The Economy of Wine; Cost? Expense? Experience?

This week I found myself in my cellar wondering if I should attempt to open an old soldier for my own personal enjoyment. I came accross an older California Chardonnay and since it was that time of the day, I seemed to think that a glass now would be ok and really, 4:30 p.m.? dinner isn't far off in my home and my spouse is not a white wine drinker and well, there it was, a temperature kept, dusty bottle from the 1993 vintage in the Alexander Valley. Yeah, it was time for me and the soldier. As the saying goes, "it is a far greater crime to drink a wine too old than too young," and I wonder if I will be a criminal with this wine. It took this bottle roughly 15 years, as it really wasn't harvested for another 90 days or so, to finally make it to a glass. I was getting ready to write another wine article for the womens journal and I was considering the economy and wine as a topic, which then became the economy of wine, which had been a hot topic among the trades as of late, and then found this 15 year old bottle in my kitchen being opened and poured for an early evening aperitif.

We as a consuming society, do not cellar our wines as much as wine once was aged. The later part of the 20th and into the early part of the 21st century has seen cellars dwindle and consumption increase. To that end producers worldwide have changed the way they produce a larger percentage of their wine. Things are made to be immediately accessible and that sacrifices the aging potential. An average person may consider consuming first vs. aging against price point at the cash register. Cost and its endless consideration becomes something of a maze inside a consumers wallet. What's the cost in time, currency, percieved value? Do I buy 1 or 2 or 12? Will I save it for a special day? Can I afford it now to drink later and how much Later? All the while the wine clerk is tapping their fingers at the counter. In a restaurant the questions become all the more sensitive as the server has other tables, your guests are hungry and thirsty, and while we weigh the menu selection versus the experience, there is that damned budget to consider.

The question may be even heavier at the winery as well. What was the grape cost, how dense is the extract and how many bottles will be produced? If blended with another source or varietal, what will happen to the quality, volume, and cost and what can we get in today's marketplace? Will it sell at $X versus $X and will we sell the entire lott or have to discount and wholesale ship a large portion to make way for the next vintage?

Virtually no consumer considers this when they are about to part with their cash for a bottle of grape juice, but the ripple effect from grape to glass is felt in every level of demographic. The picker and cellar rat working for their daily wage, the captain of industry balancing their investment with their passion/ego against their labor/sales & marketing cost against forcasted market demands. The question of cost and expense answers to a myriad of considerations that impacts society more than anyone might consider and all anyone really wants to know is, "can't I just get lost in the passion of friends and family and grape juice and escape the times and pressures of the day for even a moment?" Whats the cost?! Whats the expense?!

So I go back to my bottle and my article and notice that while California Chardonnays are never given much due towards their aging potential, this one has kept its color, however deeper gold than when first produced and the flavors of aged asiago cheese and over ripe citrus permeate the glass, my old soldier has held up nicely and I remember that year, those life experiences and long lost friends of the time. The expense matters not and the cost to percieved value is meaningless, I brush thoughts of good people, all types of experiences, and shadows of moments aside from my minds eye. The economy of today and then remind me that money isn't everything, experience is everything and what we do means more than how much we have accumulated in money or wine in the cellar.

Wow, 15 years flew by, but like the song says, " I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moments gone..." (Kansas, Dust in the Wind).

by the way...it was a 1993 Stonestreet Chardonnay and no crime was committed.