Why is Gaja's wine so expensive??

[Thomas]

...because Serge knows that is when his wine is ready for release, and not before.

Yes, Roberto, Bordeaux, et al, released a few years before their time--it is mostly economics: get the money now! If you have a classification system that does the promotion for you, you can raise your money a lot sooner than those poor Italian vintners.

Remember, my salesman is Italian; he speaks of how Italians viewed the subject until recently. The best of them aged the wine before sending them to market.

But to the other point made: I surely know the value of laying some wines down. But my interest, being both commercial as well as hedonistic, is that people learn to drink wine every day. To get them to do that, I am committed to removing, not adding to, hurdles. Making the general consumer believe that wine must be put away for years, or rated by self-appointed numbers gurus, or put on a pedestal of mystique, is NOT the way to change its image and to get consumers behind it. Getting consumers to explore good, solid, everyday wine, every day, at every day prices, is the way.

[winoweenie]

I firmly believe that daily wines should be just that. Made by solid winemakers with the individuals drinking pleasure first and foremost. The fact that most people can't cellar wine means the wine should give maximum delight on release. Think the topic originally started talking about the advantage of cellaring. I say if you have the facility, time, and money cellar those suckers that'll give you the added sensoty pleasure in the future. If not, buy a bottle and have fun. SHEESH!

[Thomas]

ww, after the Gaja question was answered, grapestuff posted a comment about trying to learn about wine and then being told to buy something that can't be consumed until ten years hence.

Grapestuff's dilemma is not uncommon: trying to learn about wine but the wine industry (writers) are not teaching, just putting out futures... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]