6 ms·
It's common wisdom in France. If you're paying more than 20 euros for a bottle, it's probably already too much. And it's very common for people to buy in bulk a
by Bayart 4y ago
It's common wisdom in France. If you're paying more than 20 euros for a bottle, it's probably already too much. And it's very common for people to buy in bulk at the favour of seasonal discounts or from the producer. If you want to look smart at a dinner party, bring a bottle of something nobody's ever heard about that's remarkably cheap for what you get.
- int_19h 4y agoThis depends on the specific kind of wine you're looking for, surely? It would be hard to find icewine for 20 euros, I'd think.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- User23 4y agoYou could get some really nice local red table wines in Baden-Württemberg for 3-4 Euro for a 750 ml bottle last time I was there. German wine in the USA is just mass market Rieslings and maybe an ice wine and nothing else. We’d always joke that they save the good stuff for themselves.
- atkailash 4y agoAnd 8 euro wine at Monoprix is better than some >$20 I’ve had in the US. My guess is in France competition is so high and it’s easily sourced that prices don’t necessarily correlate as closely to quality as it does in some other markets.
- exitb 4y agoThat has also rung true to me in the Mediterranean. But it does make you wonder if the wine is actually so good, or it just tastes better on vacation.
- School-Cotton 4y agoThe US also has very high taxes on wine compared to the wine-producing countries of Europe (which AFAIK subsidize it). Similar to how a pack of cigarettes costs $15 in NYC and $6 in Raleigh, NC.
- biztos 4y agoInteresting that it’s $6 there, when it can apparently be sold profitably for $1 elsewhere: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=17 https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings...
- School-Cotton 4y agoYep, the economic cost of tobacco has no reason to be higher than any other plant. Even in Raleigh, there are taxes on tobacco.
- prmoustache 4y agoThere are also 3.5€ spanish wines that are suprisingly really good. I am french btw. Eventually, more often than not the temperature control and matching wine with what you eat matters more than anything.
- shakow 4y agoAccording to Google Shopping, the typical price range is from 19€ to 50€.
- onecommentman 4y agoWagner Vineyards in upstate NY has ice wine for $30/375ml, $27 (12+) and $24 if you join their club (cult?). Depending on the exchange rate, that can be about 20 Euros.
- int_19h 4y agoThis needs to account for bottle size. In US and Canada, at least, icewine is typically sold in smaller containers.
- School-Cotton 4y agoWine is far more expensive in the US than in France, for various reasons.
- javiramos 4y agoCurious — What are the reasons?
- zaphod12 4y agoIf it's french wine, then import costs is the biggest...taxes and tariffs, but also transport costs and distribution in the US all taking a cut. For wines in a top US region, you wind up paying a ton of money for the mortgage on the land, too.
- dmonitor 4y agoI know lots of US states have egregious liquor taxes. Alabama is particularly bad: 58% shelf price + $.45/L
- jcims 4y agoPart of that comes from having to pay tax on the barrel every year while it ages.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- brewdad 4y agoI don't think Alabama is aging a lot of wine relative to the US market as a whole. It's primarily a "sin" tax. One of the few taxes in the US that can gain popular support.
- School-Cotton 4y agoHigh taxes, transportation cost, and, (for explaining why Californian wine in California is more expensive than French wine in France), economies of scale and subsidies in France.
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y agoI normally only drink beer but the guy at the bottle shop knows me. He recommended a wine to me the other day, $10. He was right. I grabbed a case for $8 a bottle.
- oska 4y agoI don't mean to sound patronising but my take on this is simply that he's a good salesman who levered up the personal relationship he's established with you
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y agoIn all my years of shopping with them, he has only ever recommended me a wine on 1 or 2 occasions because I explicitly asked. I get discounts and tastings regularly. They have warned me from buying things more times then they recommend things. They are not trying to “sell” me anything.
- jstanley 4y agoI'm not saying the recommendations are bad, but... it's a shop! Of course they're trying to sell you something! (Making good recommendations may well be more profitable than making bad recommendations, because if they make bad recommendations you'll stop coming back. But they absolutely are trying to sell you something).
- thehappypm 4y agoSo? “Knowing a guy” is always about buying stuff
- stcredzero 4y agoIt's common wisdom in France. If you're paying more than 20 euros for a bottle, it's probably already too much. Works out to about $20 a bottle in California.
- base698 4y agoLuckily France doesn't have to pay $1 million an acre like a Napa winery.
- nephanth 4y agoJust looked up, an hectare of (10,000 m^2, about 2.47 acre) is 1,102,000€ in the Champagne region If what you’re saying is true, then an acre in the Napa valley is more than twice as expensive as its counterpart in the Champagne region. Which is weird, I’d expect the Champagne acre to still make you a lot more money
- pjerem 4y agoChampagne is one of the most expensive and luxurious wine in France.
- dejv 4y agoUnless they are in Burgundy. 10million an acre for some nicer, but not top, parcels are not uncommon.
- denton-scratch 4y agoNapoleonic inheritance laws resulted in the continued subdivision of Burgundy landholdings, so that some wines come from tiny plots. There are lots of tiny wine producers in Burgundy. I'm surprised that plots appear on the market at all; I supposed that nearly all plots were kept in the family.
- dejv 4y agoInheritance tax force many to sell. Still it is not like a lot of plots hits the market.