mhicken August 24th, 2009
I previously wrote a post about the issue of Bordeaux price problems given the global economic slowdown. Here’s some interesting evidence on that front. Today, I received a promo email from a leading wine retailer in the U.S. who has secured major discounts on 2006 Bordeaux because of slow sales. To give you an idea of the discrepancy in prices between the BC LDB prices on the 05 vintage and the street price on 06 in the U.S., here are some comparisons:
(Chateau 05 BC price - 06 US price)
Angelus 475 vs. 119
Bahans Haut Brion 99 vs. 37
Bellevue-Mondotte 475 vs. 175
Cheval-Blanc 1299 vs. 329
Cos 349 vs. 75
Ducru Beaucaillou 319 vs. 86
Leoville Las Cases 549 vs. 130
Mouton Rothschild 1100 vs. 545
Pichon Baron 225 vs. 62
Pichon Lalande 245 vs. 98
Tags: bc, bordeaux, LDB, prices, u.s., vintages, wine
mhicken November 19th, 2008
Facebook: Just read today that the wine web site, CorkSavvy.com, has launched a Facebook application which lets users create a wine journal and share wine tasting notes with others across their social network. This is a cool tool and is definitely an indicator of things to come, particularly for the much publicized “millenial” generation. But even beyond that group, this is interesting technology. A recent Wine Business Monthly survey found that the most likely reason for an individual to buy a bottle of wine is the recommendation of a friend. This tool makes it that much easier to share wine recommendations and the marketing potential and impact of reaching influential consumers becomes all the more important.
Vintages: According to the French press, the 2008 vintage in France has been poor overall and, for some producers in areas like Burgundy, is almost a wipe-out. Coming on the heels of the lacklustre 2007 vintage which had poor sales for Bordeaux, this is bad news for French wine generally. Prices will have to come down, particularly given the current economic climate.
Marketing Symposium: Registration is now open for the 2nd annual “direct to consumer” marketing symposium in Napa scheduled for February 24th, 2009. This promises to be an excellent conference providing the latest updates on DTC wine marketing strategies including those related to the web and social networking. If you are going, I will see you there!
Wine Shipping (U.S.): Another U.S. case has struck down wine shipping restrictions imposed by one state against another state’s wineries. A string of court cases is now pending in the U.S. to challenge various state restrictions created following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Granholm v. Heald. Generally, the U.S. courts are finding that any restrictions which discriminate against out-of-state wineries (vs. in-state wineries) are illegal. This is interesting because similar arguments are possible in Canada with regard to the various liquor board’s discrimination against out-of-province wineries.
Tags: direct to consumer, facebook, france, marketing, social networking, vintages, wine
