PRICE AND AVAILABILITY OF WINE CAN BE A FRUSTRATING SHELL GAME
As you read, I will be at the Vancouver International Wine Festival; final thoughts from the International Tasting Room will follow next week. In the meantime, a timely email from a Vancouver Sun reader — who has been reading my reviews and newspaper columns for years and considers me his “oracle” for products available in B.C. — shares some pet peeves.
“Why do your reviews always refer to wine being available in private wine shops without identifying which private wine shops? It's annoying because the reader must do a lot of work to find out which ones. Just curious.”
I think that question was directed at the releases on Gismondi on Wine because most Sun reviews are widely available in government stores. That said, I couldn't agree more with the premise of how difficult it is to find wines sold in the private market, but how would you like to track down the price of 3,000 wines a year? Since the birth of private wine shops and direct delivery by local wineries, sourcing wine and how much it costs has become a shell game. It's almost as if the goal were to keep consumers and reviewers guessing.
The issue was further compounded in 2015 when the government created its quasi-wholesale monopoly scheme. Ever since, retail prices in government stores, private wine shops and restaurants have soared, making it impossible to know the true worth of any wine. Add to that out-of-date websites, if there are any, and they have you where they want you: in the dark.
Distributors, agents and wineries have little interest in promoting the inflated retail price once they have sold their bottles, typically quoting the wine's wholesale price as if it were anywhere near the final cost at the till. The wholesale price is bandied about like a shining standard of affordability, but that price is far from the final retail price. Add another 30 to 50 per cent cost of doing business to the tab plus the five/10 per cent GST/ PST. Restaurants fought hard for a wholesale price, but none of those savings have made it to the wine list. Let's face it: Wine costs a lot in restaurants, which must now worry many restaurateurs as consumers back away from expensive dining out.
Before the semi-privatization of the retail market, there was one price for wine. Since then, the selection has become broader but mainly at the bottom end, where it is easier to charge a lot for little. Also, the value or price of a new listing is mostly unknown to buyers, making it simple to jack the price. It didn't take long for restaurants to jump on the unlisted train, allowing them to take the same healthy margins as retailers. But I digress.
Back to our reader. “Stop reviewing Terravista Albariño. It is never available to anyone other than members of their wine club ... And it sells out before you even do your reviews.”
Any wine we receive, we review. Since you admit you can buy the wine from the wine club, technically, it is available — well, at least we think it is. When we receive a local wine with no pricing, we begin the search at the winery website, where we quickly learn that if it's a club wine, you must join the wine club to see the price of what is an exclusive club listing and its elementary technical information — frustrating, you bet.
It would appear some wine sellers are embarrassed by the final price of their products. Indeed, B.C. Liquor Stores were a few years back when they removed the five per cent GST and 10 per cent PST from the shelf price and added it back in at the till. It took only a few months before producers and retailers built the missing 15 per cent back into the shelf price while the federal and provincial governments levied their tax on the higher price at the till. With the golden goose down for the count, it seems there is no shortage of people willing to stomp on it until it's dead.
Optimistically, our reader ended his note: “Love your work. And despite the above, will keep reading faithfully.”
As always, I am grateful to those who enjoy the column and use it to increase their knowledge because knowledge is power, and you need some when you are buying any wine in B.C.