Bargain Buy

At a friends's barbecue..he produced the following wine..label covered

Niersteiner Brudersberg
Spätlese trocken 1990
Freiherr Heyl zu Herrnsheim
Nierstein am Rhein, Rheinhessen, Germany

Half bottle: Yellow gold colour...hey..this is good..
I guessed not French..trace of petroleum which
I love in older Riesling.
so..it must be aged...maybe 15 years...
but where from...lovely palate..quite full(12%)...
just the last touch of dryness..otherwise a real pleaser..
OK..take the cover off..
Germany!!..
The host had heard that the vineyard were selling
off some stock cheaply as they needed cellar space
for a new joint-venture with another company...
He had bought 6 half bottles at...wait for it...Euros 2.50 each...
that's $ 3.40..but in any money..it must be the bargain par none...
he is kicking himself he didn't get more...I could have kicked him as well under the table...
Points 17.5

Now..in 30 years I have had some real 'surprise' bargains..but methinks this beats the lot...any other stories...?

Regards

Barry

http://barrys-wine.blogspot.com/

[David M. Bueker]

Nice vintage to get in a clearnace sale.

It's too bad that Heyl has not kept up with the times quality wise. They were part of the elite in 1990, and now they are pretty much off the radar screen.

Barry, I always enjoy your blog postings. You introduce us to wines that are hard to track down over here but still at the same time spike our interest. Keep `em coming!!

wines that are hard to track down over here

May not work for you in Canada but Dee Vine wines in San Francisco has some 1974 and 1971 TBAs from Heyl zu Herrnsheim, although they are several hundreds of dollars more than the $3 paid for the one in Barry's notes.

They also have a cheaper 89 BA.

I've never had those wines but I did buy a very nice and well-priced 1983 Heyl Niersteiner Kranzberg Spätlese from Dee Vine that I enjoyed very much.

I was hoping to hear stories about other 'bargain' surprises....

like..that Chateau Lafite in the mixed case of Beaujolais Nouveau

or the Vintage Port sold at $ 5 as it 'has a lot of sediment'...





Barry

[David M. Bueker]

Well there was the 1995 Ornellaia for $17 (3 botles).

In 2002 I was able to buy a group of six Zind-Humbrecht Grand Cru VTs for a total of $100. All gone but one now.

Let's see...no real screaming bargains like yours, but plenty of wines for less than 30% of full retail.