Parr, who oversees wine operations for chef Michael Mina's restaurant group, which includes eateries in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Detroit, Atlantic City, San Jose, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona, has hardly purchased any 2005 Bordeaux. He is sticking with a time-tested strategy: buying several years after release, when the wines have been aged on someone else's dime. Though it's an article of faith among critics and consumers that the 2005 vintages are going to become increasingly scarce and expensive, Parr is confident that he will be able to get the wines he wants in four or five years, at prices that will not be substantially higher than they are now.

Parr thinks that the uncertain outlook for the global economy is going to keep a lid on prices. He also points out that Bordeaux has had a run of excellent vintages lately; in addition to 2005, the year 2000 was terrific, and 2003 yielded a number of superb wines. Another good vintage in the next year or two, says Parr, will leave the market saturated with high-quality clarets. "We may have to pay a little more for the '05s a couple of years from now, but when you factor in carrying and storage costs, I think we'll be fine," he says. 

His outlook extends to Burgundy, where the quantities produced are so much smaller than in Bordeaux that the prevailing wisdom has been that anyone hoping to get their hands on the choicest '05s should buy now, at any price, because the wines will likely never be available again. But Parr, who says that he was able to acquire all the 2005s he wanted (albeit fewer bottles than in vintages past), thinks that some of the wines will come back to the market soon. He believes that a lot of the buying was done by Burgundy neophytes who got caught up in the hype surrounding the vintage, and who are likely to make the mistake of drinking the wines too young.

"A lot of these people are going to open bottles in the next two years because they want to taste them and don't realize that the wines are not drinking well," he says. "It is going to be a rude awakening, and they are going to decide to sell their remaining bottles."

In the meantime, Parr is taking the opportunity to call attention to the many excellent wines from other, less-heralded Burgundy vintages. "I can't tell you how excited I am about the '06s," he says. "There are some delicious wines that, unlike the '05s, are drinking really well right now."

Johnnes, too, is steering diners to other, less acclaimed wines and not just from Bordeaux and Burgundy.

"You have so many sources of good wine now—so much variety at fair prices," he says, pointing to unsung areas like the Jura and Côtes du Ventoux regions in France. "With the prices for the '05s and the economy, people are willing now to expand beyond the classic wine regions; restaurants just have to offer these wines, and the sommeliers have to be willing to do the work it takes to educate people about them."