Blame the Distirbution

               The dilemma facing Chateau Pontet-Canet (their sales price limited by effectively a branded rating system of “grands crus”) is an interesting one as the wine world inevitably becomes more international and democratized in its consumer base.  While much of the domestic French wine market may know and respect the brand of the Crus, much of the rest of the world lives blissfully unaware of the significance of the tiers, or even the existence of the echelons themselves.  It seems that, today, Chateau Pontet-Canet feels it is limited by its 5^th-tier ranking, and in that they imply they deserve a higher price for their wine.  This price limitation must either be enforced by the En Primer wine merchants/distributors, or the end consumer who decides they will only pay so much for a 5^th tier Cru.  But that logic breaks down in exporting to an international end-drinker that does not know the Cru system (in markets like China, and even to some extent the US). 

So it must then be the distributors who are limiting the prices on these wines internationally.  I can think of several reasons they might do this.  First and foremost, to enforce the existence of the Cru tiering that makes their lives easier in justifying the highest price wines.  And second, they may be looking to keep some consistency in pricing across geographies.  But if CPC wants to break from its historic shackles of the fifth tier they are going to need to break from the safety of their relationship with their distributors.  Only then can they truly set their own market price for their wines (and if consumers don’t pay it, then that is a deeper problem).  Perhaps the expansion into US territory was partially as a foothold to establish local importer/distribution relationships so that CPC could diversify away from the relationships that have kept it so throttled by the Grand Cru system despite its high quality wines.