the case of six. Since it's dropped below $1000 AUD a bottle I feel it good value




Screaming Eagle Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (6x75cl)
HK$209,998.00
HK$199,500.00

[phillisc]

Will hold my breath on the 2015 John Riddoch and Michael being released in a couple of weeks...could be blood curdling
Cheers Craig

[Craig(NZ)]

I can beat you all with NZ's most expensive wine at $1,206 a bottle. Behold Longview Estate White Diamond

I used to drink this stuff when it was about $25 a bottle. It's a very unique wine made from the Niagra grape which was an old school table grape in NZ back in the day. It is like drinking a glass of your childhood summers. It is quite nice but almost a "fun wine"

The tasting notes on the website state "Holding up a goblet of wine, flavor and aroma envelop your entire face". Wow!! Sounds amazing

It doesn't age, it is best fresh. All who buy it can consider themselves conned

[url]http://www.longviewwines.co.nz/en/web.php?s ... id/32.html[/url]

It hit the news in 2016 when it went from $30 to $598. Looks like the price rises have kept on coming!

[url]https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate ... d=11754981[/url]

[Mahmoud Ali]

What is the Longview Estate Chardonnay like? Maybe one should stock up in anticipation of a shift in palate preference.

[felixp21]

the local wine shop in Futian (inner suburb of Shenzhen) gets an allocation of 3 dozen of this rubbish every year. He has a waiting list in the hundreds wanting to get a bottle. I remember it being "only" 4000 RMB (AUD $800), so maybe it has increased further in price?