Is this something a flash site would take on?
No this wine is being offered in bulk. So it would need to be transferred to a bonded winery, bottled and taxes paid. But yeah, this is how two-buck chuck (which now $4 or $5?) gets started because the wine itself is only $1.79 per bottle (for the cab). Then add $1.50 guesstimate for bottles, label and screw cap (at pricing for super large volume discounts)…
Or plastic cork most likely - MUCH cheaper than a screw cap my friend
Cheers
From the Oregon Wine Board: “Great news confirming the continuing recovery of the Oregon segment comes in the latest sales volume report from Nielsen. The trend lines below reflect national consumer purchase trends in retail scanner stores over the past year compared to calendar year 2019 before C-19 distorted channel dynamics and consumer behavior.”
Follow up blog post from Jason Haas, great data and insights as always: https://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2023/12/did-tasting-room-sales-ever-fall-off-that-cliff-no-but-tasting-room-traffic-is-still-seeing-pandemic-echoes.html
Those are good points by Jason, as always. Here’s another one I’ll add: one of my clients told me they stopped frequenting a tasting room because the winery no longer offered a changing selection of older vintages. This kept it interesting for these folks. I asked the owners about it and yes, they were chagrined to have sold through most of their library wines. This was due to the 2020 vintage which for them, caused smoke taint and they did not bring those red wines to market. As a result, the tasting room sold through most of its library inventory as the 2019 vintage sold well, and as they waited for the 2021s…. So this is another climate-related variable (in addition to the ones mentioned by Jason) that adds short-term variability.
Does the growth of online wine discussion, on this board, on Instagram, on Facebook, etc., play some modest background role in the decline of tasting rooms?
I know most wine consumers aren’t involved in those things. But for those of us who are, it does feel like they reduce the need/demand to go out tasting wines? You discover so many wines to seek out and to try via these online interactions, where 20 years ago you may have felt like you need to go to wine country and visit tasting rooms and try a bunch of things to find new loves.
was the opposite for me. reading so much on WB and buying 1-2 random bottles here or there were frustrating (and expensive), so my wife and I went to CA and OR and did 19 tastings across WV, Sonoma and Napa (plus wine at dinners, etc) to find out specifically what we liked so we can confidently reorder from some, and stop chasing/buying others.
If anything, TikTok and IG Reels would more likely drive tasting room traffic so that people can experience the things they see on social media.
I would have to ask my friend for concrete data, but she has mentioned to me that because the views at the winery where she’s a tasting room manager that people have mentioned a reason they come there is because of IG
Great points, Eric and Keith.
Seems a great opportunity for keg wine
Doom-ish outlook from Napa:
I’m a glass half empty kind of guy myself (not of wine, but everything else;) so can kind of see where they’re coming from. I’m genuinely worried on a macro-economical level for the next decades and certainly for next generation. There’s going to be a lot less money to go around buying wine for when 60% of GenZ’s income goes to rent, my guess. And since nobody will be able to buy a house, they won’t build wine cellars either
Add neo-prohibition tendencies resurfacing and all the vineyards turned into tract housing and perhaps it’s not such a great outlook.
Are we looking at the real possibility that wine will eventually be a luxury product only for the ones with means? And if so, what does that mean long term for the industry?
we rode this wave once before in the late 2000’s, but the economic hardship didn’t also coincide with the generational/cultural changes at play this time around. i wouldn’t be surprised if the appearance of the california wine culture is quite different in ten years time, and wineries like sabelli-frisch will be the type of producer hailed as ahead of its time.
Or Stereophonic! BTW, are you on BD this year?
Keep in mind that we’re all aging at the same rate and life expectancies aren’t increasing much each year. There will be a large generational wealth shift that puts money into the younger generation. We can certainly argue about whether this is right or fair in societal terms, but regardless, it’ll empower younger folks to explore new hobbies, wine included.
the younger generation is waiting for that inheritance money to buy a 2 million dollar 1000sqft home
Yyyyeah, in theory this should happen. And I’d even say it’s unavoidable, to some extent. But it should have already happened and it hasn’t yet. That article that Adam posted included a chart showing relative wealth distribution among generations in 2019:
" In 2019 baby boomers commanded the most significant share of wealth at $59.4 trillion, significantly more than the assets of Generation X … and millennials — each holding $28.6 trillion, and $5 trillion, respectively. Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 (currently 59 to 77 years old). Generation X individuals were born between 1965 and 1980 (currently 43 to 58 years old). Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996 (currently 27 to 42 years old)."
I really wish those numbers came with figures indicating the qty in each generation, as that is the missing component to having a good understanding of those numbers. That missing piece of information aside, what do we have here? We have the Baby Boomer generation, spanning 19 years, holding nearly double the wealth of the two following generations, combined, which span a total of 32 years. I assume there are more Baby Boomers than there are Gen X’ers or Millenials, but I also assume there are less Baby Boomers than there are Gen X’ers and Millenials combined.
Gen X’ers are currently 43 to 58 years old. How long are they supposed to wait for this “generational wealth shift”? It should have already happened. But it hasn’t happened. And whenever it eventually does happen, I’m not sure it won’t be too late for certain sectors, particularly luxury goods sectors, such as wine.
Sounds more than half empty. I certainly hope you’re wrong.
As of July 1, 2022, see chart. Millennials most numerous, boomers will decline faster than the others.
Al posted the chart that I was going to share. I don’t disagree with a lot of what you’re saying, but keep in mind that among the population holding the disproportionate wealth, their children aren’t in the next adjacent group — they’re two down because they have children later. So it’s the boomers passing onto millennials by and large, and that’s going to take place over the next decades.