Why’s that bottle of wine
so expensive?
– By Courtney Charette
TRADITIONS ALIVE
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Sitting on the shelf, the bottle looks much
like the others amongst which it sits. The size is
the same, with the tapered opening ending in a
cork, or maybe a screw cap. Even labels proclaim
that the wine inside comes from the same kind
of grape. So what is it that can make one bottle
cost $13 and another upwards of $40?
One of a kind,
traditional hand crafted,
artisan products from
around the world
and Canada.
“It is too simplistic to say that it is the craft and care that
goes into the bottle that makes one more expensive than the
other,” says Marcel Morgenstern, Sommelier and Director
of Sales at PondView Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Ont. “That would imply that we don’t put any care into other
wines, and that simply isn’t the case.”
A basic rule of thumb is the older the vine, the better quality
grapes it will yield. The trade off is older vines tend to produce
fewer grapes, and good vineyard management dictates that
some of that fruit will be thinned out to further enhance the
quality of the remaining grapes. At this point, it is similar to
supply and demand. The quality goes up, but the yield is low.
High demand and low supply means higher prices.
“We have the technology now where you can run a machine
through your vineyard at harvest and do a very good job,”
says Marcel. “But we still choose to harvest by hand for our
top of the line wines, and that means more human resources,
more labour and more time.”
Once the grapes come in from the field and are pressed, there
is the matter of how and where they are aged. For PondView’s
Bella Terra Reserve wines, they are aged in expensive French
Oak, which can run between $1,000 and $1,500 per barrel.
But even after spending up to two years in the barrel, there is
no guarantee the wine inside will be bottled as a Bella Terra
Reserve Meritage.
Then, taste testing is a complex process involving multiple
blend options and as many trained tasters as possible. The
final decision lies, of course, with the head winemaker. This
is a lengthy process and takes months, not days.
The final step is the enclosure. While many wineries are
moving towards screw caps, it is still ingrained in wine culture
that the best wines are corked, and the best wines need the
best corks to ensure they will age properly.
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4490 Fairview Street, Burlington
Visit us:
(At the corner of Appleby & Fairview)
905-333-0506
www.traditionsalive.ca
(905) 407-2550
[email protected]
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