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In Reply to: RE: Cabernet tasting... posted by mkuller on May 14, 2011 at 10:58:47
Interesting that you/your friends are very close to the wine country and you/they still buy wines (50%?) at Costco.
Not condemning you and your friends, just pointing out that convenience(and price?) is very important.
Costco is the biggest wine outlet in the country. What percentage of your annual wine buying is from Costco?
"Burgundy makes you think of silly things, Bordeaux makes you talk of them, Champagne makes you do them."
Follow Ups:
...from my perspective anyway. As a small producer, there is only one reason to be at Costco....cash flow.
A few years back I made wine for a high end place that was having problems moving enough wine. Their top bottle priced out in the low 60's. Well to Costco they went and they did move wine, but at what cost?
Imagine being a wine club customer and walking in to Costco and seeing the wine at a cheaper price than you paid. Imagine being a retailer that has a Costco down the street and all of a sudden the same wine you have on your shelf for $62 is available for $45. Not good...those bridges get burned for ever.
I hear thru the grape vine that the winery is now moving a bunch of wine to China.
...whcih surprised me.
Highly rated wines from usually good wineries and they didn't carry it before.
The economic downturn has hurt the higher priced offerings.
So it isn't surprising to see them at Costco these days.
They have to sell it to somebody.
As a small winemaker, I certainly can understand your perspective.
As a consumer, they have some bargains I can't pass up.
Hewitt and Groth cabs, to name a couple.
...of the guys in the wine tasting group, but even though we are close, most of us only go the wine country a couple of times a year, for a get-away weekend or when people visit.And when I go to Napa or Sonoma, I don't buy very much wine there - probably just a few bottles of stuff that you can't get elsewhere.
Since we live close, the local wine shops have a lot and at discounts.
The monthly wine tastings are about current releases that are still available, not cellar gems which are unobtainable, so some of the guys shop around before the tastings.
I go to Costco every 3 to 4 weeks for my business so I buy a lot of my wine there - probably half of it. The wine buyer there is very good as are the prices.
One of the guys in the group has befriended the local Trader Joe's wine buyer. Another has a vacation home in Lake County and buys some of his wine there.
Edits: 05/15/11
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