Buyers market for California wines

Read a very interesting article in the March issue of Entrepreneur Magazine about the collapse of the high end wine market in California. An oversupply of both quality grapes & wine is killing the winemakers.

Here are a couple of excerpts:
"Napa Valley is facing the worst wine downturn since the early 1980's. Premium wines priced between $50 and $125 were 'a dead zone' in 2009, according to Silicon Valley Bank's annual wine market report..."

"For every 100 wine drinkers willing to throw down $100 for a celebrated bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon last year, half as many will buy that wine today, and those that do expect to pay half as much." That's a revenue loss of 75%.

Quality grapes that wine maker would have "... paid $5,000 a ton for in 2008 cost him only $1,000 a ton in 2009."

Judging by the upcoming Chairman's Selection, it looks like there will be some great buys this year.

91 Opus One for $62 on PA Wine & Spirits an indication? Or are they just bailing because it is old?

Probably because of its age, but a great price. Cellar Tracker says it is drinking beautifully now. I just tried to get some, but sold out.

I think you can expect good buys on both recent vintages and older vintages.

From what I have heard, unfortuantely, the vast majority of CS offering were negotiated approximately a year ago. Therefore, only a handful of wines are being purchased right now at the discounted rates. I would expect next year's CS to offer even better values.

PLCB Press Office here. Not true, Daner92, about the Chairman's Selections. The 90 or so wines slated to roll out this spring were all purchased just this past January. Our wine buyers did a three-day swing through California, meeting winemakers and vendors, to find the Chairman's Selections that are coming in to Wine & Spirits stores now and over the next few months. So -- as you'll see -- we are offering some very good deals right now that absolutely reflect current market conditions.

Francesca - three cheers for the PLCB wine buyers! Please pass it along. The overall quality and variety have been very good and I look forward to trying even more!

Francesca - now if you could just keep those pesky debit/credit machines running....