“That’s it?” gasped Felix, seriously gobsmacked by this display of rampant non-oenophilia. Felix, one gathers, spills $410 million, in a neat year. A year or so ago, Brian Palmer, writing for Slate, came at the whole wine thing from precisely the opposite angle, pointing out that Germans, who rank fourth in wine consumption (behind France, Italy, and the U.S.) spend, on average, about $1.79 a fifth for their wine.
Palmer doesn’t say so, but this figure dates from 2006, so it’s a little suspect. Still, he’s more than right to point out that most people simply can’t tell the difference between cheap wine and the expensive stuff. According to Palmer:
Many studies show that laymen actually prefer cheaper wines. Professional wine critics are quick to point out that they, unlike you and I, can distinguish between high- and low-cost bottles in blinded experiments. Here’s the question they can’t answer for you: So what? The only thing these “successes” prove is that a small group of people have gotten very good at sniffing out the traits that the wine industry thinks entitle them to more money.
If hints of cassis, subtle earthiness, and jammy notes don’t interest you, you are not a lesser person. Wine is not art. There’s no reason to believe that aligning your tastes with those of a self-appointed elite will enrich your life, or make you more insightful or sensitive. If wine critics want to spend lavishly on the wine they like, that’s great. Leave them to their fun. Be grateful that you can gain just as much pleasure, if not more, without bankrupting yourself.
Grey Goose imports about 3.5 million nine-liter cases of vodka into the US every year. Those cases are sold by suppliers for about $200 a pop; the suppliers sell to wholesalers, and the wholesalers sell to retailers and to clubs, bars, and restaurants. But a good rule of thumb is that the retail price is three times the supplier revenues: that’s $600 a case, or $50 a bottle. Which is about right for Grey Goose.
Now 3.5 million cases of vodka, at $600 per case, works out at $2.1 billion of vodka sold annually — and that’s just Grey Goose. Overall, the US vodka market had supplier revenues of $4.8 billion in 2010, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, which means that we as a country get through about $14.5 billion of vodka per year. If you take only the “high end premium” and “super premium” end of that, you’re still talking $7.4 billion per year.
Meanwhile, the entire national wine market, for wine costing more than $20 per bottle, is $410 million for Californian wines and about $600 million in total.
*In case you’re too classy to know, Everclear is 180 proof grain alcohol, sold in most liquor stores, even the Old Dominion’s tight-assed ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) stores.
