I stopped in the Duty Free Shop on the return trip from Puerta Vallarta. This has been a habit of mine since I found bottles of Dom Perignon for $75 in a Duty Free Shop when I was travelling in Puerto Rico. At that time, the 1996 Dom Perignon was just hitting shelves in the States, and it retailed for over $125. Those same bottles now sell for $150. They are still chilling in the cellar.
Times have changed. The 1999 Dom Perignon is now in Duty Free Shops worldwide, advertised at $169. Veuve Clicquot's 1996 "La Grande Dame" (one of my favorite negotiant vintage blends) retails for $220, with their Demi-Sec selling for $40. Perrier Jouet's "Belle Epoque" 1999 (of which I am not a huge fan) retails for $99. These prices are all well above what you should expect to pay in a decent retail outlet in New York. By way of comparison, you can find Dom Perignon 1999 for under $150 at a number of New York merchants by checking Wine-Searcher, and for even less at auction at Wine Commune.
I cannot say what is driving the pricing of these items at Duty Free Shops. The mentality must be that when people are confined in a small space with lots of bright shiny things for sale they will be compelled to purchase them out of sheer boredom, if nothing else. For wine buyers, it should be noted that the largest Duty Free Shop chain of stores throughout the world is owned by LVMH, the very same conglomerate that owns Dom Perignon.
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