| When you go
into a wine shop, you'll find a wide range of prices. In the United States
that range is from about four dollars a bottle to more than thirty dollars
a bottle. What makes one 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon worth twice the price of
another?
The grapes:
All grapes are not created equal. Some vineyards produce better quality
grapes than others, and wineries pay premium prices for those lots. As
a general rule, wine that is made of juice from an ideal vineyard is more
expensive than wine that is blended from the juice of many lesser quality
vineyards.
The method:
Some methods of making wine are more costly than others. Storing wine
in wooden barrels, for instance is more expensive than storing it in stainless
steel vats. If the winemaker wants the wine to taste a certain way, certain
methods must be used, and those methods often increase the cost of making
the wine.
The final product:
When a wine is ready to be bottled (and often before that), the winemaker
will evaluate the wine. Each wine is judged by its characteristics, including
color, aroma, acidity and overall complexity (what a great catch phrase!).
A wine that has superior characteristics will cost more than a wine that
does not. A wine that is set aside for additional aging before release
will also command a higher price than one that has been released early.
Availability:
If a wine is made from small lots of very good grapes, there won't be
a lot of it. Similarly, if a winery has an excellent reputation, a lot
of wine stores will want to carry that wine. Supply and demand means that
those bottles will cost more than other bottles. Never, never underestimate
supply and demand.
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