I have heard an awful lot about the pricing of wines lately. I covered a little of this in the three tier system blog. It’s easy to spout off about the price of a bottle of wine with no idea what goes into making it. Yes all wine is “Not” created equally so what gives when we charge $39.00 to $89.00 a bottle and some of our fellow wine makers charge less? I think we talked about the price of grapes, the great sacrifice in the vineyard, organic farming, low yields, sorting, barrel selection and so on. Yes others claim the same but I’m here  to tell you many are disingenuous at best. I have no problem with someone enjoying a lesser priced wine than ours, but to say out of hand were over priced without ever tasting, that sounds like congress and the bills they pass.

But here’s something that you should consider and may use for motivation purposes. At one time I was a large consumer of French wines. First Bordeaux then gravitating to Burgundy. White and red Burgundy, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Yes and I bought the best Leflaive, Coche, DRC, Leroy, Rousseau, Dujac and many others. Grand Cru and only the best would do, and believe me it cost dearly. However, as the 2005 wines were released the cost became astronomical. Bottles that had cost $100 for years, were selling for $200.The bottles that sold for $250.00 were over $500.00 and the bottles that sold for $400 were now topping $1000.00. If you wanted to buy a single bottle of La Tache $2500.00 to $3000.00,  a bottle of Romanee Conti, $5000.00 to start and up from there.

These examples are too vast to name them all, and Bordeaux is the same and in some cases more! If you want to see the truth go to Wine Searchers for proof. Now all Wine makers think they make good wine and some like me think we make great wine. I have blinded my wines against the World’s best for many of my customers, family and the wine writing community. They have always done me proud and I will continue to show up with bottles in hand at any tasting where the labels are turned inward. Let the cards fall where they may I always say! The prices of these wines are up because the demand worldwide for big labels is huge. It use to be we were the Worlds big consumer, now Hong Kong is buying up large amounts and selling it for even more. Bordeaux has a short memory and so pay to play is there attitude. Forget the many collectors that were there in the day when vintages were not flying off the shelves.

But this blog is about more than our wines, it’s about the motivation these extreme prices have given me. You see I can’t afford those wines anymore and so I strive to make wines that are as good. Wines I crave to open, for myself and others. Wine of great structure and great finesse. When asked what I like to drink I answer my wines. Our wines are pure, they are low in alcohol, They are made with the least of interference. Great wine is made in the vineyard. And here’s the best part, at $89.00 a bottle, they’re a bargain! Never thought I’d say that but it has now become true. Yes on a world stage we take no back seats, we coward to no one, we are in the front row, and if you don’t believe me blind us and see where the cards fall.

To one hell of a bargain,

Greg Linn
www.unfilteredwinereport.com
www.greglinnwines.com