competitive advatages from italy to usa

[Botafogo]

Two examples:

Winery A) Got their land for free for being good soldiers in the Crusades (circa 1150 AD), built the current winery in 1850 with some refurbishments in 1970 and uses the labor of the large family.

Winery B) Your dentist and his tax attourney buy some overpriced land in 1993 with borrowed money at high interest rates and then (over) build a "destination" winery / visitor's center / guest house and hired all the help at the prevailing wage plus benefits.

Do the math.....

The most common comment we get from California winemakers when they visit here and taste our latest selections is "How the @$*# can they DO that for $11.99 (or even $7.99)?!?!?"

Culturaly, most American wine producers think they are making ART, while most Italian producers know they are making Groceries...

Economically, 30,000 wineries in competition tends to keep prices in check.

Roberto
WINE EXPO, Santa Monica

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 09-14-2002).]