Perspective: Our columnist takes a look at the wine landscape so you know what to expect this year.
High energy prices mean rising transportation costs, making it more expensive to get wine to market. This is compounded by lingering supply chain woes from the disruption of the pandemic. This hits smaller importers and distributors especially hard.
Europe was impacted by devastating frosts in April 2021 that severely limited the quantity of that year’s harvest. Frost is not unusual, but such a widespread effect across nearly all major wine regions is extraordinary. California and Oregon were hard hit by, and many wineries opted not to make wine for fear of smoke taint. These were wines that would be coming to market this year. Short supply means higher prices, and we may have trouble finding some of our favorite bottles.
These factors could lead to price increases of 10 to 30 percent this year, says Harmon Skurnik, president of New York-based Skurnik Wines, a prominent importer and distributor.“For U.S. importers, the strength of the dollar certainly helps mitigate these forces to some degree, but the bottom line is that U.S. consumers will pay more this year for many wines,” Skurnik says.
These inflationary pressures will squeeze small mom-and-pop wineries and the independent importers and distributors that represent them. It will also hurt independent retailers and ultimately consumers, possibly chipping away at the variety we crave and enjoy.A price hike of as much as 30 percent is pretty dramatic, so how will consumers react? We could cut out wine until conditions improve. Or we could buy less but at a higher average price.
“People are buying less because they want better quality,” says Yannick Benjamin, owner and sommelier at Contento restaurant in New York’s East Harlem and co-owner of the new
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