Explaining the Large Variations on Wine Pricing

As many of you are aware I recommend at least two websites to check prior to purchasing wine, wine-searcher.com, and 1000corks.com. I do this because wine prices vary widely and I want to make sure I get the best price I can prior to purchasing. I do understand there should be some regional differences in wine pricing as it should cost more to ship to New York from California as opposed to shipping to California as an example. But as much as this explanation seems to explain and even justify differences in wine pricing, unfortunately, it isn't true. Let's start with this example. A current popular red wine is The Prisoner Red Blend 2018. The lowest price available on wine-searcher.com is the Triangle Wine Company in Morrisville New Jersey for $34.00 for a 750 cc bottle. The highest price for the same wine is from WineChateau.com in Methchen New Jersey for $63.97 or $28.98 more expensive an 83% increase. Both the highest price as well as the lowest price is available from the same State, New Jersey and one of the furthest States from California where the wine is made in Napa Valley. I could understand if New Jersey was the most expensive place to purchase it as it is a long shipment, but the lowest cost also?? It just doesn't make sense. Let's look at another example, Veuve Cliquot Champagne from France, obviously should be much more to ship overseas, right? From Westbury Liquors in Westbury New York, you can purchase Veuve Cliquot Yellow label for $39.77. From Liquor Mart, Whittier California it costs $69.99 or $30.22 more expensive a 76% difference. Well, California is obviously farther away than New York so maybe the higher price is because of the additional cost to ship across the USA. But does that really justify a price increase of $30.22? 

It has been my experience in general when pricing wine, especially on wine-searcher.com the difference in price from low to high can be as great as 100% many times comparing two different wine outlets within the same State. Most wine in the USA due to the current law is sold and distributed according to the 3 tier laws. What happens with 3 tier laws is the wine is purchased and picked up by a distributor(2nd tier) from a vineyard(1st tier) and then delivered to a retailer(3rd tier) who sells the wine to you. Truthfully the 2nd tier is really only a shipping company. But a significant portion of the markup and profit for wine goes to the 2nd tier company as they usually double the cost of the wine or more and not only cover their shipping costs but pad the price with a nice little extra profit for themselves. Over the past few years, I have noticed distributors selling wine to the retail outlets for the actual true retail price of the wine. So when you go purchase the wine you actually are paying above retail. In my opinion, the entire system is designed to profit the distributor more than anyone. The vineyard who made the wine makes only a small profit and cannot raise its prices knowing the distributor will again raise the price possibly to a point where the wine does not sell. The retailer is unable to raise the price of the wine to his customer as again the consumer is only willing to spend a certain amount for any given wine. I know some retailers who make around $1.00 per bottle profit as they don't feel they can raise the price of the wine to make a better profit. All of this is written into law and the distributors spend small fortunes lobbying the legislatures to maintain this system. One argument they use is this system has to be maintained to prevent alcohol sales to minors. I may have missed something but I don't ever recall hearing about a 14 year of trying to illegally buy a bottle of Prisoner Red Blend wine and certainly not a bottle of Lafite Rothschild. 

Many vineyards have reacted to this system with their wine clubs and direct to consumer programs. And why wouldn't they? They can sell wine to the consumer at the true retail price and charge shipping to the consumer separately with door to door delivery. Of course, the distributors have fought this for years by lobbying State legislatures to prohibit by law direct shipment and to charge individuals involved with felonies. So far the courts have supported the consumer and the court's basic argument is laws preventing someone from buying something anywhere at a better price is unconstitutional and inhibits free trade so most State laws have been ruled unconstitutional and unenforceable. Frankly, I personally feel it is fairer for the vineyards and not the distributors to make most of the profit in selling their wine. On the other hand, I don't want to completely throw the baby out with the bathwater and condemn all distributors. If we had not had distributors going out and buying wine and distributing that wine Nationally the wine industry may never have grown to where it is today. It is much harder for a vineyard to sell 1, 2, or 3 bottles at a time to individuals all over the country as opposed to selling their entire production to one distributor who takes it away and pays them with one check. Certainly, that convenience warrants some discount to the distributor but in the end, the distributor should be more reasonable with pricing.

To me, the bottom line is the distributor up charges the wine excessively without really adding any value to the wine. The distributor's charges also cover their sales force which for some companies is huge. So much of wine is in my opinion "pump and dump". A salesperson comes to the retailer with the "next great cult wine" that the retailer needs to purchase 2 or 3 cases before it is all sold out only to find out months later the wine didn't sell, wasn't the next cult wine, etc. I would naively hope if I owned a wine shop I would have enough experience to know what my customers would want and what new wines were worthwhile to introduce my customers too. But that is not how the system works and probably won't ever. So, in the end, it is "Buyer Beware". Please continue to go to wine tastings and see what you like and continue to drink your favorites. But before buying, check out the prices on wine-searcher.com and 1000corks.com and make sure you get the best price. Don't forget when buying online you have to add in the additional costs of shipping and taxes and maybe lean towards the stores that offer reduced or free shipping and many do. I still recommend 1000corks.com for completeness but interestingly for the two example wines in this article the low prices on 1000corks.com were higher than wine-searcher.com and the highest price was lower for the same wines. Interesting. But it doesn't hurt to check both sites and be surprised at what you might find.

