Winecast 69: Nick Vorpagel and the dilemma of the independent wine retailer
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
Nick Vorpagel: “We don’t carry Mark West pinor noir. I suppose there’s a place for that, but it’s not us.”
The pandemic’s supply chain problems don’t seem to be going away, and especially for small retailers. Throw in inflation and higher prices, and it’s not easy out there.
That’s the assessment of Nick Vorpagel of Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva Country Meats, the blog’s unofficial independent wine retailer. He says shipping woes have continued and it’s still difficult getting imported wine. Sometimes, European wine is in short supply and sometimes it’s Australia and New Zealand. Nick calls those rolling supply chain outages — “something is going to be short for a while, and you just don’t know what it is.”
Among the subjects we discussed:
• There seems to be little hope that wine prices moderate any time soon. This is from a combination of supply bottlenecks and large retailers gobbling up the wine that is available so that they don’t run out, further cutting supply.
• In addition, producers and retailers seem to be taking price hikes whether they’re warranted or not, just to be on the safe side. And discounts and wine on sale? Not anytime soon.
• All of which means it’s time to start worrying about what to drink during the holidays, says Nick. He says he has been told to order for Christmas this summer, a couple of months earlier than usual.
• Some values do remain, including South Africa, Spain, and Portugal (vinho verde!). South America? Not so much. And be wary if you see a fancy bottle selling for $15 with a 2020 Napa Valley label; it could well be smoke-damaged wine being sold under a different label. And we shed a few tears for the once-great Seguras Viudas cava.
Click here to download or stream the podcast, which is almost 25 minutes long and takes up about 17 megabytes. The sound quality is very good to excellent, though there is way too much giggling on my part.