Spotlight On: Sloan

Young California Cult auction sales down 14 percent in value

John Siudut

Posted: Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Recent vintages of California cults have been underperforming in the auction market in comparison to the Wine Spectator Auction Index. In particular, Sloan, which began production in 2000--a relative newcomer to the cult scene--presents a good buying opportunity right now. An index of its average auction prices have lost 14 percent in value over the last two quarters, while the California cult index has only dropped four percent over the same time period.

The Sloan 2003 (94 points, $245 release, $299 current) represents the best value for buyers: It has lost 37 percent of its value since reaching a high of $407 in the third quarter of 2007.

The Sloan 2002 (99 points, $245 release, $623 current), however, which reached a high of $747 in the fourth quarter of 2007, has lost nearly 20 percent of its value over the past two quarters.

Zachys June 20 & 21 sale in Los Angeles is a great opportunity to purchase Sloan. There is a single lot of the Sloan 2002 and four lots of Sloan 2003 on the block with the high estimates at current auction averages.

This data comes from the Wine Spectator Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions. The average prices from each quarter have been indexed to 100 beginning in the first quarter of 2005. This chart plots the index value of the average price of Sloan from 2000-2004 against that of California Cult wines from 2000-2004 and the Wine Spectator Auction Index.

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