Eating a Healthy Diet

As many are aware I am a physician. I spent the majority of my career in primary care and thus a focus on preventive medicine. I can state unequivocally the three main contributors to health and long life are genetics, diet, and not smoking. Say what you will but if you came from a healthy long living gene pool, eat a healthy balanced diet, and don't smoke you should have a long healthy life and even if you don't have the best gene pool a healthy diet and not smoking will overcome some of the bad genes. So what actually works? Over the past 50 years or so the pendulum has gone back and forth on low fat, Adkins, Paleo, on and on you name it. There has been every fad you can imagine all basically trying to get you to spend your money on their products to move your hard-earned dollars into their pockets and out of yours. 

After 30 years of practice, I have seen what actually works and I have spent a lot of time reviewing the extensive research that is available and can pass on to you what you need to actually do and best to spend your money so here goes. 

The absolute best diet for pretty much anything is the Mediterranean diet which means more fish, poultry, vegetables, and vegetable-based oils and less red meat. As an example, I had extensive oral surgery a few years ago and completely lost my appetite for red meat and did not eat any red meat for over 3 years. I had stopped taking statins due to side effects and during those 3 years my cholesterol was under 200 and my "bad" cholesterol was under 100. The minute I went back to eating red meat my cholesterol went back up. Personally, I find the Mediterranean diet very palatable and satisfying. Some details to pay attention to are as follows. Increase your intake of olive oil, some research says 4 tablespoons daily will significantly improve your cholesterol profile in the blood. I now substitute olive oil for butter and find it works. I use olive oil on baked potatoes and it tastes just fine. You want to eat more salmon, halibut, anchovies, and mackerel as these fish have a higher concentration of Omega 3 oils. We need both Omega 6 and Omega 3 oils in our diet but to get the Omega 3 oils we need to eat more of the above fish. I recommend eating these fish at least 3 or 4 times a week. In the Mediterranean diet, you eat more vegetables, fruit, and nuts. Actually, research has shown if you eat about 1 to 3 ounces of almonds, pecans, and walnuts per day it helps with longevity. Eat more avocado's. There are very, very healthy. Personally, I love them and I now have a whole one for every breakfast. 

Want to control your weight? Then learn about portion control and the best way to accomplish this is to eat off a smaller plate. I know it sounds like snake oil but research has clearly shown eating off a small plate with every meal helps control weight and I had dozens of patients who lost weight with this magic trick. It has something to do with psychology that I do not understand but the facts are it works. Recently you have heard about eating in a 6 or 8-hour window and have a 16 hour fast every day. Current research seems to support this idea but I think the jury may still be out. I know portion control works. I have seen it work. 

On to the Elephant in the room, supplements. Truth be told if you eat a balanced Mediterranean diet you should not need vitamins or supplements. The majority of vitamins and supplements are eliminated as waste almost as soon as you take them. However, there are a few that research has clearly shown are beneficial and help prolong life and prevent disease. They are as follows. Zinc at 25 mg a day helps to enhance your immune system. It usually comes as 50 mg which is too much per day so break them in half and only take 25 mg a day. Fish oil has been shown to improve your cholesterol levels and control your Triglycerides levels. But you have to take higher doses than are usually recommended. The best dose is around 6000 international units. I find fish oil to cause a fishy taste in my mount that is not pleasant so I choose to get my fish oil by eating more fish and increasing my intake of olive oil to obtain the same result. Vitamin D has been known for years to be highly beneficial and to help prevent certain types of cancer. Again you have to take higher doses than usually recommended. You should take either 4000 international units a day or at the vitamin stores, you can purchase 50,000 international units you can take once a month. Folate is good for you but due to genetics, many people do not metabolize it properly. It is easy to get around that by taking 1000 mcg every other day of "Optimized" Folate which you can purchase, most likely online. Along with Folate take Vitamin B12 1000 mcg a day. Even if you don't need Vitamin B12 good research has shown it can improve mood if your blood levels are over 400. Most of the time when we check B12 levels they are a little over 200 and considered normal but the fact is blood levels over 400 clearly are associated with a reduction in depressive symptoms. A word of caution here be sure and check with your physician if you choose to take B12 as some people have a disease from not being able to absorb B12 so you should have your blood checked if you want to take B12 first. Most of us do not get enough magnesium. Turns out most diabetics are significantly deficient in magnesium. I recommend two 400 mcg pills a day, again higher than what is usually recommended. For most people, men, and women, as we age we benefit from a baby aspirin every night. There is a small risk of increased stomach bleeding, especially if we are approaching or over 80 but research is clear low dose aspirin use prevents stroke, heart attack, and colon cancer in most people. You take baby aspirin at bedtime as most heart attacks occur around 2 AM due to the adrenal glands surging at that time getting us ready to wake up and face the day. Other than aspirin I recommend vitamins and supplements listed above be taken with a meal as they are better absorbed with a meal. 

Now you know what to eat what do you not eat other than red meat. Very easy. Eliminate sugar from your diet. Research clearly shows humans should not eat over 20 grams of sugar in 24 hours. Have you ever read the label on grape or orange soda or orange juice? Grape soda has over 80 GRAMS of sugar in one 12 ounce bottle. No wonder we all have diabetes. All fruit juice are high in sugar and many have extra sugar added. You need more fruit in moderation but it needs to be the actual fruit. A whole orange is much better for you but you can't eat unlimited amounts. Get rid of the sugar in coffee. Read every label. You will be shocked by how much sugar is added to our food. If you must eat red meat then restrict it to once maybe twice in a week and eat grass-fed red meat. 

And finally, we need more exercise but it does not have to be aggressive. For the older crowd 30 minutes of walking is plenty. Also, some strength training is helpful but again it does not have to aggressive. Lightweights work fine for most of us. 

So I again wish everyone a happy New Year and hope the above recommendations are something you can use in your own quest for a long and healthy life.