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| Graacher Himmelrich. Awesome dirt. But where is the payoff? |
Why do we pay less for Riesling?
It’s a concept that puzzles everyone who loves the variety. A question that no one appears to have a complete answer too.
Why do we pay less for Riesling?
I found myself pondering this question (again) after seeing the prices on the latest 2011 vintage JJ Prüm Riesling releases (succinctly reviewed here by Mike Bennie) and noticing just how cheap even the Auslese GK wines are ($170 max).
Of course cheap is a relative term ($170 a bottle is hardly cheap in the scheme of things), but given that these are famous wines; from a producer whom has been at the top of the tree since the 1920s, and sourced from a select group of vineyards that have been celebrated for centuries, the $170 pricetag for the top Auslese Goldkapsel releases is plain affordable. They’re particularly affordable when placed up against its relative Burgundian peers (like 2010 Grand Cru Montrachet) which are regularly quadruple that price. Laughably affordable considering that the latest iteration of Torbreck’s The Laird (2008) sells for $900 a bottle (and this is only the third vintage).
Obviously, I’m setting aside here the costs of production, given that factors like the choice of fermentation/maturation vessel (new French oak barriques run at $1200 each) and length of time before release (an extra year in cask for Burgundy adds to the cost) tend to alter the actual cost of goods.
Yet its just not quite enough to justify the price difference.
What’s even more amazing is that things weren’t always like this. Witness this old BBR price book from 1909 that had 1900 vintage Mouton Rothschild priced cheaper than an 1893 Graacher Hummelreich. Back then great Hock was priced above Richebourg and at a level of the top wines of the world.
So what happened? Why has, aside from the small parcels of ridiculous VDP auction lots and the odd special bottling, the price of wines like this stayed so comparatively low?
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3 Comments
Andrew, Shhh – lets not spill the beans! Though in reality this is common knowledge and despite protestation from riesling nuts (I'm a card holder) riesling remains peripheral and much less fashionable.
I can kind of see why. A bottle of JJ Prum even with a Gold cap, as delicious as it is, will not have as many fans as a dry red with structure that can be consummed with a main meal (red meat). It hurts me to say, but it just has less utility and flexibility and plus the sugar is not good if you are old and at risk of dropping from a sugar hit.
As the rate of diabetes goes up – will the value of these sweet wonders drop further?
I hadn't really considered the role of diabetes as a precluding factor in the low prices of sweet wines! Thanks Ed for the alternate perspective. Interesting.
The Germans themselves prefer dry rieslings over off-dry/sweet.
The dry rieslings are pretty expensive – check out Keller, for example.
I suspect that if the off-dry/sweets were popular in Germany, the pricing would be substantially higher.