What Makes Wine So Expensive?

Many people have had the same experience of walking into a store to purchase wine and suddenly realizing that one bottle is more expensive than the other. What makes the other bottle so special that it requires a higher price tag? These are important questions to ask when purchasing wine. The truth is, the pricing reflects a few interesting things.

• Cost of Production – This focuses on the price it takes to create the bottle of wine from beginning to end. This includes the pricing for grapes, labor, utilities, barrels, marketing, sales and the actual bottle itself.
• Location – It’s all in the real estate. Many experienced wine makers have found the most impressive pieces of land that has the perfect soil and climate to grow grapes and produce wine.
• Consumer Popularity – This happens when wine enthusiasts are willing to pay top dollar, even more than $500 for one bottle of wine due to its popularity within the wine community.
• Aging – The aging process develops aromas and provides taste that young wines are not capable of offering. A bottle of wine can be more expensive because the wine producer chose to age it a few years before distribution. This is important to those wine enthusiasts who don’t have access to a cellar where they can age the wine themselves. This convenient option will drive up the price.
• Oak Barrels – Wine can be fermented in a variety of containers. However, oak barrels are the ones that add flavor to the wine such as notes of caramel and vanilla. It also changes the color and tannins. Wine that is fermented in oak barrels requires extra labor due to frequent topping up that may last years. The additional labor costs will cause the price to soar depending on how long the wine has fermented in the oak barrels.

As you can see the wide range of causes that makes one bottle of wine more expensive than the other. The next time you take a trip to the store to purchase delectable wine, read the label carefully. It is filled with important information. You would specifically want to look at the year and the region it came from. Most importantly, if you choose to purchase a higher priced bottle of wine, you will want to choose one that interests you and is exquisite enough to share with friends and family.