The iPhone release is yesterday's news. For a chance at high-quality wines, especially those from Burgundy, wine enthusiasts camped for a month outside Norway's alcohol monopoly, Vinmonopolet, as reported by the Norwegian news portal E24.
Is Norway becoming a bargain country for fine Burgundy wines?
Alternating between showers at the gym across the street, warming up in nearby cafes, and shoveling snow off their tent roofs – seven young men took not only a month off but also braved several inconveniences after leaving their New Year's Eve party to camp out for weeks in front of a Vinmonopolet store in Oslo. Their goal: early access to new releases, especially the rare premium Burgundy wines, preferably from Domaine Romanée-Conti, costing an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 Norwegian kroner per bottle (about $5,600 to $7,500), as one camper explained to E24.
"The krone is very weak," he sensed a bargain opportunity. Jens Nordahl, the communications manager at Vinmonopolet, told E24 that Burgundy wines are "less expensive because of Vinmonopolet's low markup compared to other countries" – perhaps next year, wine enthusiasts from abroad might also camp here?
At the start of their camping adventure, the enthusiastic customers had no idea which wines would be released – Vinmonopolet only publishes the list a week before the sale begins. However, the real estate company Norwegian Property, on whose property the young men pitched their tents, not only granted them permission but also provided additional party tents.
The early bird catches the DRC
As Decanter reported, there were queues outside Vinmonopolet shops all over Norway, except in Bodø, where authorities banned camping due to the extreme cold. On the last night before the sale, 56 people reportedly waited in front of the largest shop. Ultimately, there were only three bottles of Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 2020 available, priced at around $7,500 per bottle.
Henrik Malmen, one of the early birds in Oslo, successfully made his purchase after being unsuccessful the previous year, as E24 updated. In total, he bought wine worth about $23,000. VM
