Business Notes Wine

Almost since the grapes were harvested, growers and shippers in Bordeaux have been proclaiming 1982 as a truly great vintage. That year the wine-growing area benefited from gentle spring rains and exceptionally sunny weather during harvest, particularly in the crucial month of September. Says Steven Spurrier, a Paris wine merchant: "In 1982 the growers almost couldn't believe their eyes." Alas, prices for the exceptional wines are also spectacular. The cost of a premier grand cru like Chateau Lafite-Rothschild '82 is nearly $58 a bottle (compared with $45 for the 1981 vintage), and even humbler chateaux like Prieure-Lichine are selling for $15 a bottle.

Heavy American demand for the 1982 wines is responsible in large part for the inflated prices. Sherry-Lehmann, a leading New York City wine merchant, charged $400 for a case of Lafite-Rothschild '82 when it first went on the market in June of 1983. The price is now $699, and it will go up to $768 on April 15. Spurrier, though, thinks that the speculative bubble will eventually burst and that 1982 prices will fall. Says he: "The public simply won't pay this. I think that a crash is inevitable."