Winebits 281: Wine glasses, direct shipping, Italian wine
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
? Brushes for sale: There are three intriguing things about this post at Forbes about cleaning wine glasses. First, that Forbes would mess with it, given that it doesn ?t seem like something their high-dollar readers would worry about. Don ?t they have someone to clean their glasses for them? Second, that the best solution costs $4, using a baby bottle brush. This reinforces the Wine Curmudgeon ?s theory that most wine accessories aren ?t worth the money they cost and would be better spent on wine. Third, that the baby bottle brush company could have cared less about this new us, which points to the insignificance of the wine glass market in the greater scheme of things. Tip ?o the Curmudgeon ?s fedora to the great W.R. Tish, who sent this my way.
? Impressive numbers? The Wine Spectator analyzes the latest sales gains for winery to consumer shipping in the U.S. in such a breathless fashion that even I was impressed. And, given the legal restrictions, the almost $1.5 billion in sales is impressive (and that regional wine does more direct shipping than Washington and Oregon was pretty amazing). The catch, though, is that the $1.5 billion was just 4.4 percent of the total wine market. Until we see serious reform in three-tier, which hardly anyone is optimistic about happening anytime ever, direct shipping looks to remain a tiny, if lucrative, part of the wine business.
? Italian sales woes: Not in the rest of the world, where a leading Italian producer saw exports salvage its 2012 sales figures. Frescobaldi reported a 3 percent increase last year, despite a 5.1 percent decline in domestic sales. Once again, for everyone writing about wine, prices are a function of supply and demand. If demand decreases, as it has in western Europe over the past two years thanks to the euro crisis, then there must be a matching decrease in supply to raise prices.
Curm,like you, I have been flogging the same ideas for years. No, folks do not need a different glass for Syrah and Shiraz. And, they don’t need wine $35 glasses. The $7 glasses are quite good and unlike the $35 glasses, if you break one, you won’t be heartbroken.
I tell my students, friends, colleagues: drink less, but drink better and don’t spend good money on wine “accessories.”
Ah, re: the impressive numbers…I stopped reading the Speculator a long time ago, so I can’t comment on the breathlessness or if they even spoke to this, but the real eye-opener for three-tier stakeholders is this:
– 54% of DTC sales last year was for bottles priced above $50
-73% was for bottles above $30
High margin sales night have largely disappeared from the three tier system, but they haven’t disappeared altogether.