At a time when there is so little life in the economy that there’s talk of the high priests at the Reserve Bank administering last rites, it’s bizarre to discover that new wines are being released at such stratospheric price points you could probably buy a decent house in the platteland for the cost of a case.
That there is even life in the rarefied atmosphere in which these statement wines trade is an indication that for many consumers wine has long ceased to be a beverage. Instead it has joined fast cars, contemporary art and complicated watches on the trophy shelf of the superrich.
It was not always so: as recently as the 1970s even the world’s top wines could be found in middle-class homes. Dom Perignon cost about R15, 10 times the price of a Nederburg Cabernet, positioning it as a special-occasion bottle rather than an alternative to paying school fees. With this transformation in its meaning (the drink is secondary to the status it conveys) has come many changes. For a start, the top international brands are now profitable. In the 1960s even the Bordeaux First Growths under-recovered on their running costs. As a result, the quality of the best wines has improved.
Site is only half the battle in producing a decent bottle of wine: ample supplies of labour, the discretionary ability to ditch substandard fruit, premium oak barrels and high-tech cellars have all contributed to enhanced quality.
However, as wine has become commoditised, the burden of reputation has actually increased. In part this is due to more overt performance criteria. Parker ratings assumed an almost unassailable status, forcing producers to refine what they were doing in order to obtain scores higher than their competitors. But the other, more substantial, reason is that the moment wine became a luxury consumable, issues such as brand management, positioning and status became as important as the contents of the bottle.
It’s hardly surprising that producers of good wines that don’t yet have the reputation of the top-end examples pitch their offerings alongside the established icons and then propose a price that is less than the more famous example, but still steep in comparison with what is available on the market.
Luddite’s Niels Verburg, working with Elgin Ridge’s Brian Smith, has just released a delicious Cabernet Franc under the The. brand. He was happy to serve it next to Chateau Margaux and Chateau Mouton Rothschild (both admittedly from the unprepossessing 2013 vintage, and neither containing much cabernet franc). It was certainly easier to drink than the Mouton, and more substantial than the Margaux.
Both of the First Growths sell for between £250 and £300 in the UK. The. Cabernet Franc is being released at R5,000 per bottle – but you have to buy a three-bottle case. There are 900 bottles and Verburg is hoping rarity will add the value the brand still lacks. He is also hoping The. Cabernet Franc (three barrels from a single site) will help elevate the image and price of the top Cape wines.
It’s a brave endeavour, but I fear he hasn’t understood that in this new world of wine, brand trumps rarity (and what’s in the bottle) by a factor of 10, and not two.
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