In bottle resting. Release next year! 
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Just as an indication. Some big name cabs that were on allocation two years ago, became available for purchase last year, and the distributors are now offering them at a considerable markdown. This is happening across the board. As a practice, I regularly change up our wine lists anyway, but those few wineries not offering solid discounts are now long gone from our list. The offerings are huge. As an example, a very solid WS 93 point Grenache, I once carried, and was paying $19/bottle for, I was given a nw $12/ bottle price. Big boy cab, my former wholesale price of $81, now $52. I can now buy these wines and sell them, at wine list prices, below the costs of retailers carrying inventory. These offers are coming daily.
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BTG programming is a whole other beast. It’s how they try to move volume so that they don’t have to discount in plain sight (like Last Bottle or WTSO)
They have a BTG program for DP and Krug Grand Cuvee.
BTW, there has been discounting on California Grenache for a very, very long time. I remember when SF was trying to make Grenache Blanc the new rage with oysters!
Not saying that what you are seeing is not a sign of the times, my point more is, this is the beginning, not the end. It will get worse (or better, depending on what side of the business you are on)
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Absolutely, “by the glass “ programs are indeed a different beast and I purposely didn’t discuss that. My two, of many examples I could quote, were bottle purchases with out BTG requirements. In my market, $25/glass is about all the market will bear. Therefore, I can’t do some of the Krug and other high end deals because of spoilage. Wish I could.
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i was always under the impression these are available for marketing purposes so that it’s easier to offer these BTG bc of the lower price. i.e., you don’t want to spend up for a whole bottle, but you’d be okay paying $55 for a glass of Dom.
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Not sure if this has already been posted;
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For those of us not ITB, what is this requirement and why does it exist? Honestly curious.
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People are often tempted to try a glass of a specific wine, with out wanting to pay for a bottle they may not like. Plus we have many customers that only want one glass of wine. Their partner may be drinking red, while they’re drinking white.The BTG program can introduce them to wines they might not otherwise try.
Depending upon the winery deal, to get the differential pricing, I must first put the wine on my wine list and show it BTG. Then I send a copy of our wine list to the distributor and place the order. I have wines. I offer some wines by the glass that are not on the special programs, and others that are. The wineries get a lot more visibility from drinkers by having wine on the program.
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It hasn’t been, but thank you.
I was speaking with someone in Burgundy this week, and he said a friend of his in Chablis will be down 95% in production.
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Interesting. Impossible to do this in many US states where wholesale prices must be posted with the state and deviations are not permitted unless the new price is filed with the state. Some states do not allow for any discounting based on quantity or any special promo program like BTG. Same price for one bottle as for 100 cases. Even states that do allow for quantity discount are purely by quantity delivered at one time, not any projected amounts.
In NY it is a different SKU
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I believe Winebow received a steep penalty for pulling that about 15 years ago. Can’t remember the exact details but if it’s the same wine, the SLA won’t allow that.
OK, I was off by a couple years. Not bad for guesswork.
When I was a wine buyer in Virginia Yellow Label wax offered as a b/c offered as “Reseve”
Back label had the word “Reserve” so that made it a different SKU.
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Exactly. That’s how they do it completely legally.
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Absolutely, different States have different ABCs and different regulations. Quantity discounts are significant here. One of our strange quirks is we can’t sell alcohol below costs. If a wine doesn’t sell we can’t mark it down to get rid of it. Luck our wounds and be done. Mark down can onl be to cost. We’re lucky, we can use the plonk to cook with. Send some home with the staff. No more retail mark downs to $5 or $10/ bottle. Some retail stores just pour outdated whites, in particular, down the drain. They can’t move some of them even at cost!
In actuality what this means if’ a Gruner is hard to move, you don’t buy any because your exit strategies are limited. Same with some American wines.
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Wow. I haven’t heard of that. Makes it extremely tough to try something on the edge of familiarity.
It’s kind of regulated price fixing. You can’t really undercut a competitor that way. Some larger chains could peg a few loss leaders to drive traffic and that’s likely what they are trying to eliminate.
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I deleted when I realized Gordon was at a restaurant, and figured distributors didn’t want restaurants selling wine cheaper than retail or something. But I also see his point was related to retail as well!
auction and pricing on relatively recent bordeaux and some top Napa wines are down 20-25%. i have a number of wines for sale on consignment that we had to drop prices on across the board.