What's to blame for wine prices creeping up?
I read John Wilson's article in the Irish Times over the weekend where he thinks all wines will creep up in price, even though worldwide consumption is falling. He also noted that super premium wine prices (€200-300 per btl) have stagnated. I must admit I hadn't noticed that as it's not somewhere I go very often!
But most of the wine we sell at www.webwines.ie is in the €15-€35 per btl price range and there has been a general increase across the board. This might be only €1 per btl in the last year on, for example Vina Alberdi Reserva (and we are still the best price!) but it's another €1 less in your pocket.
To be honest, we shouldn't drink cheap wines anyway. The Duty is €3.19 per btl and VAT is 23% so your €8.99 wine is actually €4.11 per btl - that's the wine, bottle, label, shipping and (god forbid) profit.
On that basis alone, you should spend more and drink less!
But not all wine price increases are solely due to Cost inflation! Our old friends Supply & Demand are also to blame. The very small production in, for example, Burgundy in 2020 & 2021 led to higher prices due to scarcity. Our very popular Meursault L'Ormeau, Domaine Boyer Martenot went from €70 a btl for 2020 vintage (that was our excellent price!) to €90 for the 2021 vintage, mostly because of a reduced quantity of wine made. (Still a great buy, by the way!)
And Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Folatieres, Domaine Chavy was sold out in a week when the 2021 vintage was released.
Some companies took a view! Domaine Leflaive couldn't fill all their usual allocations so instead offered older vintages (Library wines) to clients, at higher prices of course.
Bottom line is, people will always pay for quality!!
But most of the wine we sell at www.webwines.ie is in the €15-€35 per btl price range and there has been a general increase across the board. This might be only €1 per btl in the last year on, for example Vina Alberdi Reserva (and we are still the best price!) but it's another €1 less in your pocket.
To be honest, we shouldn't drink cheap wines anyway. The Duty is €3.19 per btl and VAT is 23% so your €8.99 wine is actually €4.11 per btl - that's the wine, bottle, label, shipping and (god forbid) profit.
On that basis alone, you should spend more and drink less!
But not all wine price increases are solely due to Cost inflation! Our old friends Supply & Demand are also to blame. The very small production in, for example, Burgundy in 2020 & 2021 led to higher prices due to scarcity. Our very popular Meursault L'Ormeau, Domaine Boyer Martenot went from €70 a btl for 2020 vintage (that was our excellent price!) to €90 for the 2021 vintage, mostly because of a reduced quantity of wine made. (Still a great buy, by the way!)
And Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Folatieres, Domaine Chavy was sold out in a week when the 2021 vintage was released.
Some companies took a view! Domaine Leflaive couldn't fill all their usual allocations so instead offered older vintages (Library wines) to clients, at higher prices of course.
Bottom line is, people will always pay for quality!!