'Interesting' Pricing Process for New Wine

Here's yet another new winery - albeit one with a well known name - that decided to charge $200 for its first vintage. I love the process Michael Mondavi supposedly went through to arrive at the price...hmm, let's compare with other overpriced wines and see what happens - voila, another cult wine and status symbol! And I love the not quite convincing mention at the end of the quote that actual costs had something to do with the pricing!

"In a recent interview with Steve Heimoff, Mondavi explained how he reached this price. He explained that his team bought a bunch of top cult wines and did a blind tasting asking themselves how much they would pay for each wine. Because their wine came out strong they prices it below some of the super-pricey cult wines and above some of the ones it showed better than. Of course the costs of managing the 15-acre vineyard were also a factor".

The original article is at http://www.winefanatic.ca/vb/showthread.php?t=3610.

The cost of managing a Porsche Carrera is probably a factor also.

(Okay, okay, I don't know if Michael is still a Porsche man or not. He used to be. Maybe he's more an Audi R8 or BMW M6 now for all I know.)

I guess I travel in the wrong circles. As far as I'm concerned it might as well $1000 a bottle. I ain't going to be buying any. The only reason I could ever envision for spending $200 or more for a bottle is for a very, very special occaision. And then I would be spending it for a bottle I could expect to be exceptionally good based on pedigree. The concept of a new wine from a new vineyard at that price.... well, not for me.

Glenn

I'm with you on that, Glenn. My budget has no tolerance for blowing $200 on a single bottle of anything.

Especially when they're claiming the vineyard cost is what's driving it. If there is $20 worth of grapes in that bottle I would be surprised.

Walt

The US--the world!--is in severe economic crisis, but Michael Mondavi forges ahead. I wish him all the best.