From the Blogs: The Great Cabernet Rip-Off

Interesting article there Mike.

The Blogger is from Philly. That said, he does make some valid points?

Well, he is correct that Cab is nothing special to grow and isn’t intrinsically more valuable than any other grape.

People are conditioned to think that it is a “regal” grape and that is should be more expensive. I am still baffled by how expensive a single block or set of rows can be for BTK Cab. A little spacing makes some grapes thousands of dollars more a ton. What is up with that?

Interesting read, but I have some doubts as to the writers purpose.
Funny thing is, there is very little difference between the Insignia and the regular Cabernet. Ever heard of SCORES? (Not that I agree with them, but Insignia was a wonderful drink @65. Not so much now)

After the smoke settles, I pray you are all cured of your feverish Cabernet mania. I pray that you boycott overpriced wines. If you won’t do it for yourselves, do it for me. It’s the only way I will ever be able to afford a bottle of the Insignia. I hear it’s effing amazing.

I have found little of what he says to align myself with. He states the high price-tag of cabs and then says Pinots offer more, even on at 2.5 his average price.
HUH? $200 Jacques Prieur 2005 Corton-Bressandes in place of my beloved $45 Rockledge Cab? I don’t think so.
Here’s the rub: It is nearly impossible to identify the difference between the two grapes.

And if he can’t tell the difference between Merlot and Cabernet, he surely needs to move to Pinot!!

Thanks for sharing it, Mike.

Zin in America and Right-bank when over there!

If a Phelps cabernet resonates like Chopin for this guy, a pinot would probably resonate like John Cage’s 4’33".

All the Burg and pinot digressions aside, I share the author’s sentiment. I love cabernet, but prices have become unhinged from reality. I want to punch Napa in the face for doing that to my first love. Screagle and Harlan are obviously outliers at 750 and 500, but there is no shortage of 275+ cabs either. Domestically, the best examples of other varieties fall in at Napa cab’s entry price. SQN and Marcassin, go out to the list at the same price as napa cab start-ups and cult wanabes.

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+bottles+per+ton+of+grapes&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7DKUS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(title of the 2nd search result says it all. I’ll take a ‘G’ for 25K, Andy.)

From what I recall, Ben Franklin blogged from Philly too, Mike.

None of that stuff is going to sell in this market.

Heck, just yesterday, Rangel proposed stealing another 5.4 points from the whales - whereat I can guaran-dadgum-tee that they will be kissing the USA the heck goodbye and swimming [with all the magnificence of their blubber] off to the Caymans and Ireland and Hong Kong.

The Napa house of cards is about to collapse.

And it will never rise again.

Politics may not really be needed here.
It’s an interesting topic, let’s please leave it that way.

I like this line, sounds exactly like a Phelps cab of any color to me:

Even if you are spending $30 a bottle, you are more likely than not getting the Muzak rendition of a wine: Big oak, big fruit, and big alcohol packaged up in a stylish bottle.

Agreed.

But the collapse in luxury wine sales in the USA is 100% attributable to politics [and political mis-handling of what would otherwise have been a free market].

Folks, I hate to tell you this, but the whales are headin’ out to sea, and they ain’t lookin’ back [independent of whether or not you care to acknowledge the reason for their departure].

Count me as a young wine collector that has zero love for Napa due to their outlandish/Disneyland prices. In fact, Napa is the only major AVA that my wife and I haven’t vacationed in - and who would when you have to spend $25/pp just to walk in the door of almost every tasting room?

No worries though, there is already more syrah and zin than I can keep track of in CA. [middle-finger.gif]

like you Mike i won’t generally pay to taste. i feel i am a wine buyer of some worth to most wineries and that is a line i won’t cross except in rare circumstances.

i recently simply asked to be removed from a Napa producer’s e-mail list when informed there was no real way to taste their triple digit Cabs but they would deign to sell me one bottle on premises, full retail of course, so i could taste with them. they normally sell their wine in 3-packs so i did recognize this was an outreach on their part but said no thanks.

Wow, did you ask them to step off their pedestal when you declined?

This is where I’d really like to see their business plan. Presumably, the high mark-up of a luxury item is due in part to the planned marketing costs of winning customers. If these guys have wine to sell, how could they not budget for tasting room samples? Triple digits for ANY wine has to give the brand some wiggle room… ???

I am about through with the planning stage of my October Napa trip, and I will be visiting a handful of the wineries guilty of having triple digit prices. They all have no tasting fees. I don’t know if that is because I have such a high post count here and on Ebob…but when I contacted them, they all referenced me being on the boards. The only two places that I am paying for are Shafer and Del Dotto. I think that Shafer offers a fine range of products and will pay to taste the new release of HSS. Del Dotto is such a great opportunity to taste all the barrels and components, it is easily worth $50 to me.

Baller.