This fall, should you be served a bottle of Bordeaux with a bearded St. Peter on the label and vintage date 1982, be sure to say something nice to your host: Three cases of that wine, Chateau Petrus 1982, each sold for a record-busting $72,700 at Aulden Cellars-Sotheby’s in New York last May, or more than $6,000 a bottle. An even more generous investment in your dining pleasure would be a pour of the red burgundy Romanée-Conti 1985. A case of that wine sold at NY Wines Christie’s, also in May, for $237,000, or $19,700 a bottle. Whatever you feel about the wine, one thing’s for sure: You’ll know that you’re on your host’s A-list.

Another sure thing: The wine auction market has never been so hot, especially in New York. Though London was long considered the wine auction capital, that title has now been ceded to New York. Although the venerable London-based auctioneers Christie’s and Sotheby’s offer wine here, they are outgunned by two local upstarts, Zachys and Acker Merrall & Condit, according to the creator of the Wine Spectator Auction Index, Peter Meltzer. The ascendance of the New York auctioneers has been swift; it was only in the mid-1990s when auctioning wine became legal in New York. “New York took the lead in 1999 and never looked back,” Mr. Meltzer, says.

According to the Auction Index, which tracks prices of more than 10,000 individual wines sold at seven American auction houses, prices were up by 6.8% in the first half of 2007, an increase of over 1% a month. That’s on top of a 13% jump in the second half of 2006. Will the heat still be on when the fall auction season kicks off next month? Is the sales room only for the big spenders, or can modest pocketbooks also participate? To find out, Urban Vintage lunched last week at Orsay, the Upper East Side bistro, with Mr. Meltzer, who has presided over the index since 1995.

Are we in a new era for wine prices?

When I started buying wine at auction, paying $100 per bottle for a bottle of wine was a lot. Now you have collectors who think nothing of spending $1,000 per bottle or much more, and that’s for regular sized bottles. At Sotheby’s last February, a jeroboam (equal to six regular bottles) of Mouton-Rothschild 1945, a great Bordeaux, sold for $310,700. Nothing like these prices has been seen before.

Is this simply supply and demand at work?

Now, along with Americans buying at domestic auctions, you have Asians, Russians, Eastern Europeans, even Indians. So it’s a bigger pool of buyers, many paying with the strong euro. Beyond that, wine collecting is no longer just for geeks. It’s become chic. It’s a vehicle to impress, although that’s not something I condone. If you want to show off, by a Ferrari.”

Do art and wine prices at auction move together?

People who buy $75 million paintings are in a different league from people who buy $75,000 cases of wine. One million dollars buys a pretty nice wine cellar. But let’s say that you bought last spring’s most noteworthy single cellar, the Verlin collection, sold by Hart Davis Hart in Chicago for $7.1 million. That sum would not buy you a first-rate Picasso. I have two friends who are prominent art dealers and they both ask me to recommend good wines that cost under $20.

Isn’t London the traditional wine auction capital?

London has ceded that title to New York. The greatest private collections of wine in the world are now in the U.S. In 2006, American wine auctions exceeded $167 million, more than quadruple U.K. sales. The leading global wine auctioneer last year was Acker Merrall & Condit, based on the Upper West Side, with sales of $57.93 million. Forthefirsthalfof2007,thefrontrunner was Zachys of Scarsdale, with sales of $26 million.

Will the current stock market downturn impact upcoming wine auctions?

Nobody can say for sure. Back in 1997, the so-called Asian liquidity crisis did cause a downturn in auction sales. As of now, I don’t expect the buyers to be scared off. Given where we are now, it looks like 2007 will surpass last year’s record sales.

With New York’s wealth of serious wine retailers, shouldn’t non-trophy hunters buy from a reliable shop rather than at auction?

If you want something a little more profound than you can buy at your local shop, you’ll find it at auction. That’s where you can create a diverse collection of mature wines.

But haven’t prices gotten out of hand?

A: Some things have skyrocketed. Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1982, for example, sold last spring at Sotheby’s in New York for $27,480. In 1983, it cost around $400 per case. That tells you the market is really hot at the trophy level. But — and this is an important but — there’s lots to be had at the lower end of the auction spectrum. Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 1990, a long-lived Bordeaux, sometimes called a “super-second,” sold for an average price of $108 in the second quarter of 2007, compared to $134 in the last quarter of 2006, and a release price of around $40. It’s drinking wonderfully now. As much as the six-figure “gee whiz” wines capture the headlines, lots more wines are accessible, many for much less than Ducru-Beaucaillou 1990.

Any caveats for a first-time auction bidder?

The action moves too quickly to make fast decisions when a lot is up for bidding. Do your homework before you bid. Check prices on wine-searcher.comto be sure you’re not bidding more than retail once the 19.5% commission is added. I’m personally very conservative in bidding on a wine that I know will come back at auction. Also. look for mixed lots rather than cases of a single wine. They tend to go cheaper.

Should wine be bought for investment?

Unlike the stock market, if you need to liquidate your wine investment tomorrow, you won’t have a vehicle to do so. The leadtime for selling wine at auction is at least three months.

How did you become involved with collectible wines?

In 1978, I was invited to a tasting of many vintages of Chateau Lafite Rothschild hosted by Marvin Overton, a great collector in Dallas. It was the first time I tasted wines older than my parents, and I was just bowled over. That’s where it started. I started the Wine Auction Index in 1981. And yet, in school, I hated math.

What’s your best value auction purchase this year?

A: A case of Chateau Le Bon Pasteur 1998, picked up for $340 at Sotheby’s. It’s a pomerol from a great vintage just reaching maturity.