FOOD & WINE
The California 2009 Fall Harvest Is Producing Great Wines, And The Economic Downturn Creates Great Prices For The Buyer
Text by Linda Murphy
Photography by Jason Tinacci
From the warm interior valleys of Mendocino Country to the wind cooled Santa Barbara County coast, the 2009 California wine grape harvest hums along, yet sales of the more expensive California wines do not.
Economic reports show that consumers are buying as much wine as they did before the recession, yet they're spending far less per bottle. Purchasers of $75 and up wines are now spending $50, and previous buyers of $30 bottle buyers are shopping in the $15 to $20 range. Wines priced under $15 are flying off stores shelves. It's good news that there are thousands of beautifully made wines selling at bargain prices, yet bad news for makers of expensive wines, most of whom have seen sales slow to a crawl.
A few so called “cult” wines, such as the Screaming Eagle and Harlan Estate Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa Valley, continue to sell to their devoted mailing list customers, although wineries without such prestige are sitting on $75 to $100 wines, hoping to move them at a slower pace without dropping prices. The “suggested retail price” of a wine is sacred at the high end. If you lower it there is a perception that it's not as good as it used to be. Also, dropping prices now makes it more difficult to restore original pricing when the economy recovers.
For more on the 2009 California Fall Harvest, pick up a copy of the September/October 2009 issue
