Wine prices - over the years

[Croquet King]

I'm always interested in how wine is priced and how it changes over the years.

Some wine goes up then another label comes in at the original price point.
Wynns have done this with the black label with the Siding coming in to take its original price point.

Penfolds bin 389 - I bought the '96 for $20 a bottle then the '98 for $25. I haven't bought a bottle since.

One wine that seems to have stayed unchanged in Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon
I remember buying the '92 for $8.99, then the '93 for $9.99. I'm guessing this was around 2000.
The other day I got the '07 for $10.20 a bottle.
15 years later I've paid the same price. As for quality, it seems the same to me.

Anyway as I said something I find interesting.

What other wines have stayed the same or similar price over the last 15 years?

[chadnchady]

As with most things, prices would increase naturally due to inflation. Especially if you are comparing between a 20 year gap (1996 - 2015).

Obviously some brands like penfolds have increased prices beyond the normal inflation because of their marketing ability, popularity of the wine and overseas demand etc etc

I would be surprised if there were that many wines that have not changed in price over the last 20 years. I guess it's possible if they priced it too high in the first place or if they've continued to improve their cost of production somehow over the years.

Would be interested to know which wines these are.

[phillisc]

As with most things, prices would increase naturally due to inflation. Especially if you are comparing between a 20 year gap (1996 - 2015).

Obviously some brands like penfolds have increased prices beyond the normal inflation because of their marketing ability, popularity of the wine and overseas demand etc etc

I would be surprised if there were that many wines that have not changed in price over the last 20 years. I guess it's possible if they priced it too high in the first place or if they've continued to improve their cost of production somehow over the years.

Would be interested to know which wines these are.

Ahhh Chadnchady juicy topic, where do we start here, as this post could rival some of Sean's epic epistles.

Off the top of my head, and what I paid

1990 Rockford BP, $15, 2011 59
1990 Wendouree $13, 2012 50

A few others
1990 Bests Bin 0, $25, 2012 56
1990 Craiglee, $22, 2012 40.
1996 Passing clouds $18, 2012 30

Now for the surprises
1990 Wynns BL $12, 2012 23
1996 Wynns Shiraz $8, 2012 11
1990 Zema $17, 2010 23
1990 Bowen $15, 2010 24

1993 Leasingham Bin 61 $12, 2012 12 ( same for the Bin 7 Riesling)

Can't think of anymore at present,
but Bowen and Zema, having an increase of about 50c a year is quite something.

I am sure others here can think of many more.

Cheers
Craig.

[Hacker]

I can think of one which had a major tumble, no doubt due to over zealous expectations on the back of Parker points and claims of previous usage in Grange - Viking Wines in the Barossa. Their 2002 Grand Shiraz sold at $50 (including to me ) but I actually don't mind it, but current releases go for around $20-25 or so. At auction even cheaper. Good value at these levels.

I'm sure there must be other producers that have readjusted their pricing due to market forces?

[deejay81]

Tahbilk Marsanne's AFAIK have always been very affordable

[Duncan Disorderly]

Some wine goes up then another label comes in at the original price point.
Wynns have done this with the black label with the Siding coming in to take its original price point.

I'm not sure this is a fair comparison. The Siding may have come in at the 'original price point', but (difficulty in accurately tracking historical retail prices aside) when you consider real purchasing power the 'Black Label' hasn't become much more expensive over time. Based on some comparisons it's actually cheaper.

According to the RBA's inflation calculator a wine worth $20 in 2000 would cost, $24.60 in 2006 and approx $29.68 in 2014.

I remember working at Vintage Cellars when the 1998's Wynn's Cab's were released. Now I've always thought VC's is a little on the expensive side, and it was in Perth were things are generally more expensive, but I distinctly remember the 1998 'Black Label' being sold at around $20-25. Of course those were the day's before the wine glut took hold, but it's worth noting that I picked up my 2010's for about $20 - the same price as you'd of paid 12 years previous, although I'd moved to the Eastern States by then. On that basis it has actually gone backwards in price.

As an aside it's interesting how easily people forget about inflation. I personally find references in current $AUD figures compared to historical $AUD figures, like for example the 'record deficit', highly illusory.

[phillisc]

I don't think there is certainly anything illusory about inflation: current, historical or otherwise.

Just ask Wilma and Wally wage earner and the millions like them in Australia
It was bloody hard back then to factor everything and survive re cost of living and there are certain factors like loss of manufacturing and a white elephant called a mining boom, which for many have made it just as hard in 2015.

Plenty alright for a wine company to have a 20-30 times increase from an original price on a wine to now...but PAYE might have had half to one times an increase over the same period

If everything else went up as much in relation to costs to produce, then fair enough...but they have not...and that's the problem.

In terms of wages...Wally and Wilma would be millionaires

Cheers
Craig

[Duncan Disorderly]

Just ask Wilma and Wally wage earner and the millions like them in Australia

Not sure whether you are being ironic Craig, but...

Pensioners, and possibly the bottom quintile of wage earners may have lagged the rest, but average wage growth in Australia(all states/all sectors) between 1998-2014 was 74%. By my reckoning the price of Wynns 'Black Label' only increased by about 67% in the same period.

As to wines having a price increase of 20-30 times their price, Grange comes to mind but noting that on its 1987 release it was already $50 a bottle, you'd have to go back a while to get 20-30 multiples... And if I had a dollar for every time I was told how hard things were back then, I could probably afford multiple cases of it.

IMHO real purchasing power for most Australian wine has only increased over the last decade or so.

[Croquet King]

I wasn't having a go at any particular winery or wine just picked a couple as examples of wines I bought over the years.
I certainly understand the impact of inflation.

In the Wynns example my point was taking inflation into account the BL has increased in price (and that's fine) but the Siding has come into the range at the old BL price point.
Marketing it now to ensure there are wines for all consumers at all price points.
I remember the John Riddoch at about $80 a bottle, then dropping to about $50 (for the 96 or 98 I think) and now is over $100.

More interesting to me are the wines that even taking inflation into account are now a very similar price.
I think the Lindemans trio are a similar price to what they were 15 years ago (but I suspect they were way over priced then).

Getting the Elizabeth at a similar price to what I did 15 years ago is a bargain. Especially as I thought it was a bargain 15 years ago.