Oh How the (once) Mighty Has Fallen > Schrader

I’ve noticed that Commerce Corner has had various Schrader offers at slightly above cost. A year or two ago, bottles were going for much more.

Recently, I’ve noticed MacDonald cabs going for close to 3x’s mailing list price. Can this be a supply and demand problem? Has Schrader peaked? Is MacDonald the new rising star?

What’s your take on this?

Personally, I have quit buying Schrader & will buy all the MacD I can find ! flirtysmile

But why, Ned? Flavor, cost, the Schrader buyout?

I made the Schrader list this year and passed on it, though I did pick up a couple of bottles from a friend. Not sure what I will do next year.

I made the MACDONALD list in 2013 (and picked up a 2012 allocation from someone here) and will continue to buy as long as I am able.

I like that they are smaller, it is a more traditional style, and that one of the owners is the winemaker.

I have been noticing the same thing Dan and strangely enough the shift happened about the time they {Schrader} bounced you.
You market-maker/market-breaker you.

Ah! The power behind the throne revealed! [snort.gif] neener newhere

Perhaps they’re cashing out to buy Bitcoin, which - as everyone knows - is going to 20k by January.

June 18, 2017
Constellation Brands Buys Napa's Schrader Cellars | Wine Enthusiast

Maybe the buyout

for me the price jumps and allocation system moved me out

MacDonald got my money instead. This guy gets it

I just got my last Schrader shipment this week. There’s too much wine to buy so I choose not to buy from the big conglomerates when I can avoid them. Besides, I like the MacDonald brothers and have been on the list since the beginning, so I will put my dollars there.

PS - I think Schrader becomes the next Opus. Not a bad wine, but not something to seek out.

BUY OUT, cost, attitude !

Me thinks flipabilty has a lot to do with it, more than most care to cop to. All you have to do is look at CC action.If Macdonald is so great why are people selling it at 3-4 times release price, $$$$$$$.Their right to do so, but the formula is repeated over and over, small production ,high scores. I applaud wineries that raise their
Prices to reflect gray market pricing.

There’s probably a lot of truth to that. I know people who collected Schrader from the beginning, solely in hopes of flipping verticals. The wine itself is a bit over done too, and maybe people grew tired of it.

But he priced it to capture all the income he could and removed incentive for flippers, and then sold to a conglomerate. My bet is there will be a lot of it showing up for a lot less money than it was a few years ago.

Both good points Greg.Flipping has been going on for years but not at present day levels.

My decision to drop, if it does happen, will have nothing to do with “flipability”. For me it will be price (gone up past my comfort level), cost of shipping (expensive as is, especially with the OWC), the forced mix-packs, the buyout (no need to support a well-heeled conglomerate), and a personal interest in seeking out new wines.

For those of us who don’t follow these producers:

  1. How do the prices compare?

  2. What are the other terms (minimum purchase, requirements to buy something other than the cab?

  3. How far back do the two wineries go? I.e., what were their first vintages?

I am also not interested in the flipping. If Schrader held their sale price at $175, I would be a buyer/drinker

Schrader is a young winery (first vintage ~2000 I believe), with a high production compared to other pricey Cali cults, and makes a wine that is good but that I personally found to be similar to some other wines which were cheaper.

I’d seen Schrader available at retail for $400+ and in some cases $600+ for 750mls. Realistically, even for a very good wine, that is a very hard price for a California wine to sustain. It’s not totally unexpected that prices have dropped somewhat.

At one time Schrader was the ultimate expression of Thomas rivers Brown’s winemaking. At one time that was not such a common thing. At one time the wines were a relative bargain. Times changed. Macdonald is the new crush, until one day it won’t be. Screaming Eagle remains the only winery that hasn’t been able to bust their own bubble. (Despite their best efforts).

But what are the respective prices from the wineries?