Last night I held a final “wine and food” show at Caveau for the year – it was a corporate gig and the room had a real mix of people who know wine and people who probably hardly drink it. “Drink More Wine” was of course my primary message, and inevitably the conversation turned to where the best value lies. It’s interesting that at this time of industry crunch, with the bulk prices of wine coming down fast, the public don’t necessarily feel that wine is cheaper. This may be because most commentators (and I am also guilty) continually write and talk about the glamour wines, those with status (and attendant prices).
But the prices have come down on the shelf: witness Chateau Libertas’ lower sticker price. You can’t really expect the prices of the prestige names to drop – what good such a brand if it rapidly discounts? The most you can expect for here is a stable price.
Speaking of value, what do you think of Wine Mag’s “best value wine guide” 2007? Do you find it useful?
I don’t really use it – rather go on personal recommendations – but I do think it’s a useful tool since it is weighted to find the relationship between scores and price.
Have a friend who mapped price, wine mag rating and platter rating to get the ‘true’ value of the wine, for his marketing thesis. makes for interesting findings.
Were some of his findings not published by Wine mag a while ago? As mentioned, for marketing, these findings are relevant – but for our drinking pleasure? The “true” value of wine is in the mouth of the imbiber. But then we are creatures influenced by perception… so it comes back to marketing.