Big questions hovered: Would the 2003 wines be even more expensive than the sticker-shock 2000s, and if so, would a weak-dollar, recession-dogged public pay for them?

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This, combined with the sudden devaluation of the dollar, is still known in Japanese history books as the "Nixon Shokku" (Nixon Shock).

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The dollar looks attractive on all these criteria and therefore, despite the US-specific nature of the shock, we think it will likely perform fairly strongly.

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