Maryland Wine Is Too Expensive
Ate at Woodberry Kitchen in Clipper Mill the other night. I wasn’t so impressed with Woodberry Kitchen the first time I went there, but on this night it was fantastic. They really knocked it out of the park on every level. Pretzel-sausage-cheese-thing: awesome. Wood fired chicken: superb. Braised short ribs: heavenly. Service: outstanding. Sixty dollar bottles of Maryland wine: …What?
This is something I’ve been gnashing my teeth about for some time and seeing a $60 wine from Maryland in print on a wine list was the tipping point for me. This is out of control.
Maryland wines are too expensive, and they aren’t good enough to justify the prices.
I’m not blaming my beloved Woodberry Kitchen for this. They could do no wrong. They served me luscious Torrontes by the glass and polished it off with heavenly Malbec, just a touch of vanilla oak on the nose rolling into stiff, solid red wine backbone. Yum.
If the winery is offering the bottles at $35 retail, the restaurants standard double markup would put the wine between $60 and $70. Woodberry Kitchen is right in the ballpark. Hats off to them for making a real effort to offer real local wines. This doesn’t make it not absurd.
So, we turn to Maryland wineries. Take the last three wineries I visited. Each had at least one wine listed over $30, some had more. One wine was over $40. Forty dollars, FORTY dollars…. for a first-ever release with no scores or glowing reviews from media, stuffy wine critics, or silly bloggers. Further, the wine isn’t very good. I’ll forgive some weaker local juice if it costs around $15. Get over twenty dollars, and we better be getting good. Push forty, and we better be talking about some good wine. Regarding Virginia wineries and their wine pricing, I’ve been jousting at that windmill for some time.
Here’s the problem: The wineries are selling out of the wines. They would be stupid to set the prices any lower.
So the blame lies with you, Maryland wine consumer. I understand you want to buy local. I understand you want to drink local juice. I feel it too. But, c’mon, this is too much. Good wine doesn’t have to be that expensive. Bad wine doesn’t have to be that expensive, either. Go grab something off the shelf for $15. Boordy and Fiore are good plays locally, and there are a million other good wines out there in that range. Spread your wings and wait for the quality to catch up.
May 12th, 2009 at 5:16 am
What was the malbec? Sounds good.
May 12th, 2009 at 5:29 am
It was a 2006 Awesome Vineyards Malbec.
Actually, not sure of the name. I can check their wine list and get back to you.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Hi Gary, thanks for your thoughts. I’m glad that you pointed out that in general, restaurants jack up prices on wine. Maryland wines, like any wines of the world, command a market price depending on quality, production size and at some point, market demand. I’m not sure which Maryland wine you were referring to, but a quick review of all Maryland wines in the states most recent Beverage Journal shows that out of roughly 250 wines listed, 230 are under $20. That means that 92% of available MD wines are under $20 a bottle at retail price. More than half of those were under $15 a bottle at retail price. Maryland’s last major wine competition (http://www.marylandwine.com/mwa/awards/winemasterschoice09.shtml) named Bordeleau Winery’s Pinot Grigio “Best in Show,” and at $14 a bottle, it’s a steal. Elk Run Vineyard’s Cabernet Franc (state and national award winner) is priced at $18 a bottle. These wines are excellent, local and reasonably priced. I have faith in the Maryland wine consumer.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Gary, Great post and as we’ve discussed before, the prices continue to blow my mind.
Regina,
I’d love to see the results of the Beverage Journal (do you know if there is an online version and the date of the last print?). Unfortunately, I can’t speak in detail about the Maryland wine industry, but in my experience to date, the vast majority of wines have been over $20, very similar to their neighbor Virginia. I’m assuming the great press and success in recent competitions, only helps to support higher prices. On a positive note, it’s great to see Maryland making noise on a national level and helping continue to raise the level of the other 46 states. Cheers!
May 14th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Regina,
Thanks for the comment. I’d love to check out the Beverage Journal.
You make a completely valid point that the vast majority of Maryland wine is available below $20 retail. There are indeed examples of good wine in that group. I drink a lot of those examples and have a great time doing it. To be fair, I should have mentioned that in my post.
One can’t argue that prices are not creeping upwards, though. In the case of Cabernet Sauvignon–especially things like “reserve” and “estate” bottlings–they’re making leaps and bounds upwards. These are the prices I was complaining about.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Thank you for the mention of my wine “Fiore are good plays locally” When my wife Rose and I decided to go into the wine business, we did so coming from a wine family with a love for wine….but the wine we loved we could not afford, and the wine we could afford we could not drink. As a vetren wine maker from Italy we decided to open a small winery with a goal to make the best wines we could at the most affordable price. This was the case when we opened in 1986 and is still the case today. And I agree with you when I see the price of some wines today I don’t know how these people can sleep at night.
Cheers,
Mike Fiore
May 21st, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Mike, thanks for the note and thanks for reading. Keep up the good work.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:07 am
What was the malbec? Sounds good.