While we’re waiting for…oh, I dunno, something or other, an article I chanced upon today about wine and income inequality triggered a thought about what we are really up against in the ongoing fight for our country.
Eric Asimov, the New York Times wine critic, published this about a week ago:
Among the many ways the rich are different from you and me: Only they can afford grand cru Burgundy.
That wasn’t always the case. In the 1990s, middle-class wine lovers could still afford to experience that rite of passage — drinking a truly great wine, not simply to enjoy it, but to understand what qualities made it exceptional in the eyes of history.
It might have been a splurge, perhaps requiring a few sacrifices. But it was feasible, just as it was possible to buy first-growth Bordeaux, or the top wines of Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino or Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, to name a few other standard-bearers.
Not any more. The TL:DR is that prices for top wines–not just Burgandies, but all the iconic names/regions–have diverged from most other bottles:
In 1980, the price of a first-growth Bordeaux was roughly four times the price of a fifth-growth Bordeaux, he said in a phone interview, referring to an 1855 classification that ranked top Médoc producers in five tiers, or growths. Nowadays, he said, as prices have risen for all these top wines, the ratio between first- and fifth-growth price is more like 10 to 1.
The driver: demand from the top 1 percent, or one tenth of 1 percent:
In another example from Bordeaux, Professor Ashenfelter, along with two researchers from the University of Bordeaux, presented a paper in 2018 showing that as income inequality has increased since 1980, the price of first-growth Bordeaux has paralleled the rise in top incomes.
Asimov, no raving radical he, is nonetheless perfectly able to connect the dots:
Though the problem matters to wine lovers, the rising inaccessibility of fancy wines is just a microscopic example of how income inequality and the concentration of wealth in fewer hands have affected daily life.
The macroscopic story, as I see it, is the rich-to-ultrarich war on the idea and the real life of society. They lead lives that are carefully demarcated in both experiences and physical spaces that are theirs, and very much not ours. They drink stuff we don’t–can’t, anymore, even as special treats, because they’ve bought it all. When they fall ill, they enjoy boutique health care, and have thus less and less stake (they think) in public health. And so on.
That’s what income inequality does, what it’s supposed to do: bifurcate the world into two, one that a small group enjoys in seemingly secure isolation, and the one everyone else lives in. Worse, the ethos evoked to defend such wealth and such distinctions is an atomized one, of meritocratic, individual success. That’s not a social vision; it denies the value of collective action; it is bloody lonely.
And, of course, it drives our politics. All the signalling–the bigotry, the divide-and-conquer hate, the religious dog whistling and so on–may in fact matter to some in the Republican political class, but the driver is making sure nothing impedes the progress of generational fortunes.
This is all obvious to most here, I think–but it reminds me that progressive income taxes and confiscatory inheritance duties are existential–not just for them, but for the survival of American democracy, and maybe America itself.
Probably won’t do much to bring down the price of Petrus (lots of Chinese and Russian and whoever gazillionaires to suck up the available supply, even if we got a handle on our gilded class). But that’s what it will take, I think, to get a sustainable politics back, and (when the virus looses its hold) the kind of social and cultural world we might like to inhabit.
Enough such windy stuff.
As I said to Mr. Gorbachev: Open Up This Thread!
(ETA to add the link to the Asimov article.)
Image: Willem Kalf, Wineglass and a Bowl of Fruit, 1663
schrodingers_cat
Wine is nice and all but we need Tikka and Tikki (Mini Tikka) to get us through these times.
narya
I saw that article, too; I’ve learned more about wine in the past few years, and might well have wanted to do exactly what he’s talking about at some point. Oh well.
Matt McIrvin
It’s self-similar, too. Almost no matter how rich you are, you’re familiar with somebody else who is rich enough that they have access to experiences you can only imagine. That’s why we have so many people pulling down a million+ a year who describe themselves as middle-class.
featheredsprite
It’s good to see some discussion of class.
Sm*t Cl*de
Veblen’s sociological / economic commentary on the first Gilded Age becomes ever more relevant. Where there is financial inequality, there will be Veblen Goods that the wealthy can consume as a demonstration of their status (because they have been placed out of the reach of non-wealthy).
JPL
Well my son made a Costco run and purchased a few items for me including two bottle of wine, but not first-growth Bordeaux, anyway at checkout the clerk after ringing up two bottles of wine said “so I’ll see you tomorrow”. This is us!
Derelict
My previous life in political consulting had me rubbing up against lots of people in the top 0.01%. The ones who were oenophiles were insufferably pretentious.
