Super Super Super Premium Wines - how expensive is too expensive?

Yesterday, I joined the Wine Circle trek to Napa and Sonoma.  It was a wonderful experience, and we were lucky enough to visit both Scribe Winery and Promontory Wine.  While both were great, they had dramatically different strategies and brands.  

Scribe was the definition of Instagram friendly.  Set in a whimsical whitewashed building that looks over ranch-style vineyards, this winery was all about the aesthetic.  An impeccably-designed menu printed on high quality cardstock announced the array of wines we'd be tasting, from pale pink rosé wines made with Pinot Noir to skin-fermented Chardonnay.  Long, light wooden tables created a community atmosphere, with twinkling bulb lights hanging overhead. Everything was picture perfect, and guests were encouraged to wander through the house and onto the grounds with their half-full wine glasses for photo opportunities.  Was the wine good? Yes. Was it phenomenal? Probably not.  But visitors who come to Scribe are there to imbibe the spirit of wine country, get a little tipsy with friends or family, and walk away with some premium content for the 'gram. 


Scribe Winery


The experience at Promontory Wine was completely opposite.  Located off the main road up a steep hill, the winery overlooks dramatic, sweeping hills and presents larger-than-life panoramas.  We were ushered into the imposing, minimalist space and greeted with 2006 Dom Perignon in Zalto flutes.  "If you're intimidated by this space, you probably can't afford our wines", screams the decor.  The winemaker explained in detail the distribution of rock type across the Promontory property, enumerating the complexity metamorphic-based soils bring to Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a Serious Wine Location.  We were then brought through a barn filled with wine barrels that were clearly each individually designed to fit the space, and then into a deep cellar that featured a gigantic, 7x7ft rock with a polished marble top.  This was the location for our first tasting.  The second tasting occurred at one single table (pictured below) that could seat 50+ people, with artisanal water and top quality parmesan reggiano.  Someone looked up the bottle price of the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon out of curiosity - $900.


Promontory Wines

This brings me to the primary question I've been asking myself: how expensive is too expensive to pay for a relatively young, quality wine?  I completely understand paying up for an old Barolo, Bordeaux, or Burgundy, but spending $1000 on a new California Cab?  The Promontory wine we tasted was very, very good, but I'm positive I would not have guessed it was as expensive as it was.  Give it 30 years and I'd certainly pay more for it - it is certainly age-worthy.  So, what is the consumer really paying for if they choose to spend their hard-earned dollars on a wine like Promontory?  In my opinion, it's the story and the experience, the feeling of luxury that extends beyond taste.  It's being able to tell others how much you paid for something, like an impossibly high-end sports car or designer purse.  A certain amount of the price indicates quality, and the rest indicates status.  

While I had an incredible experience at Promontory, I have mixed feelings about if I'd want to return on my own dime.  On the other hand, I'd take my friends to Scribe in a heartbeat, even if the wine ($40-80) was slightly lower quality than what I would prefer to pay at that price point.

As someone who is very interested in the supply/demand dynamics of luxury goods, I found the Wine Circle trek fascinating.  I'm curious to see how inflated certain Napa wine prices become, and if the bubble bursts, how wineries like Promontory will manage.