Hi my name is konstantin baum and i’m a Master of wine it’s time to talk about Wine prices Why are some bottles dirt cheap while Others are as expensive as a new car And is it actually possible to taste the Difference between the bottom shelf Discount wine And the class growth bottle these are Questions that millions of people ask Themselves every day and i’m trying to Answer them this is why i asked my wife To prepare Three different bottles of wine for me To taste blind in order to see whether i Can Separate the super cheap from the super Premium so Let’s go [Music] Wine is unique per definition it has to Be an alcoholic beverage Made from fermented grape juice it’s Therefore a pretty simple product that Has been made In the same way for thousands of years Even though scientific advances have Changed the process Over the last few centuries looking at It from the simplistic viewpoint one Might wonder why there are such big Differences in price If all wines are technically the same What makes wine special though
Is that two bottles of wine from the Same grape variety and the same region Can cost anything from one dollar To ten thousand dollars a bottle you Have to bear in mind that a bottle that Costs one dollar has a different cost Structure than a bottle that is priced For the super premium Segment of the market and that only a Small share of the price you pay for a Bottle of wine actually goes to the Producer The majority goes to taxes retailer Margin packaging costs and logistics but Check this out Uk wine retailer b benham recently Released some interesting information on This topic On a retail 10 pound bottle of wine Only 2.7 pounds or roughly 27 Of the price would actually go to the Wine itself For a bottle half that price which would Be five points obviously Only 0.31 pounds or six percent Of the price of the bottle would Actually go to the wine So while there’s clearly a minimum of How much you can spend on producing a Bottle of wine there’s also a maximum And depending on different factors i Would say that the maximum cost for Viticulture and wine making Is roughly 50 us dollars per bottle of
Wine So why are some bottles more expensive Than a few hundred Us dollars at some point the price of a Wine loses its connection to the quality Level and is more dictated By the demand for that wine one that Costs 10 us dollars Is not 10 times worse than the wine that Costs 100 us dollars Unless the wine maker really messes up When you draw the graph of the Relationship of the price of the wine And the quality based on ratings by wine Critics It looks a little bit like this at first The quality Increases quickly while the price Increases more income Also means that the winemaker is able to Invest more into his wine The correlation gets weaker and weaker And at some point there’s no real Connection anymore between the price And the quality the graph will look Different for different wine styles and I’ve been to many tastings where the Cheaper one was actually better than the More expensive wine For example a great muscadine next to a Bad white burgundy but i’ve made a whole Video on wine scores and wine ratings So check that out if you want to go down That rabbit hole so are we actually able
To detect the differences in quality if We do not see the label And is it therefore worth spending more For a great bottle of wine the answer is Yes And no there are a number of different Studies that looked at this topic of Whether wine consumers and wine Professionals Can detect the difference between a Cheap and an expensive one Even here on youtube there are a number Of different videos that looked at this One of the most widely watched ones is From vox and is titled Expensive wine is for suckers these Tastings are a bit silly if you ask me Asking untrained consumers To rate the quality of a wine in the Blind tasting is a little bit Like asking a guy off the street to rate The quality of an abstract painting or The quality of a leather Purse but still people are more than Happy to spend hundreds or even Thousands of dollars On a bag from a famous brand in my Experience it’s definitely possible for A knowledgeable wine taster to identify The quality of a wine in the blind Tasting for my master of wine exam I had to do exactly that and i found it Easier than Identifying the region of origin or the
Grape variety for example So now it’s time to find out whether Expensive wine is actually for suckers My wife prepared these three wines for Me they are all from the region Of bordeaux one is cheap one is In the middle and one is expensive so Let’s see Whether i can find out which one is Which so first of all they all kind of Look the same The color is pretty much the same in all Three of them The first one smells Quite nice it smells of ripe cherries There’s a little bit of cassis there It’s more dominated by the fruit flavor Rather than anything that might be From barik’s or the maturation of the Wine On the palate it’s quite astringent Harsh tannins Not a lot of roundness here feels quite Young and vibrant but it’s not well Integrated things are kind of Yeah not harmonious let’s try number two So wine number two smells of cassis Blackberries it’s very refined there’s Also some oak there i definitely can Sense Some impact of the barriques the small Wooden barrels The wine is still fresh and vibrant but It doesn’t feel like it’s super young
I’d say it has some Years of age behind it already so on the Palette the wine has Ripe tenons good freshness and vibrancy It still feels young even though i just Said that it has some age on it already This is an indicator of quality because If one Is able to age for multiple years Without really feeling tired And overly aged then It’s probably a wine that can last for a Long time which is a quality indicator Definitely so let’s move on to number Three so one number three is quite a Fresh vibrant young wine it smells of Red currants black currants There’s also some cherry flavors there It’s quite Um quite youthful on the palette it’s Quite grippy A little bit tannic but it doesn’t feel Like the wine that is able to last for a Long time so let’s do the big reveal i Think This one wine number two was the best One the most expensive one i think it Had everything in great wine needs Complexity intensity and longevity so This was really stunning this one wine Number one Was only average so i think it Is in the middle really but it wasn’t a Great wine for
Being in the middle i think because it Just Yeah didn’t feel very harmonious it Could have had More harmony more balance on the palate I think in bordeaux you can actually Find some great wines in the middle Category and this one wasn’t a great Example i think Wine number three was actually the Cheapest one but it wasn’t a bad wine i Think It’s quite a fruit driven lively wine If it is what i think it is price wise Then it’s actually a pretty good deal So let’s check whether i’m right let’s Start with this one Here wine number three was The chateau le rossignol bordeaux wine It’s a 3 euro 40 bottle i mean this is German retail in germany you can find Some really cheap wines On the shelf and i think it’s actually Pretty good for that price So let’s move on to wine number one Which i said was the mid-tier one and it Is Chateau ramage la batis 2015 vintage a great vintage and it’s 20 Euros And i think it’s actually definitely Underperforming in this category Not necessarily a great wine for this Price so let’s
Check out wine number two and while Number two Is chatu batay 2015 so again A great vintage and this is a great wine From po yak so from the north of the Maddock A great region where you can also find Chateau mutued And chateau la fitrochet this wine costs 75 or 75 euros And i think for that price it is Actually A pretty good wine so i really like it i Would definitely find Some better wines at the same price Point but It is a really good wine from a great Vintage so I’m happy with this so thank you for Watching i hope you enjoyed this video If you liked it then please Like it down here subscribe to my Channel if you haven’t done so already My question of the day is is expensive Wine for suckers Comment down below i hope i see you guys Again soon until then stay [Music] Thirsty [Music]