OWC of 1948 Taylor's VP

[Roy Hersh]

A friend of mine in the UK just purchased three cases of 1948 Taylor VP for the sum of 9,900 GBP (or a total of approx. $48,500). Do you feel that this is an appropriate price, considering these are in pristine condition, in OWC and with great fill levels?

[Andy Velebil]

So about $1,347 per bottle if my poor math is correct? Yikes, seems a little pricey to me. But if have to check what current auction average is.

[Glenn E.]

Agreed. Seems pricey to me. But that's based on a vague recollection that one can find T48 for around $800 on winesearcher.com, which may not be true anymore, and at least in my mind provenance isn't worth a 50+% markup.

[Tom D.]

For truly perfect provenance and sound bottles, if he has the money, I don't blame him for buying. Sometimes with old and rare bottles condition trumps all, and you have have to seize the moment, and who knows when he'll have another chance for bottles in that condition. There's a ton of crappy old bottles floating around the market at prices not far below what he paid.

That said, I'm glad it's his money, not mine

[Eric Menchen]

Lot 1234 at the HDH auction this month is a case of 1948 Taylor, with an estimate of US$ 7500-11,000, or about $750-1100 per bottle after the buyers premium. I have the catalog and that lot is pictured. Those bottles look really nice (pristine?), fill levels look about 1 cm into the neck, and just one shows slight signs of past seepage. Ten have chipped wax capsules. If someone wants I can possibly scan in the photo.

I'd call that UK purchase price slightly high, but not out of the ballpark. I do recognize the value of provenance and really appreciate bottles in pristine condition. I purchased a case of 1977 Warre's that was pristine. Finding more like that seems a difficult task. For 1948? I suppose if I had 9,900 GBP sitting around and paid that, I'd be happy.

[Moses Botbol]

For truly perfect provenance and sound bottles, if he has the money, I don't blame him for buying.

I don't think the price is out of the question at all. Will an opportunity like ever come around again? Is the owner someone who plans to drink them all? Does he have my email address?

Certainly, the price alone would keep preclude most of us from affording the opportunity, but he's got something special for sure.

[Bradley Bogdan]

Assuming the case is legit (my fears always crop up about great looking older bottles, even though there's nothing that stands out about this), it seems a reasonable premium to pay for the quality of bottles and the provenance. I often apply the "how many cheap bottles would it take me to hit a good one v the cost of a good one" test. So, in this case, you're looking at 1.5 to 2 of the cheap end bottles to equal this probably great bottle. Since 60+ y/o port is sturdier than many other 60 y/o wines, perhaps you're ok with buying two cheaper ones, but I'd personally rather one high probability shot that a bottle is great than two so so ones. I start to consider it when the ratio gets to 3 or more cheap auction bottles to the expensive one, but I find it rarely gets to that kind of disparity.

Also, I think people often forget, looking at the various catalogues and online auctions and the hammer prices, that you CAN have 50+ y/o bottles with great fill, and your 20-30 y/o bottles should not be mid shoulder.

[Barry Sunderland]

Love to see a pristine bottle.