Contrary to popular belief, the margins are surprisingly similar in new world wines! Besides the obvious price differences in “buying power” between a small winery and a large conglomerate when it comes to product and materials, there is a significant quality factor at play (which comes at a great difference in expense).
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| Mechanical Night Harvest |
A large conglomerate that mass produces an inexpensive new world wine will typically utilize a mechanical harvest that isn’t selective about the grapes it’s dropping. That’s right, I said “dropping”. A mechanical harvest typically involves a tractor that mechanically grabs, and shakes the vines until the grapes drop to the ground or into a catch and conveyor that dumps them into a large bin. While this is a fast and efficient method for a massive harvest, keep in mind that bruised, ripe, unripe and even rotten grapes are gathered along with bugs, bird droppings, sticks, leaves, and anything else you can imagine to be thrown into the crush. While a certain amount of human interaction is involved for sorting, only the large and obvious issues are likely to be tended to - especially during night harvests. In good humor, you might say there is likely a good representation of nature (rather than terrior) in a $4 bottle, or a $15 to $20 box of wine. Unfortunately, when you press all the ____ in with an inconsistent quality of grapes (if you’re lucky, it’s all floated or rinsed in hose water prior to the crush), all you’ll likely get is a light bodied, bland, watered down, slightly fruity, and low quality glass of wine. Sound familiar? Oh, and it’s typically going to be spiked with the maximum allowable level of sulfites (in the form of sulfur dioxide powder) to act as a preservative, slow oxidation, and inhibit the growth of bacteria both in the wine and the winery equipment. Rather than consulting the services of an experienced wine maker to assist in arriving at a premium product with optimum flavor, body, and finish, the goal is simply to make the wine drinkable and tasty – which, when I was a college boy and didn’t know any better, was good enough to quench my thirst without leaving me broke. While there are going to be exceptions to the rule (as higher quality organizations may invest more in the sorting process), just remember that as in nearly everything, you get what you pay for.
You can expect quite the contrary from a more expensive wine, as the grapes have usually been hand harvested (in some cases multiple times to insure optimum quality and ripeness), and great pride and care has gone into the entire process. Most of your higher quality wines could actually qualify as certified organic (lacking only the extensive government imposed paperwork, costly permits, and time consuming inspections) – considering the level of “hands-on” daily attention employed in the vineyard. An experienced (and usually well known) wine maker is hired (or at least consulted) to assist in developing a polished and high quality finished product that meets the target goals and expectations of the winery owner. The wine is aged to an optimum level before being shipped to selective outlets, and samples are submitted to well known rating services such as Robert Parker and Wine Spectator to add respectable credibility and earn public trust in the market. A legacy of quality, respectable ratings, and a loyal customer following can increase demand for a limited production wine to the point that the price may seem out of reach for many. However, while quality comes at a price, it’s usually available from around $12 to $15 per bottle for a young and light to medium bodied fruity wine, to $18 to $75 for a slightly older, medium to heavy bodied and complex wine with a longer finish. In short, lower price equates to less attention to detail that was applied both in the vineyard and the winery, which will be reflected (and is typically easily detectable) in the quality of the final product.
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