WineInk: The smell of money

News News | Aug 26, 2023

When people put their nostrils to use and drop their noses into a glass of wine, they are hoping to get a whiff of the seductive aromas found in the wine. You know, those hints of mango or passionfruit proffered by a sauvignon blanc or the smoke, leather, and cocoa undertones emanating from a fine Cabernet Sauvignon. But often, when we think about wine there is another scent that comes to mind.

You know, the smell of money.

In recent weeks, a number of stories with economic angles have come my way that made me stop and think about just how much money affects the world of wine. We all know that wine is a business, but occasionally, we lose sight of the dollars and focus on the scents. (Sorry.) But some figures have given me cause to pause and consider other aspects of wine. $600,000, $108, and $13.99. Each number, and their stories, represent a different way of looking at wine as a commodity.

$600K. Maybe more. That’s what the wine press has reported to be the value of the wines that were stolen in early July from a wine shop in Venice, California, called Lincoln Fine Wines. Yes, the shop is on Lincoln Boulevard.

The story goes that in the middle of the night, a perpetrator cut a hole in the roof of the shop above the storage area filled with fine wines and, over the next four hours or so, pilfered some of the most valuable bottles of wine found on earth. Classic Burgundy and Bordeaux wines, including a bottle of Chateau Petrus 2016, which was listed at $4,500, were stolen along with a collection of Amarone from Italian legend Giuseppe Quintarelli, and a 15-liter bottle (That’s a rare “Nebuchadnezzar” bottle which holds 20 regular bottles) of Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne.

In all, it is estimated that 800 bottles were selected by the thief who had lowered himself into the store with a rope — à la “Mission: Impossible” or “Ocean’s 11” style — and picked the crème de la crème of a wine collection that had taken store owner Nazmul Haque Helal over a decade to amass. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the manager of Lincoln Fine Wines, Nick Martinelle, said, “The blood, sweat, and tears that went into these bottles . . . to see them taken, for us at the store, it was a violation.”

So, we all know that wines can be valuable, but how does a thief profit from a theft of this sort? The list of wines is in the hands of the LAPD and trying to sell them to retail shops or online seems particularly precarious. Is it possible they were stolen for the pleasure of those doing the thieving? Were they targeted on behalf of overseas collectors? As of this writing, the crime remains unsolved, so one can only speculate about the motive. But if anyone shows up at a dinner at your house bearing a humongous Nebuchadnezzar of Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne, you might want to give Lincoln Fine Wines a call. Or the LAPD.

$108. From theft to, well, profiteering. It was announced this week that the average, direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine — that is, a wine sold from a winery to a consumer one-to-one versus in a store — in Napa Valley has exceeded the $100 mark for the first time. According to the 2023 Direct to Consumer Wine Report (We’ll get to that in a minute), $108 is the current average price of a bottle sold at a winery, an increase of $17 over last year’s report. That is in contrast to Napa’s neighbor Sonoma, which clocked in with a $ 57-a-bottle price.

Frankly, it does not surprise me that Napa wines average in the three figures. If you consider the demand for wines and the boom in Napa tourism since the pandemic, coupled with the actual costs incurred by wineries to acquire land and make wines in one of the most sought-after wine regions in the world, $100 seems somewhat reasonable. Especially when it is the average that is skewed by many wineries that sell wines for many hundreds of dollars.

Not that it makes it right. There is a surge in upscale wine tourism in Napa Valley these days that has seen a surge in expensive “Tasting Experiences,” over-the-top hotel prices, and dining options that can soar to dizzying heights. And while wine is the driver of that, it really represents the bargain in the valley.

Oh, and about that direct-to-consumer Wine Report: If you remember, back in March, we were all in a tizzy when Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) imploded, and their assets were seized by the U.S. government. The bank’s wine division was one of the largest individual lenders to Napa wineries, and there was concern that there would be a direct impact on the financial future of the Napa Valley economy.

Well, Silicon Valley Bank was swallowed by First Citizens Bank of Charlotte, North Carolina, and they have kept the wine division of SVB intact. This report is a continuation of the valuable research that SVB has provided in the past to the industry. They, too, know the smell of money.

And finally, $13.99. That’s the retail price of one of my favorite bottles of wine that I have enjoyed this summer, a Rio Madre 2021 Graciano. I wrote of this wine last week in Under the Influence, and it has remained on my brain since because of the relative value it provided for the price. It is amongst a number of sub-$15 that I’ve enjoyed this summer. There was Zuccari Serie A Malbec from Argentina, a big bottle of Côté Mas Rouge Intense, and Canyon Oaks Chardonnay — all of which drank above their price point.

Value in wine is squarely in the eyes of the beholder. Just because a wine is inexpensive, or cheap, does not necessarily mean that it is a value. A bad wine, no matter the price, is not a value. It’s just a bad wine. Conversely, a wine sold for a price that exceeds its pedigree, say on a restaurant wine list, where it has been marked up three times or more from wholesale, is not a great value either, even if it goes well with your meal. Rather, a great value in wine is one that meets both the expectations of what the wine should be and is sold at a price that fits the budget expectations of the consumer — that would be you.

From the Lincoln Fine Wines proprietor who spent years curating a collection only to see it disappear in the middle of the night, to the guy in Napa who drops a grand on a case of Cabernet following a paid, tasting-room session, and the wine writer who enjoys a $10 Chardonnay at a local picnic, the value of a wine depends on who is doing the drinking.

But it always has the scent of money.

2019 Sullivan Estate Coeur De Vigne Rutherford Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

And having said that, this writer still loves a great, three-figure Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine — made by Jeff Cole for a winery founded by Napa pioneer Jim Sullivan and now owned by wine entrepreneur Juan Pablo Torres Padilla — is a great example of why Napa Valley wines, especially from the Rutherford appellation, are so prized. Dark and decadent with layers of flavors and hearty tannins, it is indicative of the kind of winemaking that we can expect from the reinvigorated Sullivan Rutherford Estate.

Aug 26, 2023

In recent weeks, a number of stories with economic angles have come my way that made me stop and think about just how much money affects the world of wine.

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