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B C B U S I N E S S . C A
J U LY/A U G U S T
2 0 24 F r o m t o p c l o c k w i s e : C h â t e a u H a u t- B r i o n ; C h a t e a u M o u t o n R o t h s c h il d ; P r o d u t t o r i d e l B a r b a r e s c o
BACK VINTAGES
If you absolutely must have Bordeaux in
your portfolio—and we don't blame you—
then your best bet in B.C. is to look for back
vintages hiding in plain sight on the shelves.
The
BCL has tremendous purchasing power
and that means sometimes they'll get allot-
ments of wine deep from a chateau's cellar
that normal retailers wouldn't have access
to. Or sometimes they buy too much of
a wine for the Bordeaux release and it
doesn't get all snapped up. In either case,
this is when you pounce. To wit, the 2011
Château Mouton Rothschild, the bluest of
the blue chips, is currently on sale at the
BCL for $800, whereas Calgary's usually
low-cost retailer,
BSW, is asking a whop-
ping $1,500. Château Haut-Brion 2010
(a 100-point wine from Robert Parker) is
$1,600 at the
BCL, but the LCBO was selling
magnums (the equivalent of two bottles)
for $5,500—and they sold out. Sadly, this
strategy works rarely and only at the very
high end, but if you need the big names...
OPEN
SECRET
Scour
BCL shelves for
a vintage Bordeaux
that won't burn a
hole in your pocket:
the 2011 Château
Mouton Rothschild,
for example, is on sale
for $800 (compared to
$1,500 elsewhere) and
the Château Haut-Brion
2010 is going for $1,600
(40 percent less than a
deal at
LCBO)
