Wine history lesson 4: Those damned high prices

Think the WC complains about high prices? Listen to retailers’ laments about skyrocketing prices 50 years ago

Consider this quote:

“There will at least be a leveling‐off in prices and perhaps a slight drop in the less expensive wines.”

Hard to believe, given what we know about how the wine business works these days. Prices don’t go down; the entire point of wine is for prices to go up. But this comes from a time when the law of supply and demand still applied.

The quote is from a November 1970 story discussing French wine prices for that vintage, which wouldn’t be released for a couple of years. It notes that prices for the past couple of vintages increased because of short supply, but now that supply was more in balance, “leading retailers in New York say there probably will be some adjustments. The cost of a premier cru Bordeaux should, at worst, be no higher than the ’69, while the lesser chateaux may fall further.”

And, if it’s possible to believe, those high prices are 10 to 20 times less than what they are today. Talk about The Twilight Zone.

How was that possible, 50 years ago?

• Much, much less demand for French wine in the U.S. — and, actually, wine in general. Most wine sold in this country until the 1980s was sweet and dessert wine; the market for table wine was limited to big cities like New York.

• In fact, a limited market for French wine outside of France and Great Britain. Wealthy Chinese and Russian consumers (then the Soviet Union), who have done so much to drive up wine prices, were hardly factors at all.

• No Robert Parker, and all that he did (as well as those who followed him) to send prices on their upward spiral. Parker’s first Wine Advocate, with its 100-point scale, appeared in 1978, but he didn’t make his mark until 1982, “the vintage famous for launching the career of the world’s most successful wine critic.” Parker, the first mass market wine critic (more or less), made Bordeaux – and all wines eventually – accessible to people who may not have known about them. Talk about increasing demand.

The other irony about all of this? One important retailer in the story  lamented the high price of Bordeaux, complaining that there had been dramatic increases since the mid-1960s.

Which has led us to where some retailers charge $20 for the red Chateau Bonnet; similar wines probably cost less than a $1 back then.

Photo: Sherry-Lehmann Wine & Spirits Co. May 1978: Old, Rare Bordeaux Letter

More wine history lessons:
• Wine history lesson 3: Bring on the French wine!
• Maynard Amerine on quality, price, and value
• Wine business history: The more things change, the more they stay the same