Hi James,
In June this year I have my closest friends 50th birthday and one ponders as to what to get someone that has everything, so a bottle of shiraz comes to mind.
If your budget was $1000.00 what would you buy?
A)
If Australian, go to the Langton’s website, and you will see the bottles of great shiraz from top vintages on offer. They can be relied upon to give you an accurate description of the appearance of the bottle, and, critically, the level. In the case of Grange, they will also be able to tell you whether the wine has gone through the Langton’s/Penfolds joint re-corking clinic, that in case of 10 to 20 year old Granges gives you a measure of comfort, but cannot protect you from the small chance that the new cork inserted has had TCA (trichloranisole, the mouldy taint). Remember in considering the prices that you also have to pay the buyer’s premium.
Langton’s also auction wines from the northern end of the Rhone Valley which are Shiraz (or in the case of Cote Rotie, Shiraz Viognier blends). The estimated prices is a pretty good indication of the relative quality of each of these innumerable needles in a haystack.
Regards
James Halliday
