The Auswine Forum

Back in Sept last year I auctioned off 2 bottles of 1996 Penfolds Bin 389. They hammered for NZ$360 each which I thought was crazy.

So I sent 2 more bottles for auction. They sold tonight for NZ$700 each. Speechless, I just cannot believe it. The world has gone completely f**king crazy.

Brodie

Indeed...

I just bought two at auction, separate individual lots

1 at AUD 130
1 at AUD 65

Appears to be an arbitrage opportunity for you two.

Sorry to hijack the post but for some reason I thought you were posting about Ukraine... I haven't tried any Ukrainian wine, but stumbled upon this: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/03/01/ ... aggression

The world has indeed gone completely crazy.

If anyone has tried any Ukrainian wines, I'd be interested to hear about them.

Personally, I agree it's crazy.

Why such prices?
- Reputed vintage, maybe nearing peak
- Blue chip name
- Relatively few such bottles in NZ?
- General insanity of super-rich driving the highest prices higher?

As for Ukrainian wine, Massandra certainly made / housed some impressive fortified wines. I recall a large release of old bottles maybe a couple of decades ago, and ended up tasting one at one of the 'Oddities' tastings in London. It was certainly an interesting old curio. Outside of that, I believe much of the wines used to go to Russia, often sweetened to suit the demand of the Russian market.

Ian S wrote: As for Ukrainian wine, Massandra certainly made / housed some impressive fortified wines. I recall a large release of old bottles maybe a couple of decades ago, and ended up tasting one at one of the 'Oddities' tastings in London. It was certainly an interesting old curio. Outside of that, I believe much of the wines used to go to Russia, often sweetened to suit the demand of the Russian market.

Hi Ian, thanks for mentioning these wines, I have had them 3 times and each time they were a revelation for me and other tasters.

The Massandra Collection was sold by Sothebys in London in the early 1990s. I still have one bottle left, a 1937 Madeira. They are amazing wines and seem immortal. They are sweet fortified wines from the Crimea with a famous history

https://quillandpad.com/2020/07/21/the-massa ... -it-tells/

Amazing. Drinking history alas a tragic vintage for the Ukraine. The Great Purge. Would love to visit the region one day.

was in Kiev and drove down to Odessa in 2017. TBH, both cities pretty so-so. Had some reds from the Crimean peninsula which were decent.
hopefully, Xi can broker some sort of peace.

as to the wine madness, it is completely ridiculous. Burgundy I purchased only 7-8 years ago for $100 a bottle now selling for $1200.

i've still got probably 6-12 bottles of 96 389, and I'd be pretty sure 12 of the 98 389. A hangover from when I used to buy Aussie wine. Looks like I may change my "never send to auction" policy!!!!

brodie wrote:Back in Sept last year I auctioned off 2 bottles of 1996 Penfolds Bin 389. They hammered for NZ$360 each which I thought was crazy.

So I sent 2 more bottles for auction. They sold tonight for NZ$700 each. Speechless, I just cannot believe it. The world has gone completely f**king crazy.

Brodie

So the saga continues: I was so utterly gobsmacked that anyone wold pay NZ$700 for 1996 Bin 389 that I called the auction house and said "I have more, why don't you offer then to the underbidder at $650" = their losing bid. The underbidder was very suspicious that the whole thing was a set up and scam and said no. So then the auction house asked the successful bidder did he want more at $700 and he said yes!

BTW the wines actually passed in unsold at $200 in the previous month's auction.

Brodie

Good for you Brodie. Plenty of money in the high-end of town so make hay!

Interesting response from the underbidder! My thoughts are:

- Given what I know of what happens in UK auction houses, they are right to be suspicious (even though in this situation it was all legit).
- If they think that, perhaps they need to reflect that their underbid may have been too high and they got carried away in pursuit of 'winning' the auction. It is very much recommended to have a clear figure that you won't go above, researched in advance, not just for market prices, but genuinely asking ourselves what it's worth to us.

Sounds like much more at play here, collusion perhaps between bidders to ramp up the price and then the sucker arrives 2 minutes before closing.

Reminds me of the dozens of house auctions I attended where trees, letter boxes and veranda posts all got a bid, but with the squeaky clean real estate practices we have these days, that surely wouldn't happen anymore

Cheers Craig

bdellabosca wrote:Appears to be an arbitrage opportunity for you two.

Sorry to hijack the post but for some reason I thought you were posting about Ukraine... I haven't tried any Ukrainian wine, but stumbled upon this: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/03/01/ ... aggression

The world has indeed gone completely crazy.

If anyone has tried any Ukrainian wines, I'd be interested to hear about them.

I have a few bottles of Ukrainian wines from the famous Massandra winery that was founded by Tsar Nicolas II in 1894. So it was originally a Russian winery when founded, then became a Soviet Union winery, then Ukrainian when it became independent, and in 2014 is back to being Russian. What a roller coaster ride.

What I have are essentially fortified wines, a couple of ports and some sherry. Two ports from 1999 and a few 1998 sherry. They have an evocative label that features a photograph of Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Josef Stalin at the Yalta Conference of 1945.
Note that on the label Sherry is used in the English but in Cyrillic it is the Spanish "Xeres".

Mahmoud.

Unbelievable pricing for the 1996 Bin 389, really hard to believe. I have 5 bottles for which I paid C$25, from a liquor store next to a petrol station just two blocks away from home. It's an empty lot right now but scheduled to be developed into a high rise condos. Oddly enough, many years later I paid the same amount for the 2002, 2004, and 2005 Bin 389s.

On my next trip to Australia perhaps I should go via New Zealand.

phillisc wrote:Sounds like much more at play here, collusion perhaps between bidders to ramp up the price and then the sucker arrives 2 minutes before closing.

Cheers Craig

Hi Craig, normally I would agree with you, but it was “the sucker in the last two minutes” (succesful high bidder) who said yes to buying more at the same insane price. Go figure, no buyers remorse / cold light of day it would appear……

As I keep saying; this is completely f**king insane

brodie wrote:

phillisc wrote:Sounds like much more at play here, collusion perhaps between bidders to ramp up the price and then the sucker arrives 2 minutes before closing.

Cheers Craig

Hi Craig, normally I would agree with you, but it was “the sucker in the last two minutes” (succesful high bidder) who said yes to buying more at the same insane price. Go figure, no buyers remorse / cold light of day it would appear……

As I keep saying; this is completely f**king insane

Strange days indeed...most peculiar mamma...or words to that effect, from John Lennon. Agreed, bizarre that someone would pay 300% over the price guide, perhaps a birth year or wedding anniversary year
Brodie, I really hope you enjoy spending all that money...good on you

cheers craig

How much would my magnum go for …?

George Krashos wrote:How much would my magnum go for …?

About 2 grand on current Kiwi rates George You'd need to factor in delivery though, not sure what a return airfare is now.
Cheers Craig

brodie wrote:Back in Sept last year I auctioned off 2 bottles of 1996 Penfolds Bin 389. They hammered for NZ$360 each which I thought was crazy.

So I sent 2 more bottles for auction. They sold tonight for NZ$700 each. Speechless, I just cannot believe it. The world has gone completely f**king crazy.

Brodie

I bought a stack of these for $20 on release. I drank my last one probably five years ago. Although it was a good wine, definitely great for the price, it just never had the fine tannins structure and finesse to justify it as a fine wine to me. $700 is just people with no idea bidding for a label. I could provide a probable demographic profile, but I won’t. Great for the seller, well done you!!!