Ask the WC 34: Wine prices, wildfires, supply chain
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
This edition of Ask the WC: Why wine prices continue to defy the law of supply and demand, plus wine country wildfires, and good news — and bad — for the supply chain
Because the customers always have questions, and the Wine Curmudgeon has answers in this irregular feature. You can Ask the Wine Curmudgeon a wine-related question by clicking here.
Hey, WC:
How come wine prices keep going up? Or at least they seem to where I live (East Coast).
More cheap wine
Dear Cheap:
I was asked this question on this radio show and this radio show. (And please forgive the shameless, shameless, plug.) The confusion is that, as wine consumption has been declining, prices have been increasing. Which seems to defy the law of supply and demand. As near as anyone can tell, the price hikes are more about the cost of glass bottles and shipping than the price of wine. In addition, some retailers and wholesalers are raising prices just because.
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Oh Curmudgeonly One:
You haven’t written anything about wine country wildfires this year. How come?
Curious
Dear Curious:
Because, thankfully, so far, this season’s worst wildfires have avoided California wine country. In fact, I talked to the blog’s official wine marketer (who lives in Napa) about this the other day, and he said it has been a fine, pleasant and wonderfully normal summer so far. So let’s hope for the best.
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Dear WC:
What’s the latest on wine and the supply chain?
Geeky blog reader
Dear Geeky:
The good news, according to this story, is that much of the worst of the supply chain snafus of the past couple of years seem to be over. The backup at the port of Los Angeles, the busiest in the western hemisphere, is one-fifth of what it has been. The bad news? Cyber-attacks, mostly from Russia and Europe. The story says there have been as many as 40 million attacks a month.
More Ask the WC:
• Ask the WC 33: Wine consumption, bad wine, Earth Day
• Ask the WC 32: Wine prices, wine and health, Ukraine
• Ask the WC 31: Pinot noir, minimum pricing, wine apocalypse