http://www.slate.com/id/2201323/?from=rss

One other interesting note. Our case quantities are way up while our $’s are up, but at a much lower rate, indicating – as was my response to the survey – that people are drinking as much (or more) but spending less per bottle.

The stock market is anticipating a heavy recession in the economy, which I think will not come. However, private consumption will be affected and the monthly budget spent in wines will probably be reduced, forcing the wineries and distributors to reduce prices. People will move from $20 to $15 a bottle or from $10 to $7.

Also the icon wines, that in the past years have been reaching astonishing prices, will probably be stocked for a larger period. Crisis hurts everyone but the bullish investor.

I seem to recall that historically alcohol consumption increases during financial downturns? (although the complex interrelationship of the Great Depression and the repeal of Prohibition make it pretty hard to draw any conclusions about economic cause and effect in that case, I suppose, and certainly “alcohol” in that case wasn’t luxury wine). And the dynamics of wine consumption in the US have changed dramatically in recent decades. So I imagine it will be difficult to generalize from the past.

And who knows, now that wine seems to hold a certain esteem in investment communities, given that it is a concrete commodity, perhaps more people will purchase it as a “downturn-resistant” investment. Some auction houses have trumpeted recent sales results as evidence of this, but I suspect it is too early to tell.

It is a fascinating topic and it will be interesting to see what happens.

Those days are over and I now stick to it, never gpoing over and most times coming under.

I combine this with looking for the best QPR values I find, cutting the average bottle price.

I guess that’s a combo of the 2nd and 3rd choice.