Morrell's wine sale

[scamhi]

In today's Dining In section of the Times there is a full page Morrell ad listing a bunch of good wines. I am interested in buying a case a red burgundy or bordeaux and one of white burg. Any great values?

[marcus]

I took a look at the red Bordeaux and the white Burgundies and can't find anything of interest. In general, like most retailers, they are pushing what's available, which are wines that are too young to drink. Also, although their discounts appear large, they are starting from an extraordinarily high price point. More relevant is to compare these prices to recent auction prices. I took a quick look at the 1986 cheval blanc and 1990 haut brion which at least one can think about drinking today vs recent prices from Sotheby's auctions. The Sotheby's website has a good capability for searching past auction results. For the 1986 cheval blanc, which I don't recommend, I find the 1983 and 1985 much better, they are charging $325 vs a fairly consistent auction price of about $150. For the 1990 haut brion, which is excellent, they are charging $333 versus a widely varying auction price of $210-$260.