You probably have read about the price of wine going down because there's an oversupply in the market right now. Yeah, that's somewhat true -- at the inexpensive end of the market. If you're a wine geek and waiting for your favorite Napa cabernets to drop from, say, $75 to $50 don't hold your breath.
When this consumer-friendly side of supply-and-demand hits what you more often find is some better quality $15 wines. This happens as high-quality grapes get sold at fire sale prices so less expensive wines can be made from them. And that's no bad thing, right?
And now, the virus
There's a new wrinkle in this in that wineries that depend on sales directly to consumers rather than selling retail will be hurt by the travel ban and their tasting rooms shutting down. Most smaller wineries do anywhere from half to 100% of their business on direct sales, rather than retail sales in faraway stores. Some is shipped to wine club members, some to other folks who have visited in the past and want to reorder. A lot is often sold to new visitors to their tasting room.
A tough year
The combination of oversupply and no visitors is going to make for a very tough year for the ma-and-pa wineries. Rather than buy your wines from the local Safeway or Kroger find one or two of these small operations and buy some wine to be delivered right to you. Many wineries are offering free shipping or other deals to drum up business, any business.
Medicinal purposes
Are the kids home from school or daycare?
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