We swore we would never go back to Napa Valley again. It’s too expensive, we said. The wineries are too snobbish, we said. There’s great wine in other places, we said. But there we were, driving up Route 29 one more time. Why did we do it? Because there are wineries we knew or wanted to get to know. Because there are restaurants that we love. Because Napa Valley is just so beautiful, any time of year.
All of that doesn’t negate the fact that wine tasting in Napa Valley costs way, way too much. There are many wineries where the basic fee for tasting is $150 and surely inflation will push more of them into that financial stratosphere. At some point, it has to stop. (Doesn’t it?)
From the wineries’ points of view, there is no reason to stop charging whatever the market will bear. If people will pay those prices, why lower them? And if wineries were solely in the tourism business, that would make perfect sense. But they are basically in the wine business and they need to have people buying their products in wine shops and online, not just taking sips while on vacation.
We have read and have seen with our own eyes that sales of wine are decreasing. Grapes are being left on the vines to rot and feed the birds. Young people – potentially the wine drinkers of tomorrow – are drinking beer and cocktails instead of wine. Wine tasting, as enjoyable as it is, should be an advertisement for the products a winery makes. Choke off easy entry to the enjoyment of wine today and there will be fewer customers tomorrow.
So if the winemakers of Napa Valley feel secure that they can continue to thrive by selling to Silicon Valley zillionaires, then that’s a strategic decision they’re entitled to make. After all, Tiffany, Porsche and, yes, Moët et Chandon do quite well selling luxury products. There are many superb wineries in Napa Valley but there are more that fall below the level of “superb”. Inflating prices for tastings may be good for their owners’ egos. Many of them made a fortune elsewhere and then bought a vineyard. Those wineries need to lower their tasting prices to attract more visitors…and sell more wine.