Why is Sauv Blanc so much cheaper ?

[Markus_S]

Doesn’t look cheap to me:


2006 Chateau Laville Haut Brion Blanc $499.00

2017 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc $119.00

Haut Brion Blanc 2017 $849.00

[Dale_Williams]

Doesn’t look cheap to me:


2006 Chateau Laville Haut Brion Blanc $499.00

2017 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc $119.00

Haut Brion Blanc 2017 $849.00

LavilleHB and HBB are mostly Semillon, no?
Though I get the point

[PeterH]

Doesn’t look cheap to me:


2006 Chateau Laville Haut Brion Blanc $499.00

2017 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc $119.00

Haut Brion Blanc 2017 $849.00

LavilleHB and HBB are mostly Semillon, no?
Though I get the point

Yup, No one wants to pay a lot for a new world Semillion either. As a result, few growers or wine makers are willing to put in the extra effort to get as much as possible from the variety.

[S_Rash]

Napa Valley has great QPR on their SB! I prefer it any day over New Zealand SB. Fuller-bodied, more texture!!

[David_Cooper]

Also, it grows on terroir where you can’t produce decent cabernet. You can grow sauvignon (or similar) or you can leave the land empty. Any profit is better than nothing.

Also, there is a demand for it, so why not meet it? Not everyone like/wants to drink cab (all the time.)

Absolutly this.

[Rboinski]

In the past my asking this question was answered with the response that the yield of SB is much greater than with Cab so per ton cost is 1/2 to 1/3. Add the difference between oak and stainless steel (in most cases) + time to market and it starts to make sense… assuming all that is true.

We have a winner, /thread

[Gerhard_P]

https://www.tement.at/our-wines/sortiment/detail/product/ZIEREGG-Sauvignon-Blanc-Grosse-STK-Lage.48.html

WEINSHOP24.at - Weine aus Österreich - Potzinger Stefan Sauvignon Blanc Joseph...

WEINSHOP24.at - Weine aus Österreich - Sabathi Erwin Sauvignon Blanc Ried...

[dsimmons]

Because it sucks

+1

[Mel_Knox]

Once they taught cats to pee in the filler bowl, the price of SB went way down. This technique was invented in New Zealand but has now spread all over. Getting them to pee in the bottle was tricky and quite expensive.

The story nobody likes to discuss is MegaPee. Since it’s made in New Zealand, it cannot be used here unless you want your appellation to be "Planet Earth’.
Supposedly the people at Davis are working on an American version. That’s the advantage of having a veterinary school around the corner.

[B_Buzzini]

Hmmm?

[Wes_Barton]

FYI, here are 2017 average prices per ton for different varieties in Napa:

Cabernet Sauvignon $7,509
Pinot Noir $2,798
Merlot $3,387
Zinfandel $3,623
Syrah $3,738
Chardonnay $2,809
Sauvignon Blanc $2,279

And that’s before the cost of barrels and aging.

Interesting that Zin is higher than Pinot yet Zin’s are generally the cheapest wines. I still dont see what cost per ton matters if you own the vines

Cost per ton has a direct relation to bottle price (and land value). If a grower sees winemakers charging more than expected in relation to the grape price, they will take that as meaning their grapes are worth more, and up the price. There’s a pure economic reality there. Market price of the wines determines how much the grapes cost. Estate wineries still (often) buy and sell fruit, and make decisions what to plant, what to graft over, etc.

Note that most or all of the best, by far, Napa SBs are list-only estate wines. Not cheap. Think $60-120. That implies a value not factored in the above averages.

Napa Zin is going to be old vines being preserved for their quality, so should, by their continued existence, be well above average in quality and price.

Napa Pinot is mostly Carneros, and a bit up in Wild Horse Valley. Not the most prized PN regions.

A rule of thumb is a wine retails for about 1/100 of the tonnage cost.

[David_Glasser]

Because people will only pay so much for Napa SB. When you think about SB, Napa is certainly toward the bottom for me.

First answer still the simplest and most logical to me. No demand for Napa or NZ SB at higher prices. Yields, cost of grapes, etc. affect cost of production, but if people clamored for it, SB would sell for more.

Screagle is the exception that proves the rule, and that some people have more dollars than sense. I don’t think the OP was considering Bordeaux.

[John_Morris]

Doesn’t look cheap to me:


2006 Chateau Laville Haut Brion Blanc $499.00

2017 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc $119.00

Haut Brion Blanc 2017 $849.00

LavilleHB and HBB are mostly Semillon, no?
Though I get the point

71% and 51%, respectively:

Chateau Laville Haut Brion Pessac Leognan Bordeaux Complete Guide

Chateau Haut Brion Pessac Leognan Bordeaux, Complete Guide

[John_Morris]

Once they taught cats to pee in the filler bowl, the price of SB went way down. This technique was invented in New Zealand but has now spread all over. Getting them to pee in the bottle was tricky and quite expensive.

The story nobody likes to discuss is MegaPee. Since it’s made in New Zealand, it cannot be used here unless you want your appellation to be "Planet Earth’.
Supposedly the people at Davis are working on an American version. That’s the advantage of having a veterinary school around the corner.

I never cease to learn new things from you, Mel.

[brigcampbell]

I wonder what kind of tonnage per acre the guys in NZ are getting. Has to be enormous to produce $6 SB retail in the US.

BTW - I like it.

[Jim_Brennan]

Doesn’t look cheap to me:


2006 Chateau Laville Haut Brion Blanc $499.00

2017 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc $119.00

Haut Brion Blanc 2017 $849.00

The grape could be Catawba and people would be conned by the Bordeaux marketing machine that it’s the best thing since sliced bread. The most remarkable thing about Bordeaux white wines is what people pay for them.

[David_Bu3ker]

Because it sucks

+1

[Mel_Knox]

John,
I am always here for you and your education.

While there are certain cost issues relating to SB that can keep it cheaper than other varieties–yield, fermentation and ageing in stainless, rapid turnover-- there is also the question of status. French SB wines --and I include the whites of the Graves region even tho Semillon and Muscadelle are also used–tend to reflect this. Haut Brion Blanc and several other white Graves are very expensive but around the same area are excellent and low priced whites. Remember Pavillon Blanc du Ch Margaux?? Do they still make it?? For the quality it was quite expensive.

Domaine Didier Dagueneau wines are expensive. Ditto Ladoucette. Didier started his domaine, he once told me, because he felt Ladoucette was paying him slowly while charging extra for cuvees that were randomly chosen. Sancerre used to be a ‘luncheon’ wine and was not very expensive. Then it got more expensive and more prestigious. What happened there?? Calling all Veblen scholars! Yet there are excellent SBs from northern France that are reasonably priced.

Is it quality or prestige that determine these prices??