Let’s also make the distinction between, say, Bordeaux wines like Mouton-Cadet or those with a “straight” Bordeaux a/c, and those châteaux-bottled wines that are the true essence of Bordeaux (classified wines from the Haut-Médoc, St.-Émilion, etc., etc., along with the wines of Pomerol). It is possible for people to find (red) Bordeaux which is ready-to-drink, but it’s just not very good. ;^)
Very few U.S. producers keep back cases of wine to sell at a later date, after they have aged a bit (or a lot); those few that do generally sell them within 5 years, and the markup are not necessarily all that modest. Few retailers here can afford to do that either. No, the two ways to obtain older vintages of wines here in the U.S. are either for people to buy them off a wine list (and pay the proverbial arm-and-a-leg), or cellar them for themselves (and there is very little tradition for that).
