Joe’s correct. A $12.00 wine is more likely a under Euro 2.00 wine – something, I’m sorry, I would never drink, buy or sell.(I’m speaking of wines from Italy. Other countries might have different pricing structures.)

My Twitter on June 5th:
$15 RETAIL. IMPORTED. Calculated @
$0.88/Euro 1 in ‘02. Now, $1.45. 65% increase. Ocean freight doubled. R u still drinking the same price point?
2:57 PM Jun 5th from TweetDeck

Your $15.00 imported bottle of a wine of the same quality from Italy you consumed in 2002 is now more likely a $25.00 bottle – and only if the vintner didn’t raise the price within the last 7 years.

Jerry Thorpe
Tacoma, WA

Joel Goldberg made a good comment above about the legal barriers. The ‘forced distributor’ factor is one that most folks probably aren’t aware of…

Based only on my pallet! For each has their own!

At this point I have no hope that california will stop producing the amount of garbage it does today. If France and other countries have all of the mentioned advantages then to compete California should just scrap producing wine under $10. If it takes a few extra doallrs to put a good bottle of wine on the market than so be it. Let what is in the bottle justify the price. I would certaintly consider buying from california even if it was $3-$5 more expensive. So far I have tasted nothing that would make me consider spending more on california wine that a bottle from France or other Euorpean country. Side by Side California always comes up second in the Price range we are discusssing. Actaully I have to go to about $18 to $20 to get something that I like as much from France at about $12 to $15. There will alwyas be cheap drinkers that really don’t care about quality and for that reason I am glad Almadena and franzia exisit. For everyone else stop buying the crap that gets bottled and labled with some stupid name that “looks” good. If the wine drinkers don’t put pressure california to shape up then they will never stop themselves and this debate will continue for decades. cheers!

There’s a point for all regions where you stop paying for the bottle, the cost of getting it to the shop, and the retailer’s markup, and start paying for the wine. With France, it’s one price; Chile, another; for the US, another still. That’s not to say you can’t find bargains below that mark, but you have to know what you’re looking for.

It’s hard to make comparisons, based on exchange rates and time, but I do suspect that the multi-tiered distribution system means that American wines fit more neatly into the retail environment of, say, British wine shops than ones back in the US. There’s more basic consistency at a lower price than most French offerings, but fewer bargains than the producers of South America.

With $10 to spend, I’m going to buy American if I have the store’s expertise to lean upon, but there’s usually no guarantee that I’ll see that wine any time soon. At $15, for better or worse, I’m likely to have a choice of west coast wines that I’ll be able to drink again.

BTW, Sebastiani has a GREAT Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma that I have often found at the local shop for $11-13.

Origins of the wines:
France — 5 bottles
Italy, U.S. — 2 each
Austria, Portugal, South Africa — 1 each

Well then add in the cost of actually getting it to the other coast (avg 2.50-6.00 a case) you can already see before the “three tier charges” that again the costs get greatly increased.

Lets then add the cost of warehousing the goods once it gets to the distributor (accessable warehousing isn’t cheap), and operating a fleet of trucks to get it into the marketplace, and paying the sales person, billing clerk, telephone charges, warehouse loading staff, truck driver, merchandiser) andagain you can see how the cost to the retailer is over $10.

Wait were not done, as most states want thier cut of the pie to fund roads, schools, pet projects. Add to this the reailers costs occupy his place of business. ( Lights, insurance, coolers, staff)

Hard to inagine that we can even talk about such a thing as a $10 bottle when you start to break down the true costs…..

The Lecheneaut Burgundies increased in price dramatically when you started representing the wines (and the % of new oak and quality of the wines improved dramitically) and now the wines are 2x plus as expensive as much new world Pinot. But I wouldn’t go on saying how the Lecheneaut brothers have new electronics or huge homes…because they don’t (at least not the last time I was there).

You can do better than this interview.

Adam Lee
Siduri Wines