Is It Time to Stop Buying a Favorite Wine Type?

Blasphemy?

I'm going to suggest that maybe I and you stop buying one of my favorite wine types. And, I am going to tell you why.

I really enjoy great California Cabernet, particularly those from parts of Napa. The most recentissue of Wine Spectator, and no, this is neither a plug for Wine Spectator nor allegiance to their ratings, but their idea of highly-rated wines  is usually not too far off of what typical drinkers of good wine think, featured California Cabernet, mostly the 2017 vintage.

The 2017 vintage was a great vintage in California. A very warm and dry growing season allowed for long hang times which, in turn, gave us what I am sure will be some absolutely prodigious wines. 

But, let's take a walk back in history. I first visited Napa in the 2005-2006 timeframe. Since then, inflation has been a whopping cumulative 25% give or take a very small amount. That's not much. I think back to some of the excellent Cabernet that I acquired back then. There were lots of 90+ point Cabernets that we picked up for $40-60 (many for less than that as well). Add 25% on to those numbers and you get $50-75. 

Hopping in the DeLorean, we look at that most recent issue of Wine Spectator. Looking at the 90+ point Cabernets, two of the top 50 are priced under $100. Roughly 30 of the top 50 are priced above $200 per bottle. Several are at more than $1000 per bottle. This is obscene.

I've watched as some of my favorite wines have gone through more than 100% inflation over the period. Yes, there have been some hard times with the earthquakes, the 2018 fires, and the 2020 fires, but there have also been some large, excellent crops. The US economy has been growing, save the middle of 2020. The consumer market should not bear these numbers. Most of us can not tell the difference in these wines that gets to those inflationary numbers and even among the rare ones of us who can, there are other wine regions in the world that produce really good wine. Some have also given us extraordinary inflation, but I write several days per week about inexpensive wines that chosen carefully are much better buys.

If there is any region and grape that really got me into wine, it was Napa Valley Cabernet, but if the proprietors of Napa Valley don't start considering the consumer, my shopping cart is going to look less and less like their products and more and more will be filled with wines and grapes from other places.

I have friends in the Napa Valley wine industry. But, for many of them, I can't afford their wines anymore.

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