Stony Hill Inflation Alert

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

You can’t blame a business for charging what the market will bear

Agreed.

Now, it isn’t always true that the market will bear the high price tag that the winery jumps to. Think of the Yao Ming Napa cab that debuted for $280 and now is available at Costco for $60 and seemingly not moving quickly at that price.

But these days, in places like Napa and Burgundy, the market seems to bear it most of the time. It’ll be interesting to look and see what these new releases are selling for at retail after the new price filters out.

Yep. The market has a way of working. It’s fairly difficult to have artificially high prices for luxury goods. Why? Because they’re not necessities. And it’s fairly easy to have artificially low pricing for luxury goods. How? The producer doesn’t charge as much as the market will bear. Granted, sometimes accessing the artificially low pricing can be difficult, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Burgundy prices are driven, in part, by scarcity and perceived/actual uniqueness. Can the same be said for Napa? Are there suitable Napa substitutes in the world? We see this conversation/debate all the time w/r/t Burgundy, but I don’t see it often, if at all, w/r/t Napa.

[Arv_R]

Now, it isn’t always true that the market will bear the high price tag that the winery jumps to. Think of the Yao Ming Napa cab that debuted for $280 and now is available at Costco for $60 and seemingly not moving quickly at that price.

Yao Ming got down to $40 something at our warehouse, sitting there for a long time. I passed too.

For those who want to read a curious story on luxury goods pricing, go dig up the story on Coach destroying their leather handbags that came out a few days ago.

[John_Glas]

Now, it isn’t always true that the market will bear the high price tag that the winery jumps to. Think of the Yao Ming Napa cab that debuted for $280 and now is available at Costco for $60 and seemingly not moving quickly at that price.

Yao Ming got down to $40 something at our warehouse, sitting there for a long time. I passed too.

For those who want to read a curious story on luxury goods pricing, go dig up the story on Coach destroying their leather handbags that came out a few days ago.

Sounds like Yao’s NBA career. Starts out big but goes downhill quickly. In all fairness that 2002 draft was one of the worst NBA drafts ever.

[lleichtman]

yup, I choked at the price increase - that’s insane

As did we. With shipping, the Chardonnay would be close to $90 per bottle. Not that good.

The few Chards I had were good but not outstanding. At $90 think of what you can get from Burgundy especially Chablis.

I can get excellent White Burgundy for around a $100 per bottle so Stony Hill is out of its collective mind.

[John_Glas]

As did we. With shipping, the Chardonnay would be close to $90 per bottle. Not that good.

The few Chards I had were good but not outstanding. At $90 think of what you can get from Burgundy especially Chablis.

I can get excellent White Burgundy for around a $100 per bottle so Stony Hill is out of its collective mind.

Think of 2 really nice Oregon Chards for the price of one Stony Hill. Or 3 entrée level White Burgs.

[John_Glas]

I find this inflated prices amusing because the wine geeks who like Stony Hill probably are not paying these prices. Most people that drink Silver Oak/ Caymus don’t even know the name.

[Chris_Seiber]

I find this inflated prices amusing because the wine geeks who like Stony Hill probably are not paying these prices. Most people that drink Silver Oak/ Caymus don’t even know the name.

An interesting data point would be how Mayacamas cabs are selling. They were a throwback old-school producer (though, as I’ve noted, Stony Hill only actually started making cabernet in the 2005 vintage) making lower alcohol old-style cabs and selling them at lower prices than the fancy newer Napa producers. Then they were bought a few years ago, said they were upgrading quality and so forth (I haven’t had a new one), and the price nearly doubled I think.

Lo and behold, the 2016 Mayacamas cab lands #4 on Wine Spectator’s top 100 for 2020.

I looked on CT, and the scores for the last few vintages have gone up quite a bit, and the comments seem to suggest riper and cleaner wines, but more as a moderate evolution from before the takeover than a full pivot into giant cult style.

I wonder how well their wines are selling at the new price point. They seem pretty available on W-SPro in the $120-150 range. I’m not sure the release price direct, since in looking on their site, they’re now mailing list only, and they don’t list prices for their wines on the site.

[Howard_Cooper]

what vintage should I look out for? Never had one and it looks like a fleeting opportunity to snag one. I know Howard really likes them

To be fair, I really like what I have had, but so far I have only had them on the younger side. The oldest one I have drunk is a 2007 that I had in 2014. I liked it very much, thought it was the style of Cal. Cab. I like, but still found it quite primary and in need of age. I am trying to age the ones I have.

Had another one of these tonight. Zilliken and Stony Hill - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers Still very positive but the wine is still in need of more age.

[AndyK]

As I was looking into making reservations for a Napa trip, I saw that Stony Hill now lists the 2017 Cabernet for $270 on their website

[John_Glas]

Well that is an easy pass. $270? I am sure there are plenty of older vintages out there for far less and more approachable.

[Howard_Cooper]

Wine search shows much different prices for 2013s to 2015s.

[S_teve_R_edenbaugh]

Just got an email offer…1 2017, 1 2018, 1 2019 Estate Chard for $316 plus shipping. Looks like their new “model” is just over $100 per bottle. Thats Aubert territory…gotta think about this one…