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| It’s a
Wine Buyer’s Market |
| In writing these
articles’ my goal is to educate and entertain wine lovers
(or anyone even remotely interested in wine). Therefore, I thought
it might be informative if I gave a kind of "state of the
industry" update. There are major changes and issues taking
place in the wine biz, as we speak. |
| The good news,
bad news is that there is a plethora of wine out there. |
| That’s
good news for the retailers and consumers, bad news for the
suppliers. The wine business has always been cyclic and wine
is a luxury item, not a necessity. So when times are good, people
are willing to bear whatever price the market demands. This
is what has taken place over the last several years. Wineries
have been able to raise their prices each year and the public
has been willing to pay. Now don’t blame them for being
capitalists. They have to make good while they can. But now
the pendulum has begun to swing the other way. The economy has
slowed, production is up, the number of imports in the U.S.
are also up, and we are coming off a lesser vintage in California
˜ meaning, there are still a lot of wines from the ‘98
vintage that haven’t sold. |
| This is creating
a huge backlog of wine, and while I doubt we’ll see everyone
suddenly dropping prices, pricing should stabilize at the least,
and at best, we will find much more attractive pricing in a
broad range of affordable wines. |
| Most people
are not aware that there is a major battle being fought over
interstate wine shipping. This has been an ongoing issue over
the last several years, brought to the forefront by the increase
in Internet commerce. At least once a week, I get asked to ship
to a state that does not allow shipments of wine to cross their
borders. When I say that it’s illegal to ship wine there,
I get an incredulous stare of disbelief and asked, of course,
"Why?" Well, while a few states do allow you to ship
wine there, the majority still does not. Each state has its
own laws regarding interstate shipping. For many years, most
have looked the other way. But recently, large wholesalers have
banded together with local governments to fight this disgusting
contraband. |
| Their argument?
Publicly, it’s out of fear that the underage youth of
America will be ordering bottles of wine to be shipped directly
to their homes for their evil pleasure. I know when I was underage,
I would stand outside the local wine shop in hopes that I could
convince someone to buy me a bottle of a ‘70 Bordeaux
if I was having steak, or a nice Pinot to compliment my Friday
night rack of lamb. Yeah right! In reality, the states and the
wholesalers are concerned about loss of commerce and tax dollars.
Many consumers and wineries are fighting to have these archaic
laws overturned, some with success and some not. So, the battle
rages. I’ll keep you posted. |
| Finally, I’m
disturbed to find out that wine consumption in the U.S. is actually
down. What’s up? Some of you are not doing your job. |
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