Price recollection: I recall when that icon wine was only..

Phil Wilkins · Post by **Phil Wilkins** » Sun May 10, 2009 9:57 am

Bought on release... Grange 1990 only Ã‚Â£35, HoG 1990 merely Ã‚Â£25.

Beat that!

Luke W · Post by **Luke W** » Sun May 10, 2009 12:12 pm

Phil,

My first experience with grange was at the Wilsonton Hotel in Toowoomba where it was $11.75 a bottle on special in 1979. I could have bought any vintage of it up to that stage as they had about 20 vintages for sale but stupidly I bought a couple of dozen of the 1975 which was the latest release! Talk about regrets in retrospect.

Hill of Grace originally was only available I think at the CD and then you had to buy a couple of dozen other wines before Cyrill would let you buy 1 HOG. The first commercial release was the 1979 and I bought a couple of dozen from the MiHi hotel in Ipswich for the princely some of $4 a bottle! I used to drink it with a steak at the Breakfast Ck hotel in the 80's but stopped ordering it when it got to $18 on the menu (around 1986) - why would you pay that amount of money for a wine??

The 1990 grange has a lot to answer for - it effectively multiplied the price of the premiums by about 4.

Bit of a bugger really

cheers

Luke

Davo · Post by **Davo** » Sun May 10, 2009 1:59 pm

1971 Grange bought on release at $15 a bottle in Kalgoorlie, at that time 6 times the cost of your average quaffer like Tyrells "Long Flat Red" or Rouge Homme Cab Sauv.

Has the Grange really improved so much that it is now 47 times more expensive than an average quaffer???

dazza1968 · Post by **dazza1968** » Sun May 10, 2009 2:09 pm

Davo wrote:1971 Grange bought on release at $15 a bottle in Kalgoorlie, at that time 6 times the cost of your average quaffer like Tyrells "Long Flat Red" or Rouge Homme Cab Sauv.

Has the Grange really improved so much that it is now 47 times more expensive than an average quaffer???

Yes davo you do have to wonder if its all driven by very good Marketing

Regards Dazza

Waiters Friend · Post by **Waiters Friend** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:31 am

Of course, it has to be Granges, because nothing else in Australia had that sense of scale:

I was buying mid-late 80s Granges for myself, and for my father and a very good friend as presents, in the early 90s, after I started to develop an appreciation for wine, and read a little more widely on the subject.

I recall buying some 1984s and 1985s for around $70, a 1986 for about $75 (and I still have it), lashing out on a 1988 (around $85) which my father and I will be drinking next year for his 70th - of course, this doesn't take into account some auction purchases in later years, this is purely retail.

And the best one - a friend in the trade at the time (1995) called me and said "Mate, I can get you 1990 Grange, but it's going to cost you. And, it's limited to a six-pack. $130 each." I went into shock - someone wants to charge me three figures for a bottle of Australian wine???

I'm still kicking myself that I didn't chuck the six-pack on credit - I only got one. Again, still in the cellar.

Cheers

Allan

Roscoe · Post by **Roscoe** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:15 am

I remember I joined the NSW Wine Society around 1990. It cost $50 to join, but there was a special offer..... you were given a bottle of Grange 1984 as a joining gift. Considering this was close to the retail price of Grange at the time, I thought it was a good deal.
I don't think it costs over $600 to join the Wine Society now, nor do they give you Grange as a joining gift.

bacchaebabe · Post by **bacchaebabe** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:49 pm

I bought my dad a 1988 Grange for $90 from Kemenys. Must have been for his 50th birthday, probably in 94. I think the current release was the 89. Then in 95 we were at the Penfolds cellar door and they were raving about how good the 95 Grange was looking that had just been picked and was being made. They told us the 90 was being released next week so on the Monday I rang up the cellar door and got two six packs at $120 per bottle. You were only allowed to buy one six pack per person so I got one for me and one for my partner and that was no problem. Still have them all. I bought them thinking I could drink them on my 50th birthday but I'm thinking that may well be too soon. Might try one or two then but it's only five years away.

I clearly rememer the hysteria around the 1990 though. Within three months they were trading on the secondary market at $300 and within six months they were up to $500. When the 1991 was released, I spent the day driving around Sydney picking up as much as I could. The price varied between $300 and $340 per bottle. I got a dozen in the end. From there the price of a new release seemed to stabilise around $500 on average. I've only bought one bottle of the 98 and one bottle of the 02 since then both around the $300 mark overseas. I'll probably do the same with the 04.

Another wine I noticed go seriously upwards was the Hardy's wines. I bought the 93 Tintara Shiraz for $22 and later vintages got up to $80 at one stage. No idea where they are now as I stopped buying them.

