What Makes A Wine Expensive? The 3 Wine Price Factors
Fine Wine Blog Most Expensive Wines What Makes A Wine Expensive
What Makes A Wine Expensive?
The price of a wine reflects the cost of production, which includes the raw physical materials, such as grapes, other ingredients, barrels for aging, and bottles and labels for packaging.High quality materials translate to a higher quality of wine, but also a higher price. In addition to the materials, the production method to move the grapes from the vineyard, to the barrels, to the bottles also needs to be considered.
Utilities add to the production cost, as does labour. A change in any one of these costs increases the end price of the wine – moreover, variables such as the grape yield (highly influenced by weather) will also affect production costs and are to be considered.
While many production factors interlace, three main aspects contribute to a wine’s end price.
3 Main Wine Price Factors
1. Time
It is a widely known fact that high quality wine that is well-aged tastes rounder and smoother – qualities that are highly sought after among consumers.Aging adds heavily to the production costs (think storage, labour, uncertainty in an unstable market) as the wine takes up space in a winery and costs money for maintenance.
2. Oak barrel aging
Aging high quality fine wine in oak barrels is favourable to any other aging method, leading to enhanced flavours and an overall better quality.Oak barrels result in lost wine as it evaporates from the barrel, leaving less wine to be bottled. This is not to mention that oak itself is an expensive material, coming with the need of expert staff to maintain quality and perform periodical tastings of the wine.
3. Vineyard Locations
Wine produced from vineyards in famous locations that are known for their ability to produce outstanding wine consistently will cost more.The proven track record of the most famous wine investment regions almost always command higher prices. As with most any other product, branding and quality assurance costs more.
Wines from developing countries tend to be cheaper than from developed countries (sometimes resulting in great value wines during certain vintages). This can be attributed both to a reduced cost of production (cheaper labour, etc.), but to the region’s lower profile too.
Other factors contributing to the price of fine wines that will influence it in the future are the rarity of a high quality vintage, as well as its ability to attract collectors (something famous wine regions such as Bordeaux and Rhone are well known for).
What Are The Most Expensive Wines?
Wine Searcher compiled the top 50 of the most expensive wines in the world, gleaned from almost 55.000 wine price lists and based on the average price of a 750ml bottle.The most expensive wines in the world are overwhelmingly European, with the top 10 coming from France (8) and Germany (2). The Cote de Nuits of France commands 4 of the top 10 spots, while Cote de Beaune of France commands 2.
All of the top 10 have average prices over $3000, with most of them nearer to or exceeding $10.000. The most expensive wine in the world right now, a highly renowned Burgundy, can go for as much as $24.000.
Great Wine Collecting Alternatives
If you’re looking to celebrate with, collect, or invest in fine wines of high quality from the same renowned wine regions (but without the $24.000 price tag), the following recommendations meet the criteria and provide great value – without the highest of costs.Our main suggestions hail from the Rhone Region. Especially noteworthy are the famous “La La” wines – such as the La Mouline (1989 vintage), La Landonne (1995 vintage, 2009 vintage), or La Turque (1988 vintage, 2005 vintage). You can check out more recommendations here in our online wine shop.
For any other fine wine related questions or queries – or if you’re interested in fine wine investment or collecting – please feel free to contact our experts at any time. And don’t forget to sign up for our monthly prize draw right now for your chance of winning fine wine worth £500.00!
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