Yeah, I really like the Smiths and their wines, but if Myriad is costing well over $200/bottle, I’m substituting it with another modern styled Napa Cab (even older Myriads from auctions). Hopefully, their pricing works well for them, but it just doesn’t work for me.
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Absolutely. Always had good experiences ordering from them. $300 is just a mental threshold I have yet to pass on an individual bottle of wine. I’m sure it will happen one day, just not today.
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Healthcare, infrastructure, and… wine? American does less for more!
USA 
USA USA
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100% this. Even some of the second wines in Bordeaux are excellent value. I have to reassess my buying habits after returning from BDX.
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Funny how that happens with Cali Cab drinkers.
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myriad at 300 is fucking funny.
they literally have become what they were the alternative to.
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I will still buy and drink Cali cab, but there’s no reason to pay $200-$300+ for it when you can buy Bordeaux for better value. My exception to that is Spottswoode, for now.
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Has Spottswoode had significant price increases similar to the ~60% for Myriad between the 19-22 vintage? I assume Napa producers who own the estate and use estate fruit have more control over pricing compared to Napa projects contracting fruit like Myriad.
This is an issue I suspect is rare in Bordeaux by comparison which is why the value proposition exists, among other reasons.
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Jeff M1
Cali Cab is not exclusively Napa Cab LOL
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It doesn’t stop them from getting upward pressure from neighbors and others who have raised their prices.
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Earlier in this thread I was cast aside as a pariah for even asking these questions. Here we are now with multiple threads of similar themes and blog/op-ed posts of the same sentiment.
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Don’t feel bad. It happens to everyone who enjoys less expensive alternatives to the pricey sacred cow wines. It was Burgundy-focused in 2023. Perhaps 2024 will be Cabernet-focused backlash.
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Understandable and I couldn’t estimate what kind of impact that would have on pricing. Figure while you don’t want to upset neighbors, you probably don’t want to upset customers either.
Alternatively, if you are a smaller producer negotiating contracts and all of a sudden the cost of raw material goes up 30% for a flagship wine. Given how thin margins are, I imagine that cost is getting pushed down to the consumer.
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Pretty much has to go there unless one assumes that wineries like to lose money.
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Can someone run the math again ( I’m sure mine is off somewhere here ) with the emergence of all the higher end wineries.
Even at 50k per ton peak (how many are actually paying that?) that should amount to $70 a bottle of grape juice for 60 cases/720 bottles for that ton.
We know you need 3 barrels and $720 for corks, labels and a new forklift.
I don’t know many wineries making 60 cases so I’ll use 300 cases production as a low end.
So for the juice it’s 250k and if they are charging $300 per then the intake is 1.1m. Seems like one can buy a lot of quality corks for 800k 
I realize everyone needs paid, but this is just one wine and 300 cases and assuming the highest grape price.
If you find grapes in the middle of the price structure it becomes even more ridiculous.
I do wonder as well whether all of the custom crush folks are causing the problem. If you don’t own the land what are your options but to pay whatever they cost. Newcomers arrive and There is a rush to get and pay for the best grapes of course. This pushes pricing for everybody.
Even the Stalwarts like Phelps, Spottswood, Shafer ect ect ect. They certainly don’t need to charge $300, but they can’t be caught charging $100 anymore either.
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Usually a $10 a year increase or has been the past several years.
100% agree. I have some cab I buy from Sonoma. I like the Rafanelli cabs very much. Mauritson also has some sneaky good cab. Bedrock cabs, also very good.
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you forgot some other ‘expenses’.
2nd house. personal travel budget. grandkids’ college fund. botox. i could go on.
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Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. These increases make me even happier to support folks who offer a compelling value for their wine.
I don’t always mean cheaper, but that’s the case more times than not as of late.
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On average, if grapes cost 50K per ton, the wine is going to be priced at $500 per bottle. Regardless of expenses, which are far more than bottles, corks, and barrels… Cost has no bearing on the price. The market determines the price, based on supply and demand.
This board represents a minor percentage of all wine buyers. It is a big world out there, filled with money. If enough of those people want to pay up, the wine sells. If not, eventually the winery goes out of business, sells or lowers their price to meet the true demand.
Sooner or later, the market dictates the supple and demand ratio.
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