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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think spending 12k on a bottle of wine, is bordering on obscene?

105 replies

JeanPoole · 02/04/2009 11:10

ok fair eough we all have things we like spending money on, a friend of ours has brought a bottle for his 40th birthday.

i know its a special occasion and all but it just seems almost immoral to me.

however we spend money on things like holidays meals out etc, so perhaps iabu

OP posts:
NorbertDentressangle · 02/04/2009 14:10

I don't get the "wine for investment" thing.

I understand "art for an investment" though as at least you get to look at and enjoy it daily in your home.

Wine is in a bottle, stored in suitable conditions somewhere. You can't possibly gain any pleasure from that surely?

georgiemum · 02/04/2009 14:13

I suppose if you buy a vintage one and store it for a few years you can sell it on when the market is high. Like stocks and shares I suppose. Better to buy art that you like and can live with until it is time to sell it on.

I'd much rather drink it.

cazzaben · 02/04/2009 14:13

Holy Moly... I'd rather spend my money on something else...

I would extreme and obscene... I would love to try it though (as long as I dont get a charge for the glass)

Wowsers I just can't believe it I think I'm in shock
Is he normally a show off with his cash????

cazzaben · 02/04/2009 14:14

Sorry *I would say extreme etc....

grumblinalong · 02/04/2009 14:15

Can I just get this right. Do you mean £12,000 GBP sterling? For a bottle of wine?

Grumblin faints with shock.

Shambolic · 02/04/2009 14:18

So it's this guys life savings really

Assume he is single?

NorbertDentressangle · 02/04/2009 14:18

Surely, even with a £12K bottle of wine there could still be a chance of it being "corked"?

In which case would he get a refund or is it a chance that you take?

(MNs resident wine buff will probably come along and tell me that I'm talking out of my bottom now )

Shambolic · 02/04/2009 14:19

Aha I already reaised that norbert.

I think it's a risk that you take. As long as the seller can show that they have kept it in the correct conditons then you just have a v expnsive bottle of vinegar

NorbertDentressangle · 02/04/2009 14:21

oops sorry Shambolic, must have missed that when quickly reading the thread whilst picking my jaw up off the ground!

...a vinegar that would put any expensive Balsamic vinegar to shame

Shambolic · 02/04/2009 14:23
sarah293 · 02/04/2009 14:38

This reply has been deleted

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Original poster
JeanPoole · 02/04/2009 15:20

he does have a girlfriend, they have been together since late teens, they have no children because...... your going to like this..........they can't afford them!

well thats what they say!

i wouldn't say he was a show off, perhaps a bit pretencious
he has his favourite artists etc

OP posts:
Shambolic · 02/04/2009 15:22

Blinkin eck.

What does the GF make of it?

If DH came home and said he was having a £12K bottle of wine for his birthday, I would just ROFL. Because he wouldn't be

Original poster
JeanPoole · 02/04/2009 15:26

well she works in a call centre.
she told me years ago she would have liked two children a boy and a girl.
in that order!

on a serious note though i think he's a bit mean to her,
he earns double what she earns, they pay half each on the morgage bills.
leaving him with spare money and her with NO spare money
not my idea of a partnership really.

he would never spend the money on a party he hates parties.

OP posts:
Galava · 02/04/2009 15:30

Sounds ridiculous to me.

I could afford to buy one at that price but theres no way ... whats the point if you are just going to drink it. Far more sensible if its a special occasion to splash out a few hundred pounds but £12K really ?? especially if you are on a more modest income. Keeping it as an inveestment is another thing.

But his money ... his decision.

You can still have an opinion though

ABetaDad · 02/04/2009 15:44

My wife has spent 20 years in the alcoholic beverages industry and is an experienced wine drinker up and down the price scale.

She always says that it is possible to tell the difference between wines up the scale from £5 - £75 (retail price) but after that price really ceases to be a guarantee of quality.

My feeling is that £12k is more to do with rarity value than quality. Fair enough, if someone wants to spend that and it is their money but really it does not guarantee a nice bottle of wine to drink.

I would rather spend £75 on something really nice to drink.

FioFio · 02/04/2009 15:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
JeanPoole · 02/04/2009 15:50

lol or cider

OP posts:
onepieceofcremeegg · 02/04/2009 15:55

ABetaDad bet you don't get away with buying your dw a nice bottle of supermarket cava for special occasions then?

Actually, what you say makes sense (to me anyway) surely after a certain price range it can't get much better?

MadameCastafiore · 02/04/2009 15:59

DH opened (accidentally) a bottle of £280 wine once for sunday lunch - it was shite - I have to say I would have preferred the crap pink fizz the co-op do for £3.99!

Now a £1,000 handbag I could understand as it would still be there in the morning and you wouldn't have a thrashing headache.

I think YABU - the expense of seomthing is all relative to how much you have and how much you value a certain item. As you can see from the above - wine is far down on my list of valuable things whereas they are high on DH's and DH really doesn't care for shoes and handbags whereas I would spend thousands on them if he let me.

ABetaDad · 02/04/2009 16:01

onepiece - LOL. I honestly think she would file for divorce and I am only half joking .

My wife buys the wine in our house. She has control and I do not look at the price. It saves arguments. We get a truck to deliver it from Majestic every few months.

Blondeshavemorefun · 02/04/2009 16:21

first i read your post as £12 and i thought - not THAT bad

but 12K

OMG!!

completley bonkers!!!!

exp plonk/bubbles is wasted on me - tried a glass of £600 a bottle shampers and prefered my £3.99 from asda

if i had a spare 12k then i might spend it on art/a car/bag ect you get use of but on booze - no way

Alibabaandthe40bunnies · 02/04/2009 16:27

OP if that is really their financial situation then he is a knob because they can't afford for him to buy it.

Has he bought it yet?

What a plonker being with someone for 20 years and not marrying them or having kids but then spending that much on a bottle of wine. His GF should leave him to drink his expensive bottle all by himself and find herself a nice man who will give her babies

Shambolic · 02/04/2009 16:27

ROFL @ "i could afford to buy one"

He sounds like an arse.

Poor his GF. Will she get to share it with him?

Alibabaandthe40bunnies · 02/04/2009 16:30

Must say you have some strange mates - IIRC it was you who posted about the woman who doesn't wash so as to give the sperm more chance!