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Why The Chinese Love Lafite.

post #1 of 17
10/15/10 at 9:00pm
Thread Starter 
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2...e-love-lafite/
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post #2 of 17
10/15/10 at 9:07pm
I have posted this before but so what.

In 1976 my father and three other dudes shared a magnum of 1870 Lafite in Carmel, CA. I used to have it in my head that it was 1875 but this summer I was in Carmel at a wine shop where they have a picture of the event on the wall (with the menu) and sure enough it was the 1870. The bottle had been in the cellar of a Scottish castle for 100 years and they bought it at auction for essentially nothing.

I have had more Lafite than any other first growth (we are still talking about only a handful of times). Lots of disappointments in there but some really smashing wines also.
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post #3 of 17
10/15/10 at 9:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post
I have posted this before but so what.

In 1976 my father and three other dudes shared a magnum of 1870 Lafite in Carmel, CA. I used to have it in my head that it was 1875 but this summer I was in Carmel at a wine shop where they have a picture of the event on the wall (with the menu) and sure enough it was the 1870. The bottle had been in the cellar of a Scottish castle for 100 years and they bought it at auction for essentially nothing.

I have had more Lafite than any other first growth (we are still talking about only a handful of times). Lots of disappointments in there but some really smashing wines also.

The restaurant I work at now has 1870 Lafite. You can come buy it and then compare notes with your dad to see how it's aged!


FWIW, I have been led to believe that the recent Asian interest in huge bordeaux is why the fine wine market is doing so well as an investment when others aren't.
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post #4 of 17
10/15/10 at 9:16pm
Thread Starter 
The Chinese and their Lafite is not dissimilar to the rappers and their Cristal--they buy it mostly for the sakes of impressing their friends and colleagues. Oftentimes, they mix Sprite in with the wine or put ice cubes in it.
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post #5 of 17
10/15/10 at 9:32pm
The love has spread even to where it should rarely go. After I'd bought pretty much all of the 2000 Bordeaux I needed (a bit more, really), a salesman inquired if I'd want some of the Lafite second wine, Carruades. I'm not normally a huge fan of second wines, but I figured that the price was right and in 2000, pretty much everything was going to be at its best.

Flash forward to 2010. Come to look at the auction price guides, and 2000 Carruades is selling for what the big daddy Lafite futures opened at nine years ago. Something like 7x appreciation, in other words. Truly a levered play on Asian prosperity.
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post #6 of 17
10/15/10 at 10:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LabelKing View Post

Oftentimes, they mix Sprite in with the wine or put ice cubes in it.

yes this is particularly disturbing, even to watch.
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post #7 of 17
10/15/10 at 11:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LabelKing View Post
The Chinese and their Lafite is not dissimilar to the rappers and their Cristal--they buy it mostly for the sakes of impressing their friends and colleagues.

Oftentimes, they mix Sprite in with the wine or put ice cubes in it.

The best part is when you sit down with them, they'll tell you right off they're drinking xxxx... Black Label. I tell them I prefer water... Black Label.
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post #8 of 17
10/16/10 at 12:22am
I misread the title as "why the Chinese love melamine"
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post #9 of 17
10/16/10 at 1:52am
Margaux is consistently my favorite of the 1er cru.
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post #10 of 17
10/16/10 at 2:32am
Are rare wines meant to be kept and traded as collectible/investment, not to be drunken?
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post #11 of 17
10/16/10 at 3:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LabelKing View Post
The Chinese and their Lafite is not dissimilar to the rappers and their Cristal--they buy it mostly for the sakes of impressing their friends and colleagues.

Oftentimes, they mix Sprite in with the wine or put ice cubes in it.

Friend recently spent time in China as a guest of some official that was a school buddy of her father. He broke out an old bottle of Lafitte, asked if she thought it was fake, then they all proceeded to drink through the whole bottle using shot glasses. Apparently, they enjoy shooting all forms of their alcohol including wine. Go figure.
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post #12 of 17
10/16/10 at 4:38am
Thread Starter 
In the early days, Remy Martin X.O. was the drink of choice. They've never quite warmed up to champagne most likely because it can't be downed in shot glasses.
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post #13 of 17
10/16/10 at 5:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LabelKing View Post
In the early days, Remy Martin X.O. was the drink of choice.

They've never quite warmed up to champagne most likely because it can't be downed in shot glasses.

Hopefully getting too drunk off shots didn't lead them to have too many spinal injuries.


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post #14 of 17
10/16/10 at 6:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mussel View Post
Are rare wines meant to be kept and traded as collectible/investment, not to be drunken?

Yes, like Pokemon Cards.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LabelKing View Post
Oftentimes, they mix Sprite in with the wine or put ice cubes in it.

Nouveau riche are delightfully trashy.
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post #15 of 17
10/16/10 at 11:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mussel View Post
Are rare wines meant to be kept and traded as collectible/investment, not to be drunken?

this is what a good number of people do to try and make a buck. However, they are often really sensational wines.
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