Is Wine Over $100 a Scam- Sommelier Explains

No, expensive wine is not a scam and let's talk about it in a few more details. Wine is one of the few products on the planet earth that can cost almost nothing or an absolute fortune. In Europe you can walk into a supermarket and buy a bottle of wine for just one euro and at the same time some wines sell for thousands even tens of thousands of euros. In the UK it is a bit harder to find wine that cheap because taxes are higher but across continental Europe ultra cheap wine is very common. On the other end of the spectrum the most expensive wines in the world like I don't know the Mandela Romani Conti in Burgundy, some rare vintages of Chateau Lafitte or other first growth Bordeaux wines they can reach extraordinary prices at auctions sometimes So why is that? Why can wine cost one euro and also can cost ten thousand euros? The answer is that there are completely different layers in the wine world and people often mix them together as if they were the same product. At the very bottom we have mass market ultra cheap wine. These are bottles you see for one euro two euros and here is something surprising. Most of that price isn't even the wine. Let's do some napkin math here. A standard glass bottle can cost around 30 maybe 50 cents depending on volume and the quality. A cork or screw cap adds another 10 maybe 20 cents. Then you have labeling, packaging, transport, distribution, retail margins and then you have taxes. In Spain or France wine taxes are relatively low sometimes just a few cents but in the UK excise duty alone can exceed two pounds per bottle it's 260 something probably which completely changes the the price structure. So when you see a one euro bottle in Europe it means the actual liquid inside. I say liquid not wine. It's extremely cheap to produce often just a few cents per liter like 30 cents for bottle 10 for cork a few cents for taxes if the wine is produced locally. So you got approximately 50 maybe 40 cents of value in one euro bottle of wine which is frankly not a lot. These wines are made with highly industrial processes vineyards are planted just somewhere for maximum yields producing high quantities of grape per hectare. Harvesting is done by machines fermentation is fast and in fully controlled large stainless steel tanks and blending is used everywhere to standardize the product. These wines are adjusted using additives to correct acidity to correct color to correct sweetness if needed and the main goal is consistency and cost efficiency not quality. So technically it is wine it is a fermented grape juice but it is closer to an industrial beverage like Fanta or something than to what most people imagine when they think of wine and it's not something I would recommend if you want to actually enjoy what you are drinking. The next layer is where real wine begins. Supermarket wines in the range of about maybe 5 to 15 euros or dollars. Here you are no longer just paying for packages and taxes you are paying for actual wine. When I was recently in Bordeaux several producers told me that the point where a winery becomes profitable is around 12 to 15 euros per bottle. That means that below that level margins are extremely tight and producers have to optimize everything reduce the costs so as a consequence wine is not good. At this stage grapes matter much more vineyard management is more controlled and yields are usually lower than in mass production. Fermentation is still efficient but cleaner and more precise often using temperature controlled tanks to preserve aromas. These wines are designed to be consistent drinkable enjoyable they may not be complex or unique but they are real wines that reflect basic winemaking practices. This is everyday wine and for most people this category already offers a very good value for money. Then we move into quality wines at roughly from 20-25 euros maybe up to 100 euros and this is where things start to get really interesting. The reason this range is so wide is because the practices behind these wines can vary dramatically. Here winemaking becomes more artisanal and more labor-intensive. Vineyards are often managed with lower yields to concentrate flavors. Harvesting may be done by hand allowing for selection of only the best grapes. It may involve some natural yeast some longer maceration more careful extraction and then comes aging which is basically the major cost factor. A single oak barrel can cost maybe a thousand euros more or less depending on the producer the origin of the oak. These barrels are not used forever typically they are used for a few vintages before they lose their aromatic impact and after that they might be repurposed or sold for a cheaper price. Aging wine also means time and place in the cellar so these are also very expensive. You are like storing a product for months or even years without selling it which ties up the capital. Add to that the cost of the cellar, temperature control, labor equipment, strict local regulations that can limit yields, define harvest dates or impossible production rules especially in regions with appellations and all of this contributes to the final price of the wine. Wine at this level is no longer just a product it's a craft that involves some risk some time expertise a lot of it. In one of my earlier videos probably from a couple of years ago I said that up to 50 euros is where you can find great quality wine. But today with inflation with rising costs of everything I would say it's maybe closer to 100 maybe. In this range you are genuinely getting better wine, more complexity, more balance, more depth and a stronger sense of place. Of course wine is not just numbers costs or price categories it is also about places, about people, about experiences, wine regions. I organize private wine tours in lots of European wine regions. We explore iconic wine regions like Bordeaux or Rioja but also lesser known places like Cahours in France in the south of France or Chacoalí in the north of Spain which is still hugely underrated and produces incredible wines that many people completely overlook. All the tours are custom-made 100% private with private transport only for you with your family your friends so that you can really experience wine You can find more details in the description down below and then we go above 100 euros and this is where the logic changes again. At this point you are not just paying for the wine itself you're paying for the history, for the reputation of the winery, of the chateau, for the prestige of the whole region, maybe for scarcity of this wine, for the image related to this wine. Some vineyards are incredibly small producing only a limited number of bottles per year which naturally drives prices up. Others have built their reputation over decades or even centuries creating a brand that people are willing to pay for. Critic scores, auction results, global demand it all influences the price of the wine at this level. These are real economic factors and it's not scam but the increase in quality becomes much smaller compared to the increase in price. I saw this clearly during my recent visit to Bordeaux where there are so many stunning chateaus producing wines for around 15-20 euros per bottle maybe 30 euros and these wines are genuinely very very good but at the same time there is only one Chateau Margaux, only one Chateau Are those 20 euro wines better than a first growth? Of course not but here's the interesting part they may be I don't know 20-30 percent less impressive in terms of complexity, depth, everything yet they cost like up to 50 times less than the first growth. That's the real trick of the wine A 1000 euro wine might be only five percent better than a 100 euro wine in terms of taste complexity and everything but a 100 euro wine can easily be three times better than a 10 euro wine and a 10 euro wine is a hundred times better than a one euro wine. This is a classic case of diminishing returns. Expensive wines can be exceptional sometimes unforgettable but the real question is whether you are paying for what's inside the bottle or for everything that surrounds the bottle which is absolutely fine. Sometimes we want to pay for the story related to the product, for the image of the winery and not the product itself so that's just how luxury products work. Hope you enjoyed it and see you in the next one. Bye