"Little Sisters" Pushing Back Against CA Negotiants

[Jim_Anderson]

Well . . . if it was a $20 or $25 wine, maybe - but at $70 or $80, I guess it does not . . . Crazy how the market has become so ‘delineated’ that these are now ‘values’ . . . Still can’t wait for most consumers to realize that there are other wines besides Napa Cabs out there

Cheers

Looking forward to the day when $80/bottle Oregon wines are viewed as bargains! That would make things a LOT easier up here.

Not me. I would rather have you for a neighbor than x, y, and z neighbors with unplumbed checkbooks here to show us how it’s done.

Both! Happy to send lots of $80/bottle wine all over the world!

[Victor_Hong]

These up-branded but formerly casted-off barrels remind me of leased luxury cars. Joneses-chasing consumers cannot afford to buy them outright, and hence pay dearly and unwisely in embedded interest-rate and mileage-penalty terms to lease them instead, for must-be-publicly-seen consumption.

Hahahahahahahahaha!

[Daniel_Walsh]

Yeah, nothing really new here, but some offer really good QPR.

Definitely better than trying to figure out de-classified juice in a bottle on Wine Access.

[Al_Osterheld]

They aren’t necessarily wines from “cast off” barrels. Some of the Napa wineries have vineyard holdings large enough to make a lot larger quantity of wine than they produce with their flagship wine(s), but may not be able to sell that volume at the flagship price. So, they sell fruit, or bulk out wines, neither of which make nearly as much money for the winery. It can be like selling different levels of airline tickets, trying to maximize revenue by pricing different products that may not really be so terribly different under the hood. They are definitely trying to follow the lead of Bordeaux (and some other wineries).

I’m not a big buyer of Napa cabernet, so mostly of academic interest to me.

-Al

[Victor_Hong]

They aren’t necessarily wines from “cast off” barrels. Some of the Napa wineries have vineyard holdings large enough to make a lot larger quantity of wine than they produce with their flagship wine(s), but may not be able to sell that volume at the flagship price. So, they sell fruit, or bulk out wines, neither of which make nearly as much money for the winery. It can be like selling different levels of airline tickets, trying to maximize revenue by pricing different products that may not really be so terribly different under the hood. They are definitely trying to follow the lead of Bordeaux (and some other wineries).

I’m not a big buyer of Napa cabernet, so mostly of academic interest to me.

-Al

Market segmentation, for price discrimination. A microeconomic version of cast-off: “Some of the Napa wineries have vineyard holdings large enough to make a lot larger quantity of wine than they produce with their flagship wine(s), but may not be able to sell that volume at the flagship price.”

[Al_Osterheld]

Yes, market segmentation. To be successful, they also need to distinguish the wines in some way by blending, vinifying a bit differently to make one more approachable, using more oak that some equate with quality. A winery is better able to try to differentiate the product as well as the market segments compared to an airline selling “cast off seats” (who artificially add requirements to push certain purchasers to high cost tickers).

-Al

[Robert.A.Jr]

Isn’t this just a second wine and what Bdx has been doing for decades? I don’t get how this is novel.

Agree, not novel at all.

Figeac debuted its second label in 1945! La Grange Neuve de Figeac.

And $80 ain’t value, lol!

[Victor_Hong]

Isn’t this just a second wine and what Bdx has been doing for decades? I don’t get how this is novel.

Agree, not novel at all.

Figeac debuted its second label in 1945! La Grange Neuve de Figeac.

And $80 ain’t value, lol!

It is to the seller, which is why these bottlings exist.

[Ian_S]

Too soon to say this will catch on like wildfire?

Mate, that’s a naff phrase when talking about Napa given the blazes they’ve had in recent years. Frankly, I’m gobsmacked one of the many easily offended Berserkers hasn’t taken umbrage with this already.