An article a few years ago in Forbes magazine, entitled “Napa Valley Wine’s Average Price Now Over $100 Per Bottle” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlsson/2023/08/31/napa-valley-wines-average-price-now-over-100-per-bottle/) was expanded on by a tour group. The new one is entitled “Is Napa Valley pricing itself out of the market for wine tourism and for wine?” (https://www.bkwinetours.com/travelog/napa-valley-pricing-itself-out/).
Photo courtesy of Blue Dollar.
The latter article crystalized in our minds a serious problem. We have been making wine tasting trips for all our adult lives. We understand that the days when wineries gave free tastings and even gave you a glass are long over. And really, there never was a good reason why they should give away their products, but now it seems to us that the pendulum has swung way too far the other way. Today, “the average tasting room tasting fee in Napa Valley is $128 for a “reserve tasting” and $81 for a “standard tasting”. And if you should choose to buy a bottle, the average price is $108.
We suggested that the pendulum has swung too far, but that’s probably incorrect. Pendulums swing both ways and we don’t see prices falling anytime soon. If a couple visiting Napa Valley wants to try, say, three wineries in a day and choose the standard tasting that comes to a cost of $500 or more. There are too many people for whom this is an unbearable vacation expense.
Why would the wineries in Napa Valley choose to restrict their market this way? For one thing, the figures quoted are distorted by the many top-end producers in that region who would prefer to limit their visitors to potential buyers who can afford to buy wines that may exceed $200 per bottle. They are not even eliminating a younger crowd, not with Silicon Valley so close by. Software zillionaires may be young but they are well paid. They may not appreciate “fancy” wines, but they do know how to spend their money on luxury goods.
Of course, there are many places in California to go wine tasting, so perhaps the rest of us can leave Napa Valley to the rich. But Sonoma County wineries’ average tasting fees are $72 for a reserve tasting and a standard one at a comparatively affordable $38. Other California areas, particularly Santa Barbara and Paso Robles are catching up. Some European destinations, such as Bordeaux and Champagne aren’t much less expensive.
Of course, it is still possible to search for less pricy wineries to visit and to vacation in less well-known areas of Wine Country. Wine is made in all 50 states, but not all the others can match California’s variety, quantity and especially quality. Perhaps a recession will bring prices down, but that’s a rather steep price to pay for more affordable wine tasting trips. Or maybe as the costs become too much for too many, the wineries may try some alternatives, such as seasonal pricing, encouraging visitors to come in the deep of winter or summer weekdays. We won’t count on it, but we will probably visit Napa Vally much less frequently.