Dr. Apstein, with his column on wine pricing, has inspired an interesting debate among the partners here at Wine Review Online.
As you know by now, Apstein believes in a free market that establishes value based on the perception of worth. WRO Editor Michael Franz, who plans to respond to Apstein’s thesis in a column this week, strongly disagrees. Franz would like to see the price more in line with what it cost to produce and distribute the wine, plus a reasonable profit.
I’m more in the Apstein camp on this, but my interest in the topic is fixed on the impact the currently wobbly economy and weak dollar will have on the faces of wine. It’s not like we haven’t been here before.
It was out of a weak, recessionary economy and a huge dip in the stock market that the term “fighting varietals” was born. This was the period in the early 1980s when we were still recovering from the inflation and high interest rates of the 1970s.
Jess Jackson was an obscure producer (and a lawyer by day) from Lake County when his Kendall-Jackson brand took the everyday wine world by storm with the ultimate “fighting varietal” of the day, the popular Kendall-Jackson “Vintner’s Reserve” Chardonnay.
This wine not only catapulted Jackson to fame and considerable fortune, it turned Jess into a veritable juggernaut. I think it’s safe to say no other one person controls as much fine-wine production in the United States as Jess Jackson. Gallo is bigger and certainly has many top-drawer wines, but Jackson has more juice at the high end of the price spectrum. Ironic considering his humble “fighting varietal” beginnings.
So we are once again facing an economic squeeze and wine enthusiasts are thinking about tightening their belts without sacrificing quality or selection. And this begs the question: Who will become the next Jess Jackson?
Just wondering.
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