Wine: No expense shared

The people who buy wines at £200 a bottle don't drink them. So does the taste ever justify the eye-popping price-tag?

FINE wine prices are soaring. The quality and publicity surrounding Bordeaux's 2000 and 2005 vintages have sent prices through the stratosphere. A few years ago Jancis Robinson penned a now famous column waving goodbye to Bordeaux's first growths. Their price, well over £100 a bottle, had finally consigned them to a handful of global collectors. No longer, she lamented, will we be able to afford or enjoy the sublime pleasures of Margaux, Pauillac and in some cases Pomerol.

These prices have been with us for some time now. But the latest bull market has seen Bordeaux's top eight tip over the £200-a-bottle mark. Who on earth, you may ask, can justify or wish to pay more than £2,400 for 12 bottles of wine? When I worked as a wine merchant I had the good fortune to taste a variety of the now iconic vintages from Bordeaux's first growths. It goes without saying that these wines were sublime, well structured and immaculately made – but too often they struggled under the overwhelming expectation of the market's price tag. Things never used to be this way. Like property and fine art, inflation has run rampant in this sector, sending what was once perceived as an average luxury product into nose-bleed territory.

Those of you with long memories will recall the autumn of 1984, when it was not uncommon to walk into a wine merchant and find bottles of 1982 Pétrus lying unsold for what appeared to many at the time as an extravagant £18.50 a bottle. For the lucky few who snapped those up, they are now worth nearly £3,000 each.

Like fine art, with wine the inflation is being driven by a swathe of wealthy individuals from America, Russia and the Far East. In the last few months the decision to slash the import duty on wine into Hong Kong by 40% has sent sales skyrocketing in that part of the world. Of course, the majority of wines are not bought to be drunk and enjoyed; they are bought for their ability to accrue value in a relatively short period of time. Wine investment is nothing new. Canny buyers have always squirrelled away a few cases to sell at a later date. The principle is relatively simple: buy an immature wine and sell it when it is ready to drink. What is new are the telephone number figures now being achieved. Take Bordeaux's 2000 Château Lafite-Rothschild. A year and half ago this was selling for around £5,000 a case. It is now worth just more than £9,000, a 91% increase outperforming property, the stock exchange and oil. It is little wonder a coterie of boutique investment houses has sprung up, all happily trading wine.

Personally, I don't have a problem with anyone buying wine for investment. What I do have a problem with is a generation of wine drinkers believing the hype surrounding these wines. Perhaps if we could all afford 1990 Pétrus (£2,000 a bottle) we could put it into some sort of taste perspective. Brokers keep telling me the market will not go away. They argue each year that an increasing number of wealthy individuals are discovering the delights of fine wine. The vineyards are already working to capacity, while every day the reserves are being consumed. Then again, they said the same thing about Dutch tulips in the 17th century and you can buy those at £3 a bunch where I live.

2001 Château Margaux, Margaux, Bordeaux, France, £200

One of the most recognisable of the first growths for its striking Palladian portico on the label. Silky and perfumed, it produced perhaps the most elegant interpretation of cabernet sauvignon anywhere in the world. A favourite with collectors.

2003 Château Lafite-Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, £641

Just about everyone hankers after Lafite. Powerful and lithe, with that distinctive Left Bank silkiness. The only problem is that it is just far too famous and expensive.

1995 Krug Clos d'Ambonnay, Reims, Champagne, France, £1,200

This wine dances around the palate with a rich, powerful creaminess encased in a lively, steely mineral fruit. Very precise, with huge concentration and power, it will be a favourite with collectors for many years. Only 3,000 bottles have been released of the 1995 vintage. Two cases have already turned up at auction in America selling for 26,000.

Stockists: Farr Vintners, London (020 7821 2000); Cockburns of Leith, Edinburgh (0131 661 8400); Justerini & Brooks, Edinburgh (0131 226 4202)