Comments on: The price of wine http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2008/02/19/the-price-of-wine/ The latest news and articles from Majestic Wine, the UK's leading mixed case wine merchant Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:59:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Richard Weaver http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2008/02/19/the-price-of-wine/#comment-241 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:24:56 +0000 http://majesticwine.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-241 Esther, we don’t make any wine, we leave it to the experts! (Although I’d love to have a go!)

]]> By: esther http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2008/02/19/the-price-of-wine/#comment-239 Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:19:45 +0000 http://majesticwine.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-239 does majestic wine produce their own wine or buy themm from suppliers?

]]> By: Richard Weaver http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2008/02/19/the-price-of-wine/#comment-25 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:33:00 +0000 http://majesticwine.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-25 Phil – you’re right that once you move up into the realm of fine wines, production cost is a less important “direct” element of cost.

However, it is also true that only the very top producers can afford some of the most expensive production equipment and methods. I’m thinking in particular about the number of ‘tries’ taken through the vineyard and the manual selection of individual berries at Château d’Yquem for example, or the famous story of the Château Pétrus vineyards being air-dried by a hovering a helicopter them!

]]> By: Phil Brown http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2008/02/19/the-price-of-wine/#comment-24 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:45:24 +0000 http://majesticwine.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-24 I certainly follow Richard Weaver’s logic for wines in a particular price segment (up to say £10), but beyond that ? I doubt that wine producers actually pursue cost based pricing policies, such that increasing retail prices always reflect increasing production costs implying quality. There must be a point at which production costs top out and market pricing starts to reflect other factors such as fashion, scarcity etc. Leaving aside any geographical variation in production costs, there is also the implicit assumption that all wine makers are equally efficient in the production process ! It would be very interesting to explore the financials of the business at wine producer level across the different geographies.

]]> By: Nick Comley http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2008/02/19/the-price-of-wine/#comment-20 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:42:38 +0000 http://majesticwine.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-20 Here’s an interesting thought, as wine is taxed according to percentage volume of alcohol, what would happen if it were taxed at volume of production? The higher volume, the greater the tax. This would promote lower yields, higher quality, encourage smaller producers and act to mitigate poor harvests and when a producer wants to increase production they know how much tax they will be liable for for every hectalitre. Sound fanciful?

]]> By: John Howson http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2008/02/19/the-price-of-wine/#comment-11 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:33:04 +0000 http://majesticwine.wordpress.com/?p=20#comment-11 When we joined the Common Market as it was then, we were told that duty would be harmonised. We all looked forward to the cost of wine comming down. I wonder what happened.

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