But most of the people buying and drinking extreme wines did so not because of the wines tasted better or had some quality not available in any lesser wine. They bought these wines as both signifiers to acquaintances and as reassurance to themselves. Being able to drop a couple of hundred on a bottle of wine at dinner told your tablemates that you had the dough and didn’t mind spending it. It also reassured the buyer that they had taste, ability, and power.
These people invariably had little if any idea what anything of real value was. They knew price tags, and they knew the social ladder. Beyond that, well . . .
Dan B
Even here in WA state with the second biggest wine production in the US and Oregon there are wines that are priced over $100 and we aren’t well known in the world of wine. Therecare some that have scored perfect scores of 100, a rarity even for Burgundy and Bordeaux, and those wines are only available by membership.
We had clients who were in the .05% who would give us excess wine. We got lots of $80 and $90 bottles. We didn’t get the $300+ bottles. We didn’t get to drive the $450,000 car either but they traded for a Tesla that had the same torque.
These were clients who got ahead because people liked them. The other type made it on fear. We didn’t work long for the latter.
NotMax
Power to the people! Or, triumph of the swill.
:)
khead
Meh. Popov works.
ETA: See Derelict above.
cain
@Derelict:
Yeah, agree – although I did just buy two magnum bottles each $70 – usually they cost $70 a bottle but it was a great deal for a pinot !
The wines are generally good though – although picky on pinot – but I’ll drink a 4 dollar wine no problem :) If it tastes good, why not, right?
JPL
trump is going to speak at 6:30 to give his concession speech, goodness no. I presume he won’t be speaking about income inequality or wine, so will it be something about voting is so unfair.
Roger Moore
@Dan B:
My impression is the real wine lovers like nothing more than to find those unheralded vineyards. Of course the search is enjoyable, too.
Calouste
@Derelict: Roald Dahl wrote a short story about some rich guy who got all these expensive wines for him and his friends, and in the end the butler and the cook just drank those bottles for themselves to enjoy and served cheap plonk to the millionaire and he never noticed.
mrmoshpotato
@cain:
Are you say Two-buck Chuck that became Three-buck Chuck is now Four?-buck Chuck?!
Viva BrisVegas
My tinfoil hat theory is that since the fall of the Soviet Union and the transfer of power in China from ideology to stock indexes, the ultrarich now feel safe to detach themselves from the rest of us, as they no longer need protection for their assets from the threat of the socialist hordes.
The hoi polloi have enough to live on, minimum health care and a sense of democratic participation. What more could they want?
The rest belongs to them. All of it.
Ksmiami
@NotMax: Sideways is still one of my fave movies about the whole pretentious wine scene…
A Ghost to Most
I’m glad I don’t drink wine, the snobbiness is just too precious. On the other hand, I can discuss mj strains, especially my own private strain, at a level wine drinkers could understand.
Narya
I was able to go to a Pinot-tasting dinner a few years ago (<100 per ticket IIRC) and it changed my brain. Also: entertaining hearing the growers talk about specific grafts. No real idea about them, but fun to hear.
mrmoshpotato
@JPL:
Wait. Seriously?
Did that moving truck loot the White House, and the Soviet shitpile is going to try to flee to Russia tonight?
Comrade Colette
@JPL:
LOL, sounds like us, too.
When we lived in France (on minuscule lab-tech incomes) 20 years ago, even we could afford the occasional grand cru Burgundy or first-growth Bordeaux, especially if we were traveling in those regions and not paying full retail at Nicolas. Now it’s impossible to justify that kind of expense, even though we make 4 or 5 times what we did then.
On the other hand, because we live in Northern California and have friends who are winemakers, we drink plenty of wine, terrific and otherwise, often cheap or free (for the price of giving a dinner party), that’s never going to have a famous name. It’s evolved into a whole separate wine ecosystem, completely cut off from the big French or Italian or Napa names. And one of the delicious aspects is that quite a bit of it comes from the same vineyards as those big Napa names, but it’s made from an odd lot or leftover here or there or via a quiet grape/barrel trade among the non-famous people working at the wineries. As with Burgundy and Bordeaux, we’ve observed (and are far from the first to have done so) relatively little correlation between price and quality when we’re freed from the influence of knowing how much we paid.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
It’s not just a demonstration of “I can have it but you can’t”. This is a problem that stretches across everything that can be an investment—wine (the big auction houses regularly have wine auctions), jewelry, fine art, real estate, vehicles, collectibles, objets d’art, precious metals…if it is potentially a place to stash and possibly increase your equity, the price is up. There’s too much money in pursuit of if these things, and only so many things that are considered worth chasing.
