As a wine buyer and restaurant owner, I have mixed feelings about this. Aside from the jingoistic element (buy only American cars!), I've watched many wholesale prices on wines climb more than inflation. I've never owned a winery so I don't know the economics of wine production, but the hard reality remains that consumers have a choice of great beer at ~$8/pint, creative cocktails at $12+, or wine at usually $13-18 for a 5-6 oz glass. The "return" on wine per %abv isn't great. And the wine industry has cultivated an elite and mysterious status around wine that requires effort by the average consumer to penetrate. It's grape juice after all. I'd say, at a minimum, more screw tops, lose the foil caps, and maybe more liters (like Europe). And, if winemakers hope to sell bottles wholesale at $20-30+, it had better be freaking good, because there's a lot of good stuff out there that costs less. (Like you, I'm intrigued by what's coming here from Michigan, but a lot of it is expensive. Michigan wines to Chicago at ~$25-30/bottle wholesale? Dubious.)
Thanks for including Left Foot Charley's Murmur on this list! Also, Monte Rio's wines are some of the best values out there, and are especially balanced. I still buy imported wines, but these days I can find more and more interesting, value-driven domestic wine then back when I worked as a wine buyer at a local wine store 15 years ago. I've shifted to buying more of those interesting domestic bottles from folks like Left Foot Charley, Monte Rio, Navarro, and others.
I grew up in Virginia not far from Early Mountain Vineyards! (My mom taught at Madison Elementary.) Was always partial to Barboursville Vineyards but I am not familiar with Early Mountain. Planning to make a stop next time I’m home.
As a wine buyer and restaurant owner, I have mixed feelings about this. Aside from the jingoistic element (buy only American cars!), I've watched many wholesale prices on wines climb more than inflation. I've never owned a winery so I don't know the economics of wine production, but the hard reality remains that consumers have a choice of great beer at ~$8/pint, creative cocktails at $12+, or wine at usually $13-18 for a 5-6 oz glass. The "return" on wine per %abv isn't great. And the wine industry has cultivated an elite and mysterious status around wine that requires effort by the average consumer to penetrate. It's grape juice after all. I'd say, at a minimum, more screw tops, lose the foil caps, and maybe more liters (like Europe). And, if winemakers hope to sell bottles wholesale at $20-30+, it had better be freaking good, because there's a lot of good stuff out there that costs less. (Like you, I'm intrigued by what's coming here from Michigan, but a lot of it is expensive. Michigan wines to Chicago at ~$25-30/bottle wholesale? Dubious.)
I love the fiasco! 🍷
Thanks for including Left Foot Charley's Murmur on this list! Also, Monte Rio's wines are some of the best values out there, and are especially balanced. I still buy imported wines, but these days I can find more and more interesting, value-driven domestic wine then back when I worked as a wine buyer at a local wine store 15 years ago. I've shifted to buying more of those interesting domestic bottles from folks like Left Foot Charley, Monte Rio, Navarro, and others.
I grew up in Virginia not far from Early Mountain Vineyards! (My mom taught at Madison Elementary.) Was always partial to Barboursville Vineyards but I am not familiar with Early Mountain. Planning to make a stop next time I’m home.
Bravo! Thanks for shining a light on this! <3