Value of wine

[egurowitz]

What is the value of a Leeuwin Estate 1993 Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon?

[Buenchico]

The (monetary) value of anything is only as much as someone is prepared to pay for it. Like many wine drinkers, I'm always looking for something which tastes great and doesn't cost much more than �2.99 but there are occasions when I've paid �20, �30 or even more for a bottle of wine. I can't, however, see myself paying 'big money' for this particular wine. Why? Let's look at it:

Leeuwin Estate is a well-respected name and 1993 was a 'good year' for wine production in the Margaret River area of Western Australia. It was not, however, a 'classic' year (such as 1982 or 1987) or even as good as the late 90's. (Leeuwin Estate reds from 1996, 19997 and 1998 have all received high marks in recent wine tastings).

Australian reds generally don't command high prices. This may well be through 'wine snobbery' which means that premier French wines still tend to command higher prices than equivalent wines from other countries but It has to be taken into account when assigning a value.

So what's it worth? Well, that depends upon who's selling and who's buying. Let's suppose that a 'high-quality' wine merchant has a few cases of this wine to sell. Most of his profits come from selling 'cheap plonk' so he doesn't mind too much if these few cases take all year to sell. I'd guess that a 'country' wine merchant would then price this wine at about �20 - �25 per bottle. (The wine shops around Fleet Stret in London might add up to �10 per bottle on to this). On the other hand, let's suppose that Morrison's have the chance to buy stocks of this wine. When deciding whether they should take up the option to buy this wine they have to decide what their customers would be prepare to pay. This, at last, brings me to how much I'd be preparedto pay for this wine. My answer? �12 per bottle.

Chris

[MarkyP05]

A similar wine of the same year, 1993 (a well known year for good wine) is on sale for �19.98 in my local supermarket so i would go somewhere around that estimate. However this is the only wine it stocks at that price, so it maybe a slightly elevated price.