Omnes Omnibus
@A Ghost to Most: Reverse snobbery is as unattractive as any other kind.
cain
Ha, I haven’t had the 2 buck chuck in awhile – I just get some other stuff – usually the 6-8 bucks one is good enough.
Usually Europeans come here and they are like wtf when it comes to wine prices. When I toured around Spain – wine was so damn cheap sometimes cheaper than buying water. 2 or 3 Euros for a bottle and then you can buy cheese – get a happy hour going for many for just 5-6 euros.
cain
@Omnes Omnibus:
I usually keep that kind of talk narrowed to shrubbery
Gvg
It is true that everyone knows people with more money than they have, and thus think they are poor, or middle class, or barely getting by. One of the first things I found out as a financial aid counselor is that a lot of people don’t know they are well off.
The other side of it is until you are really far up, people think you are a jerk if you say you are rich, so everyone says they are middle class. It is especially important to teach your kids not to say they are rich because kids boast and it takes time to gain life experience and judgement. On the other hand you want them to appreciate how lucky they are….and the truth is my nephews are sort of in between. Whereas I am just getting by.
The rich and upper middle class should be paying more in taxes.
Ruckus
Tom, the price of a lot of things has escalated far beyond the rise in wages, and has made many things out of reach of the average person, not just wine.
?BillinGlendaleCA
High temperature here in Glendale was 99℉, tomorrow the predicted temperature is 74 ℉, and Saturday the predicted high is 55℉ with thunderstorms.
jl
Thanks for info. This is a topic where I could be a giga-billionaire and I still wouldn’t care. Sort of like whether I would want my huge luxury yacht to have a mini-yacht inside it, and a speedboat inside that, or not.
Steve in the ATL
I mentioned here a couple of days ago that I have a bottle of grand cru ready to be opened if Georgia turns blue, so I feel like this post is a shot at me personally. Of course, I’m also super paranoid from all the coke I’ve been doing with my close friends Eric and Donnie Junior.
A couple of friends and I did just finish (minutes ago!) an excellent 2016 Madrona Ranch from the Abreu Vineyards. Is it better than two-, er three-buck chuck? My unsophisticated palate has no idea, but it was damn good.
randy khan
I read that article and was struck that a lot of the winemakers actually aren’t happy about the price increases. But, as the article says, if they lowered their prices it just would mean that the money would go to third parties.
However, if you really want a wine story that will turn your stomach, read this week’s piece on the master sommelier society and sexual harassment. The only good thing I can say about the story (which is not to say it isn’t well done, just that what it reports is hideous) is that it prompted the society to kick out a bunch of the offenders, which it had not done before.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That does not sound good for the beginning of November.
I just went shopping in Chicago in a t-shirt, and I could’ve worn shorts if I wanted to.
ColoradoGuy
Interesting that Communist Party members went from being the hereditary elite in a Communist society to the hereditary elite in a quasi-criminal capitalist society. So now we have a globe-spanning elite, and a reasonable proportion of them come from criminal origins. But they all mix together and have a common interest in maintaining power.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@jl:
I saw Paul Allen’s megayacht in Bonaire a few times (M$FT). It has a helipad and hangar for a 6 pax Bell. The captain’s launch is a full-on ocean transiting vessel, and there’s a few full sized speedboats hanging from davits.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Steve in the ATL:
We’ve got some nice bourbons around awaiting pandemic’s end.
We’d shipped back a couple of cases of wine from Tuscany a few years ago. Included were lovely things from 2010 (a great year) including some 20-40 euro bottles of Brunello de Montalcino. They were fantastic – you’d pay $300 a bottle in any restaurant around here at the time, provided you could find it.
Steve in the ATL
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
just did a little union busting, uh I mean union avoidance, in your town. Sadly I had to do it via Zoom, otherwise we could have met up for some well drinks and house wine.
TomatoQueen
Meanwhile, the new Beaujolais drops on November 19th.
DesertFriar
When my wife & I were first married, we were in a wine tasking group. It was run by a wine store in Rumford, RI. Tastings were 4 a year. One time; in 1981, we had a chance to taste a La Tache. You could get a futures on it for $125 a bottle. Best wine I ever had. And was told at the time it would be at its peak in 10 years. Couldn’t afford it.
If you were to buy a bottle of the 2026 vintage today, it would set you back $6,000+.
I’ll stick to Chilean & Argentinian wines.
WhatsMyNym
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Do you mean this yacht?
wiki has more.