When I first got on the Mount Mary mailing list the reds were $47 and the whites $27, I think. The reds are now $100 and the whites $70 (I think). I used ot buy in dozens but now buy a mixed six pack. Saying that, you can get six Mount Marys for one Grange so it looks like a relative bargain and at least the rises have been gradual.

More interestingly one wine that hasn't changed too much in price is Petaluma. When I first started buying the cabernets, it was around $40 and on release on special, it still is. So I still buy half a dozen most years.

SueNZ · Post by **SueNZ** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:54 pm

Davo wrote:1971 Grange bought on release at $15 a bottle in Kalgoorlie, at that time 6 times the cost of your average quaffer like Tyrells "Long Flat Red" or Rouge Homme Cab Sauv.

Has the Grange really improved so much that it is now 47 times more expensive than an average quaffer???

A friend of mine paid $11 a bottle for a case of the 1971 Grange on release. He used to buy Grange every year - until the prices went stupid. He's an Aussie, of course.

fred · Post by **fred** » Mon May 11, 2009 3:17 pm

Let's see Australian:-

1971 Grange on release at under $10 (about $9.99)...

at the time the poor man's Grange bin 389 was about $3.50, HOG was a competitor at <$4, and Mt Edelstone was a better cellaring wine and about 20c cheaper than HOG

1976 bin 620 and 621 at $10 per bottle

reflecting on whether one really should pay double figures (ie $10) for St henri some years later

reflecting on how badly I was being ripped to pay $60 for 1986 Grange - and only a few years later $100 for 1990 Grange....and the Special bins...

1970 Lindemans HR Chablis at $6.99 (aged release!!!)

1965 Lindemans bin 3110 HR shiraz on a top restaurant wine -list in 1989 for $55

French:-

Chateau Margaux 1979 for $45 per bottle...

La Tache & Richebourg DRC 1978 for about $70...

Imperial of D'Yquem 1983 for $3,000

Rieussec 1983 (750ml) for $25...

1961 Latour on Rockpool wnelist for $600

1982 Chateau Margaux and Haut-Brion in "supermarkets" in France at $100- 130

Those were the days my friend

bacchaebabe · Post by **bacchaebabe** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:47 pm

Ha, you're just showing your age Fred! But yes, those were the days.

I once bought 7 71 Granges fro $100 each and promptly sold 6 of them the next day for $300. I do wish I'd kept more than one but I figured I got one free and still made a tidy profit. Bought them out of the trading post probably around 95/96.

fred · Post by **fred** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:47 pm

Mmm- I bought a couple more 71s at $110 from a restaurant up a the snow in about the same vintage....but as you know I am chronically incapable of selling wines I like ...unless someoen made me an offer too good to refuse.

My stash of 71 Grange has been drunk, but as of 18 months ago it is still the best-drinking Grange I have had (but the 86 shows promise, as does 90, 91 and after that I tasted frequently but did not buy as the pricing seemed more than a trifle high compared to previous years - and we have been played for suckers in Oz!

Gavin Trott · Post by **Gavin Trott** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:44 pm

>>1970 Lindemans HR Chablis at $6.99 (aged release!!!)>>

Got a dozen of these free, well, sort of. Traded with a mate who worked at Lindemans for a case of a 1990 Shiraz

That I made,

at home!

Think I won that trade! :lol:

JamieH · Post by **JamieH** » Tue May 12, 2009 7:48 am

got to love the 'i used to buy grange for XXXX back in XXX' stories. i hear one at least once a week a work, everytime a tirekicker comes in to check out the current price. quick rant.
back to the thread, i'm only young but i remember when Rockford BP was only $50. hold on it still is only $50, got to love that!!!

jamie

rooman · Post by **rooman** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:37 am

I remember when there was no grange.

Luke W · Post by **Luke W** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:53 am

rooman wrote:I remember when there was no grange.

My mind seems to be going as well......

Forgot to mention I bought 2 x 1955 granges in 1983 at Bartlett's Barn at Nerang for $120 each. They are still the benchmark for me in terms of great wine - some have come close but none have equalled them.

Phil Wilkins · Post by **Phil Wilkins** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:34 am

Luke W wrote: I bought 2 x 1955 granges in 1983 at Bartlett's Barn at Nerang for $120 each. They are still the benchmark for me in terms of great wine - some have come close but none have equalled them.

I think we have a winner!

Waiters Friend · Post by **Waiters Friend** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:53 pm

JamieH wrote:got to love the 'i used to buy grange for XXXX back in XXX' stories. i hear one at least once a week a work, everytime a tirekicker comes in to check out the current price. quick rant.
back to the thread, i'm only young but i remember when Rockford BP was only $50. hold on it still is only $50, got to love that!!!

jamie

At least hearing the stories here might verify that we are not tyrekickers.