Wine Prices in 1962

In 1962, I was a senior at MIT, living in the Russian Dormitory, which occupied one wing of Senior House (so-called because it was the oldest residential house on the MIT campus). The resident tutor of the Russian Dormitory was David Perlmutter, who was also a lecturer in Russian and a graduate student in linguistics. David occasionally drove a few of us in his Volkswagen Beetle to buy wine at the Berenson Liquor Mart, whose catalog, reproduced below, tells an interesting story of inflation:

• The wines from the best châteaux cost only about 4 or 5 times the price of a regional blend:  $1.10 for a Bordeaux rouge (p. 2) vs. $4.35 for Ch. Lafitte 1957, $6.45 for Ch. Latour 1957, or $5.75 for Ch. Margaux 1955 (p. 4). For a great Burgundy, note a 1959 Chambertin Close de Bèze for $5.25.

• The prices of wines from the best châteaux have risen much faster than inflation, but distilled liquors have not gone up much at all. Compare $5.75 for Ch. Margaux 1955 to $5.66 for a fifth of Tanqueray Gin (p. 25).

• A vintage Port aged for 25 years can be truly great. But note that a vintage 1935 Port (27 years old in 1962) at $4.25 was barely twice as much as an ordinary ruby port at $1.99 (p. 20).

• Rare wines, which today could only be found at an auction house or in a locked room of a specialty store, are listed at very afordable prices:  1919 Ch. Haut Brion for $9.00 (p. 4), 1929 Clos St. Jacques for $9.50 (p. 9), 1908 vintage Port for $6.25 (p. 20), and 1869 Madeira for $7.50 (p. 21).