This whole sordid business of horrendously over inflated wine prices is part and parcel of the general ego malaise that gripped the country over the last seven or eight years. Too much money was made for essentially doing nothing so that the value of the money itself could not generate a real sense of achievement or value. The money itself, while plentiful for 1% of the population, became worthless from a standpoint of real value.
This was in part reflected in the wine high as demonstrated by winemakers actually able to charge, and get, such absurd prices for their wines. If these wines were indeed worth these prices, that would reflect an innate value in the wines themselves, whether Napa cabs or Bordeaux classed growths. But the prices have plummeted to the point that some distributors are discounting as much as 60% of what the release price was a year or two ago just to get these financial anchors out of the water.
Bordeaux exports took a nose dive in Britain for the same reason that trendy Napa producers are sitting on inventory.
Maybe now there will be an adjustment of prices to approach some sort of reality. Once the grapes are paid for and the labor and financial carrying charges plus a profit margin are factored in, the rest of an inflated price is ego in action.
Maybe it is time to think rather than boast or brag.
