The 99% And Buying Wine (A Commentary)

Courtesy of Wikipedia

There are a lot of people in this world for whom wine is an investment.  Futures markets, First Growth Bordeaux, $1000 bottles of wine on special occasions and $200 bottles of wine with dinner.  These are the Elite or in our frame of reference the Wine Elite.  They have means to purchase and enjoy wines that will never grace our tables nor our cellars.  The hardest of hearts amongst the Wine Elite must look at us in the wine drinking masses with at best with a bit of humor or pity and at worst with disdain and derision.

For them (or the complete stereotype we are portraying) wine is a luxury item that is not in the least a luxury.  It is a place where the more you spend on a bottle of wine the better it must be.  To think otherwise, would lessen the value of every bottle of wine.  Thus by our crazy wine-conomics, a $750 bottle of wine must be better because someone would spend $750 for that bottle of wine.  Yes, it might be from a prestigious producer/region with a classic vintage attached to it but is it really better?

We have all heard the stories of wine experts blind tasting wines and picking the cheapest bottle as the best, but all that is anecdotal.  What we are talking about is the power of the people, the 99%.  It is us that drink most of the wine in this world and it is us who demand quality wines and reasonable prices (with a pretty large range of what reasonable means – as we have discussed previously).  Taking the price and quality arguments out of it, supply and demand start to take a hold in our discussion.  There are only so many bottles of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc on the planet so as the (legit) supply dwindles and the demand stays high (or the legend grows) the price will increase....simple economics.  However, where does it state that the greatest wine ever made is actually worth X number of dollars?  The answer is nowhere.  It is whatever someone is willing to pay for it.  We are seeing a lot of movement in the high-end wine business driven by the expansion of the Chinese market and the wealth being generated in Asia.  This is a new market and the Chinese are finding their palate as a whole and, because their wallets will allow it, they are buying the ‘good stuff’.  At some point, it must be said that a portion of the high-end wine market is truly driven by reputation and brand.  Chateau Margaux is Chateau Margaux for a reason but that has been perpetuated (at least in some part) by branding and tradition. 

However, the same goes for wine at the other end of the spectrum.  We have lots of $12 wine from many producers in many countries making many bottles, in fact hundreds of thousands of bottles (millions even).  Competition being what it is, price can’t be the only consideration and it isn’t.  So, what we are left with is a two tier system.  The investment grade wines and everything else.  The everything else spectrum spans a lot of product which leads to another component of supply and demand at the our end of the spectrum which are trends.  Right now the wine world is fascinated by Moscato (Muscat)...a few years ago it was Pinot Noir, and so on.  So then the industry ebbs and flows with trends from critics, in restaurants, and on store shelves.  There is big business surrounding those trends, but at the end of the day it is the 99% that will drive what is produced and consumed.  Our take is as the 99% we drink what we like and keep those businesses going that treat us well and make great wines.  We as a wine drinking society are certainly moving towards more organic, bio-dynamic, and ethical wines that will enrich and enhance us all.

That brings us to the final piece of this meandering diatribe which is who is actually drinking wine, folks like most of you reading this and like us.  We equate the wine world to any market with a luxury segment...cars, homes, etc where there are the dream versions and the real world versions.  Trouble is the real world versions in wine can definitely give the luxury versions a run for their money (in certain circumstances).  That is particularly troubling when people are investing in wine where the intended goal for most of those investors is to never consume their investment and simply wait until the supply and demand (or prestige) takes their investment higher.  While we are typically intrigued by the concept there is certainly a level of shenanigans going on in there as these people are not as much investing in a rare product as investing in the idea of a rare product (perceived value).  In our minds it comes down to the attitude of the individual and their reverence for the product.  To us, someone who is a true wine lover and has the means to buy and enjoy wines in the upper end of the market is worthy of having those experiences on the behalf of the rest of us.  But, to the aforementioned Wine Elite we certainly do not wish the same.  Oh to be a fly on the wall and hear the muffled throat clearing when someone opens a spoiled bottle of 1890 whatever (if that would ever happen).....it’s like driving by a Ferrari Enzo broken down on the side of the highway (which we have done), you can’t help but laugh.....

Keep on drinking!

Chris & Shannon