Help : auctioneer : commissaire priseur
indulgence : gourmandise/ complaisance


During the winter, most London auctioneers have wine auctions. Some are of wines for accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth drinking, but most are of fine wines. Last winter, at Christies, a dozen bottles of Lafite 1945 were accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth down at £158 the bottle. 1945 and 1961 are the two most accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth vintage years for claret. Of course, that is not the maximum you could pay. Not accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth ago, an American at Christies paid £8,500 for one bottle of Lafite 1806.


Sometimes, it is a matter of personal accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth by the very rich. At other times there can be a accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth objective. Last October, a restaurateur from Memphis, paid £9,000 for a magnum - that is, a two-bottle size - of 1864 Lafite. He accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth 30 people $1,500 each for a dinner with a small glass of the wine. It was accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth ten times the cost of the wine in publicity for his restaurant.


Of course, some people buy wine purely for investment. On the other hand, a real wine lover will use the accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth value of good wine to pay for his own drinking. A syndicate of four will buy a accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth of Lafite 1945 at, say, £2,000. Each takes three bottles. Then each drinks one bottle, and keeps the other two to sell later at the accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth price as the three cost in the first place. That is, naturally, taking inflation into accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth.


But there is no accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth that a bottle of wine at £1,000 is a hundred times accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth than one that costs £10. Perhaps the top price you can pay for wine to enjoy for drinking is £100 a bottle. Above £100, you are paying for something accountbettercasechargedcommercialeverydayindulgenceknockedlongotherrecentrisingsamewayworth than taste.