#winesearcher

Wine, the glamorous frontier of sophistication and well-heeled intoxication. Traditionally a European endeavor (and by traditionally, I mean centuries ago), that Old [World] guard was shocked-- SHOCKED!-- into acknowledgement of the quality of New World (Americas and Oceania) wines.

Today, Concho y Toro (a Chilean, banner-bearing New World producer) has not only learned from the winemaking techniques of the Old World, but also its pricing techniques as well.

Observe the Liv-ex 100 (think of this as the wine world's blue chip stock index, available at liv-ex.com (do not leave out the hyphen)):

Admire how the index has maintained a level above 200 for the post-recession recovery. Despite falling back down as of late--as people realize that Lafite is really only marginally more than some rather excellent grape juice-- bottle prices for these ultra-luxury range from $200+ to an eye-watering $2,000+. And these are just more recent vintages.

Teacher: What is the lesson to be learned here, young North Dakota?

North Dakota: People are also impressed by the price?

Teacher: Yes! Luxury is part reality, part perception!

Concho y Toro: I couldn't help but overhear, let me do that too for my portfolio. (Pricing info from wine-searcher.com (hyphen optional here).)

Concho y Toro: Well, shoot. I can only move so much at the low end since this segment likes to buy wines with little animals on the labels. Let me try pricing bumps at the next tier up...

Concha y Toro: Oh sweet malolactic fermentation, there is hope yet! Our formerly-sort-of-Super-Premium labels begin pushing Super-Premiums to Ultra-premiums, and formerly Ultra-premiums can push into Icon territory in terms of wine prices!

Concha y Toro: So I guess the lesson here is... branding perception is also driven by pricing, and market acceptance of those prices!

Teacher: Well, duh, that's what I just told you.