Wine Price Vs Value

The perennial conundrum in the world of wine concerns reconciling the price of a wine with its true value. There can almost never be one correct answer to it. In fact, even them same source might yield a different opinion at a different point in time. And this paradox makes answering two questions very diffucult -

(1) which is the best wine in the world and

(2) what is the best wine you have ever had?

Let’s try and answer both.

The price of a wine is a pure economics, demand and supply. A certain vintage might be highly lauded, preceded and followed by a spate of bad ones which would further heighten its worth, and as bottles remaining in circulation dwindle, the price would keep rising, till a point when the wine itself starts declining in quality and keeping potential. Seen that way, any wine’s price a singular wave graph, that rises and falls, holding its crest depending on the provenance, vintage and keeping conditions.

But that still isn’t enough to make it the best wine. The very subjective nature of the word ‘best’ makes it difficult to anoint any wine unanimously so. Best for you may only be average for me - or vice versa - and in some cases, our collective best could just as easily be another person’s absolute nightmares. So the hunt for the best is conclusively elusive. 

But what about its worth?

Is a wine we pay four-digit prices for guaranteed to deliver a better experience than a considerably lesser one? Well, the most memorable moments I have had with wine involved sharing it with company, comprising exclusively of people who I generally like to have around. Sure the wine would have played a role but the company and the conversations, the spirit of the moment are what I remember more than the tasting notes. I believe that having the same wine alone would have been a lot less memorable. Like the man who hits a hole in one when playing alone (who’s he gonna’ tell!) the joy of a good tipple only exists if it is shared.

So, I hope this little scribble didn’t answer the two questions set out above. if only I hope they have created further confusions. For the best way forward in the world of arts and fine living should never follow a straight stark line.