A handy calendar of international natural wine salons for December 2023 and January and February 2024. Plus: a tasting report the ERUPTED wine fest in Slovakia, and a run-down of my own 2022 wines.
Nice to read this article; especially the first 2 paragraphs. And I can’t agree more. For about 4-5 years now, I see the prices go up every year; some wines quadrupled (!) almost in price (only the price…). This is pure opportunistic and misplaced hype. And although, where (few) winemakers always stayed modest, (most, not all) retailers took over the flag…
It now seems “normal” to pay 60€ a bottle, even outside Champagne and Burgundy (these 2 regions “excel” in every way!). Now could come a moment that leads to a collapse of this “beautiful” world: prices too high, economic downturn (!!!) everywhere and too much so-called natural wines-and-salons (“natural”, true or not, is the magical word nowadays).
My wife and I are hardcore natural wine fans for 17 years now and luckily, we can afford higher prices; but that’s not really the point here. As I said, we saw this coming for several years now. I can easily give you names; but I’m sure you can do too. 10 years (or even) more ago, I even told many vignerons that they sold their wines too cheap; however, where a lot of the elderly stayed modest (let’s say in tune with “reality”), others (and not always the best or most honest) on the contrary…. Another huge problem since several years now are the retailers; a few years ago, there was at once a flood of retailers who wanted to join the caravan and, whereas before we could easily visit winemakers, this stopped: no wine, no time. And the prices: they took off. When I see the difference between the prices the winemakers ask and what some retailers ask, there’s a perfect moment to kill the market.
Ok, economic reality always plays a role, but it’s gone too far. We know, everything changes, evolves (and became more expensive for anyone, we realise), but we don’t see really classy salons anymore like Les 10 vins cochons or La Remise from 10 or more years ago (where we could buy wines from Hirotake Ooka for 4€!). Fortunately though, there are still salons like the last one we met in the Loire; where the prices are still modest and the quality still high! So, when we go to salons now (much less then before), it’s always to niche salons too, where we know and trust the winemakers for a long time.
But, if lately, I post wines on Instagram from “forgotten”, great winemakers (Oustric, for instance), it’s not liked…. The winedrinkers changed a lot too…. For the better …?? I’m doubtful.
Hey Aaron,
Nice to read this article; especially the first 2 paragraphs. And I can’t agree more. For about 4-5 years now, I see the prices go up every year; some wines quadrupled (!) almost in price (only the price…). This is pure opportunistic and misplaced hype. And although, where (few) winemakers always stayed modest, (most, not all) retailers took over the flag…
It now seems “normal” to pay 60€ a bottle, even outside Champagne and Burgundy (these 2 regions “excel” in every way!). Now could come a moment that leads to a collapse of this “beautiful” world: prices too high, economic downturn (!!!) everywhere and too much so-called natural wines-and-salons (“natural”, true or not, is the magical word nowadays).
My wife and I are hardcore natural wine fans for 17 years now and luckily, we can afford higher prices; but that’s not really the point here. As I said, we saw this coming for several years now. I can easily give you names; but I’m sure you can do too. 10 years (or even) more ago, I even told many vignerons that they sold their wines too cheap; however, where a lot of the elderly stayed modest (let’s say in tune with “reality”), others (and not always the best or most honest) on the contrary…. Another huge problem since several years now are the retailers; a few years ago, there was at once a flood of retailers who wanted to join the caravan and, whereas before we could easily visit winemakers, this stopped: no wine, no time. And the prices: they took off. When I see the difference between the prices the winemakers ask and what some retailers ask, there’s a perfect moment to kill the market.
Ok, economic reality always plays a role, but it’s gone too far. We know, everything changes, evolves (and became more expensive for anyone, we realise), but we don’t see really classy salons anymore like Les 10 vins cochons or La Remise from 10 or more years ago (where we could buy wines from Hirotake Ooka for 4€!). Fortunately though, there are still salons like the last one we met in the Loire; where the prices are still modest and the quality still high! So, when we go to salons now (much less then before), it’s always to niche salons too, where we know and trust the winemakers for a long time.
But, if lately, I post wines on Instagram from “forgotten”, great winemakers (Oustric, for instance), it’s not liked…. The winedrinkers changed a lot too…. For the better …?? I’m doubtful.
Viviane and William Vermeylen
Very good ...thanks
Super valuable once again. Thanks, Aaron, for collating this.
Looks like the ‘Who’ list for La Dive might be going to the wrong place.