ETA: fixed blockquote
smedley the uncertain
@Ksmiami: Absolutely. I wish more of our friends had seen it….
trollhattan
Yeah, it’s a damn shame. I had inlaws in the industry, most are retired or dirt-napping, and had opportunities like buying Opus One futures at employee pricing. Eyeing their website shows one bottle of ’17 is $365.
Still have some in the basement but also have it on reasonably good authority it doesn’t age well so probably past its prime. But the funny thing is I could probably sell it off to some Silicon Valley collector douches for just the exclusivity, even if it’s not drinkable. That’s how they roll.
NB a hellofa lot of those folks aren’t satisfied to buy the stuff and open their own boutique wineries. You might have heard of our governor.
The Moar You Know
The rich can’t see the poor. Literally.
Their brains don’t process a person of a lower social class standing in front of them. It’s not worth their time.
Kinda says it all, doesn’t it?
Albatrossity
Yeah, I last had a great Burgundy in the mid-80s sometime; they got way too pricey after that. Which is a shame, because as DesertFriar notes above, these are some of the best wines I’ve ever tasted. Nowadays I couldn’t dream of it…
Zinfandels and Sirahs will just have to do. And I plan on opening up an aged Zin tonight if the GA or PA votes come in as expected!
Warren Senders
Heh. Eric Asimov and I went to the same summer camp, back in the late 60s/early 70s. I remember him as a nice kid, but that’s about all. One year, another of my cabin-mates was Eliot Spitzer!
jonas
My MIL was an assistant for many years to a billionaire private equity guy. He was actually pretty unpretentious. He liked beer, and stuff, but one time he was entertaining some other zillionaire mogul at his home whom he knew was a big wine snob. He told her to run to a high-end wine store in the area and buy something, anything, as long as it was over a $1000 a bottle. Wrote her a blank check. She plonked down something like $2500 on a bottle of Romane-Conti or something, which would be 15 grand today, and asked her boss if he liked it. “Oh, yeah, it was ok I guess. [My guest] thought it was great.”
Anyway, the same thing has happened in the modern art market. Billionaires have completely destroyed the market for anything but a handful of about a dozen modern and postmodern artists and made it next to impossible for museums or public institutions to build their collections. They can loan the stuff out to a musem perhaps, but that almost never happens. It becomes collateral for a loan or something that they’re using to arbitrage or speculate on something else and just sits in a Swiss bank vault.
Jake Gibson
@ColoradoGuy:
Behind great wealth…
dm
Another thing that has happened — not quite so dark as the predilections of oligarchs — is that a popular manga came out in the early years of this century called The Drops of God, which was all about wine appreciation, and introduced a huge Asian audience to wine and how to appreciate it. When a wine was mentioned in the series there would be a global impact on the price of it.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
The @Steve in the ATL:
Damn – sorry that it didn’t happen.
Next time!
Jake Gibson
The ultra rich and their continuing project to correct the great failure of the American experiment. The lack of a hereditary Aristocracy.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@WhatsMyNym:
Yeah, that’s the behemoth.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
I really like the painting you chose and have never heard of the painter. So many great painters in the golden age of the Netherlands!
YY_Sima Qian
An interesting parallel in China is the price trend of Maotai, the fabled baijiu (rice liquor). It was the preferred gift to government officials, business associates and families. The prices rose to stratospheric levels, with even the lowest quality labels well beyond the reach of anyone but upper middle class. The eye watering prices also inspired a flood of knock offs, where one needed connections to acquire the genuine article. I think 2009 more than 9 million bottles of Maotais were sold in China, while the Maotai factory only produced 1 million bottles.
Then came Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, and ostentatious displays of wealth and luxury became verboten for the officials, and passé even for the gilded class. Price of Maotai has come down to earth somewhat. Still pricy and still a lot of fakes, but it is within the reach of the hoi polloi again. Some of the knock offs were actually producing good quality baijiu, only at Maotai the town, and not Maotai the factory. Many have since gone legit to fill the demand of people who still cannot regularly afford the famous brand.
Coal mining tycoons from Shanxi used to contest each other smashing bottles of Château Lafite de Rothschild to see who would blink first, and drink the same fine wine mixed with Sprite when they got thirsty. Not any more. Coal mining has become much more tightly regulated and less profitable, and such nouveau riche behavior out of fashion.
The gilded class in China, while it does exist and growing rapidly and certainly a special interest group, is under no illusion who ultimately is the boss, like everyone else.
Steve in the ATL
@YY_Sima Qian: fascinating!
And I love the vast amount of knowledge that the jackals have and share. I would make a toast to you, but according to a post I just read I can’t afford alcohol….