When perusing the wine aisle it can be hard to understand why one bottle is $8.00 and the next is $28.00. Is there really that big of a difference? If so, will I even be able to tell? I’ve asked myself these questions many times before getting comfortable with the abundance of wine we’re all faced with at any store. If you’ve been curious about this too, no need to fret. I’m here to help!

 

With quality and wine, there is one main saying to keep in mind: Time is money. For example, that $8.00 bottle was likely created or aged using a process that took much less time than the $28.00 bottle. Let’s pretend both of these hypothetical bottles are California Cabernet Sauvignons. For the $8.00 bottle, the grapes were certainly machine-picked and very likely not sorted through to ensure that only the grapes in good condition made it into the batch that is going to be fermented. The grapes also likely came from all over California and were purchased for a deal in large quantities. The $28.00 bottle will likely have had more care going into which specific grapes were chosen, where they are from and how they were grown. Then with aging, the $8.00 bottle likely has some additives or more time efficient ways than an expensive French oak barrel to get that typical oaky flavor that you expect with a California Cab. The $28.00 bottle could be aged in that fancy barrel for a few months or even several years to give it a more authentic and balanced flavor. Again, time is money. So if this $28.00 bottle is sitting in oak for a year, that’s a full year that it could not be sold. That time needs to be factored in when pricing the bottle. 

 

Now, if we start getting into the bottles that cost the big bucks, like the top-shelf bottle that you can barely fathom picking up, there may be some additional time intensive procedures at play. Maybe these grapes were hand picked, sometimes over several days or weeks as the different vines in the vineyard have their grapes ripen. Maybe this wine was aged in oak for five years (time that this bottle made $0.00 for the winemaker) or is made from the absolute best grapes grown in the vineyard that year while the rest went into their cheaper bottles. All these factors are labor intensive, time consuming and require real skill that doesn’t go into the mass produced stuff. 

 

Additionally, there’s reputation to think about. There are bottles that carry a name that merit the price tag. For example, Dom Perignon Champagne. Many of us have heard the name even if we’ve never had a sip of the wine. Dom Perignon makes a very high quality product, however, the vineyard next door that you’ve never heard of likely makes a similar product at a lower price point because they don’t have the glamorous name that’s globally recognized. This is a useful trick for finding great wine at a more reasonable price point. Your local wine shop associate can likely point you in the direction of a bottle similar (or maybe even better) at a fraction of the cost of the big name that you recognize. 

 

Lastly, one has to keep supply and demand in mind. The top vineyards around the world will, sometimes intentionally, produce a very small batch of their highest quality wine. With an abundance of people looking to buy that wine and not enough to sell to everyone, price inevitably goes up. Many top vineyards have waitlists and the bottles are surely delicious but are also coveted for their rarity. Sometimes with higher quality wines, the number of bottles in that specific batch that was produced is mentioned on the label somewhere to advertise that you are getting one of only so many of that very special wine. 

 

So, there you have it. As with most items that have a range of prices, there are factors that go into every step of the process that push the price in one direction or another. We didn’t even get into the price of shipping wine across oceans, the cost of inputs like cork or the taxes imposed on these items. At the end of the day, each person should enjoy wine at whatever price point they’d like to partake in. As always, I encourage a little exploration or popping into your local wine shop to get the best bang for your buck. Even if you want to keep your purchase at a lower price point, who doesn’t love a good deal? There are some amazing wines out there that are very affordable and your local wine shop will happily tell you all about them.