Category:A Featured Post

The blog’s eighth annual do-it-yourself wine review — because, premiumization. Do we need any other reason?

The Wine Curmudgeon has been tasting roses costing $20 and up this year — not necessarily because I want to, but because more marketers than ever want to send me $20 rose samples. Which leads to the first question: Don’t they know who I am?

Which leads to the second question: Is it any wonder I worry about the future of the wine business?

So, for the eighth annual do-it-yourself wine review, four reviews for wine that costs much more than it’s worth, the kind of wine that only a winery CFO and its marketing team could love. (As always, thanks to Al Yellon, since I stole the idea from him all those years ago.)

Again this year, you’ll need to go to the old website to enjoy the post, since Substack doesn’t allow the necessary coding. So follow this link, and then click the drop-down menu and choose your favorite line.

This Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon:
is redolent with the smell of tech millionaires — 98 points!may not be worth the $150 I paid, but I’m certainly not going to admit it — 99 points!is so rare that it’s almost impossible to buy, but I got some — 100 points!tastes like something old white guys drink — pass the grapefruit vodka.

This Italian Super Tuscan:
is already worth $200 more than I paid for it; not even crypto does that well.is from Italy, right? So I didn’t overpay for it, right?is supposed to have iron and spice on the nose, which has to add $190 to its value.reminds me of something old white guys drink — pass the grapefruit kombucha.

This French red Bordeaux:
only cost $400. Is it going to hold its value like my Napa cab will?has a castle on the label, so it must be super expensive.doesn’t have the name of the grapes on the label, so it must be super, super expensive.smells like something old white guys drink — pass the grapefruit hard seltzer.

This celebrity rose:
costs as much as four bottles of the crap the Wine Curmudgeon drinks. Need I say more?keeps costing more each year, so it must be getting better, yes?comes in a super cute bottle. How can it not be worth what I paid?looks like something old white guys drink — pass the grapefruit craft beer

Photo: Kampus Production from Pexels

More do-it-yourself wine reviews:
• The seventh do-it-yourself wine review
• The sixth do-it-yourself wine review
• The fifth do-it-yourself wine review