I’m sure there’ll be a little agreement over some of these numbers, but I think it provides quite a cool little basic visualization of what goes into/onto a bottle.
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Anonymous
Very illuminating, although I’m curious about some of the ranges. Such as the bottle varying from .05 to 1.25. I can understand the label variation (i.e., artists’ cost, quality of paper, number of colors), but why the bottle variation?
Anonymous
Very illuminating, although I’m curious about some of the ranges. Such as the bottle varying from .05 to 1.25. I can understand the label variation (i.e., artists’ cost, quality of paper, number of colors), but why the bottle variation?
Kris Chislett
I guess for the most part, it depends on the type of the bottle used. Some wineries use a bottle weighing twice as much as others. Cult Napa Cabs are a good example of this. Next time you’re at the store, pickup a bottle of high-end Napa Cab, and compare it next to a $10. You’ll definitely see a difference in glass weight.
Some wineries even use custom bottles, which are custom made just for that winery.
Anonymous
It sounds like high-end California Cabs have taken a page from Argentina re bottle heft (which, coincidentally, seems to have scaled back the absurd heavy bottles lately).
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Kris Chislett
I’ve noticed that as well with Argentine wines. Apparently there’s a BIG perception over there that the heavier the bottle, the higher quality of wine.
Vic Motto
The most incomplete, misleading and understated economic “truth” I’ve seen in over 30 years as a financial advisor to 100’s of wineries. It’s excludes winemaking, aging, marketing, sales, distribution, taxes, profit, risk and capital investment
Kris Chislett
Well, yes, certainly none of that is taken into account. I think this particular infograph was made to show the absolute “basics”.
Admittedly, I would love to see a “complete” infograph on a bottle of wine. However saying that, how exactly do you factor in something like marketing? Some wineries blast very available channel, whereas others do very little, with both wineries potentially achieving the same result i.e. selling out a vintage.
In the mean-time, I’ll be sure to slap the guys at Snooth when I see them next.
Vic Motto
Kris is right, it does attempt to explore only the basics of production, but even that leaves at least two problems: (1) it’s based on averages only (one can drown in an average of 4 inches of water), and (2) it omits winemaking labor and physical production resources which yields even the quest for basic production info quite incomplete and misleading. Snooth should stick to what it knows.
Kris Chislett
It’s a tough one to approach certainly! If you provide the data, I’d LOVE to put together a more accurate infograph!
Richard Arrowood
Vic Motto has it spot on. I sure as heck wish I could put mountain grown,organically farmed Cabernet Sauvignon( @3-5 #’s per vine) in the bottle for $7.83 but as they say ,it ain’t goin’ to happen….Averages are just that , but I would be quite surprised if even the averages used are even remotely representative of what one could honestly be considered exemplifying the costs of a top quality product . In addition, leaving out those items that Mr. Motto alludes to reminds me all too well of why we have such finacial problems in the good ole USA. I’m quite sure the sophistic politicians in Wash. D.C. might view it differently, but it is what it is ! It might be a good idea to re-examine a better sampling of criterea and perhaps render a broader set of high and low costs that would go into the product…But as the comedian Dennis Miller so often used to say”That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong”. Cheers
Wade
Let’s remember the soil, plant, tractor, grower, farmer, picker, cellar rat, winemaker. owner, advertisment, boxes, taxes, literature, sampling, angel’s share, testing, cardboard, ink, transportation, gas, a.c., handler, shipper, and the other 97 things….+ “when was that ‘hectare’ purchased?”
Kris Chislett
You forgot “brown envelope full of cash to the Wine Spectator”.