Factors that Affect the Price of Wine Flashcards
What’s the largest production cost?
Labour.
Why is it important to consider the amount of time the wine may need to be stored?
Wine makes may want to stored wine prior to release and some local laws (like gran reserva) requires wine to be stored for months or even years. It’s important to consider the cost and space of the storage facilities. A great deal of wine will be tied up in this stock prior to release.
Why were some vineyards in Mosel abandoned?
• Because the cost of production (+ packaging + distribution + retail) could only be recovered by pricing the wine at a level that consumers did not want to pay.
What are the 3 main types of wine producers?
• Co-operatives - owned by their members, typically grape growers. The growers deliver their grapes to the winery (owned by the co-operative). Good for growers as they will always have a buyer but sometimes bad for winemaker as it’s hard to control the quality of the grapes they receive. Very common in Europe as the vineyards are smaller. Note - can produce outstanding wine when done correctly.
• Merchants/Negociants - buys grapes, juice or wine from either growers or co-operatives. Merchants have contracts with their suppliers and in theory have greater control over their source material. Producers can reject grapes that are not up to standard but it can be difficult in areas of high demands/limited supply. Can operate on a very small scale and produce outstanding premium wines or on a large scale with different quality wines.
• Estates/Domaine - only makes wine from the grapes they own hence they are relatively small scale. Greatest amount of control in production which often leads to the best wines. Challenging when it comes to blending due to limited options & bad growing conditions as they only have their own crop to rely on.
