Life in Ohio - Wines on sale

Sorry, I just need to vent. Here is a latest Sale e-mail:

This is the last chance to own one of the greatest bottles of
wine ever made from the Lafite stables.
Combining the global appeal of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and the
extraordinary 2005 vintage ,XXXXXXXXX secured the last parcel
available of ‘05 Duhart-Milon, providing great Bordeaux that’s
drinkable now with decades-worth of cellar and investment potential.
…You can buy a case for the price of a bottle of its big brother!


“This structured, tannic, dense ruby/purple-tinged Pauillac offers up hints of cassis, licorice, chocolate and earth. Medium to full-bodied with good purity, strong tannins, and undeniable elegance, it reveals a character not dissimilar from its renowned sibling, Lafite-Rothschild. A blend of 71% CabernetSauvignon and 29% Merlot, it is unquestionably outstanding… Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030. " —Robert Parker 94 points


Decanter Highest Rating:
“Gorgeous nose of ripe black fruit. Sumptuous. Lots of sweet roasted fruit, balanced by ripe tannins. Wonderful control, polished yet serious. Drink 2012.” 5-Star Decanter Award

$99.99 retail (reg. $119.99), $89.99 with case discount. Quantities are limited so please let me know if you are interested ASAP.


A quick check of WS-Pro must show at least 50 places with less expensive pricing (I got tired scrolling thru). It must be nice to live in a completely regulated market. Besides the consumers, the victims here are the wine stores. They have mandated minimum pricing. They, by law, cannot charge less than a 33% markup of distributor costs. Trouble is, no one is going to pay that kind of money for these wines. Pretty soon, most of them will be out of business, and the gorcery stores will dominate the wine market. That in turn will kill the smaller distributors who can’t get shelf space.

Loren - MA isn’t much better, if at all. Love the 3-tier baby - gouge gouge gouge!!!

While I agree that MA isn’t much better, I was able to buy a case of '05 Duhart Milon at $55/btl in MA and can still get it for $65/btl. $100 per is just silly (not to mention the original $120).

Andy

Costco had them for $55 per bottle a couple of months back…

That is just outright rapage on the part of stores up there.

Not the store’s fault. They can’t sell it for lower than +50% of what they paid. (+33% is the wholesaler markup)

A couple of distributors in particular are egregious in manipulating this. I suspect that someone like Glazer’s deliberately doesn’t apply the large-scale pricing they get from Diageo/Chateau & Estates, instead using some arbitrary or nominal price to see the wholseale. We see the worst pricing in Bordeaux.

A.

What the Hell? The state mandates the minimum pricing structure on wines?

I don’t have the info at hand, but more than a few states control the pricing structures. At minimum, most of them say you can’t sell alcohol at a loss. The general idea is to prevent using alcohol as a loss leader.

There have been some attempts to redo the law, but they were bundled in with other statutory changes which were anti-consumer and anti-small retailer. The whole mess ended up dying both times. Ohio wine law is very arcane. Some targeted changes would be good, but hard to get traction on. I have a connection at the Statehouse who has taken no money from the wholesalers and will hopefully find time to work on it.

A.

I don’t know if Costco sells wine at a “loss”, but every so often high dollar wines get the clearance price of $xx.97. Recently they had 2001 Pavie Decesse for $69.97 off from $110. Had to be close to what they got it for EP.

Yep, welcome to the Buckeye State!

… but wait, isn’t this what the Ohio distributors have been telling us would happen without state-mandated minimum pricing? rolleyes

Funny that state-mandated price fixing seems to be exclusively beneficial to the wine market.

State minimum pricing was just declared unconstitutional in Maryland, FYI.

Thanks Dan, I have been meaning to look at that and the Ohio Constitution.

With state minimum pricing there is little competition. The Quickie Mart can sell Lafite for the same price as the finest wine store. There may be an issue in getting it, but remember, the grocer has huge leverage with distributors that also sell beer and cheap wine. I have found that for some wines, I have better luck having the wine guy at the grocer put some pressure on certain distributors for a rare wine. They have more clout and the price is the same.

BTW, in that e-mail did you notice the implication for the price of Lafite? Last I looked it was around $1200 a bottle retail.

One other part of Ohio law. No credit for the retailer. Everything must be paid for. While that may be good for solvency, the distributor is not under such a requirement. I know of winemakers who have not gotten paid for their wines. Plus, how does a small retailer afford to even stock first growths anymore?

There’s currently an Ohio guy on the WS boards taking some heat for trying to get $8,400/case for his '05 Mouton. Amazing thing is, that is approximately the wholesale price in Ohio! Retail is $12,000/case… but there is a 10% discount of course. rolleyes

On the credit thing, I know of a guy who actually bought a wine store in Columbus without knowing this law. He quickly learned after trying to pay a distributor with his business credit card. Went out of business a couple of months later.

I thought they could use a credit card now. Ohio is a cash state, and a franchise state, and a controlled state. Tough state for wine.

Not sure… this was in 2006 or so.

Same issues in ATL…some prices are inline…but most I can find the wine cheaper…and actually find the wine.