Have market forces had a negative effect wine selection?

How have factors such as a global wine glut, distributor consolidation, a larger wine-in-grocery store presence, and economic uncertainty impacted the selection of wines available to you? Are retailers\restaurants and importers getting more selective about the wines they carry (relying more heavily on the tried and true than on harder to sell, more esoteric wines)? I have no evidence to support my general feeling that despite there being more interest in wine by more people than ever before, there are fewer options available to them than there were ten years ago.

Cheers,
Bill

I've noticed a lot more local wines available in in liquor stores here, even the small mom & pop places.

I have no evidence to support my general feeling that despite there being more interest in wine by more people than ever before, there are fewer options available to them than there were ten years ago.

Caveats: I just started getting into wine about ten years so I don't really have detailed historical comparative knowledge. Also, in the US, I mainly bought wine during that period in Nyc and the Bay Area, perhaps not the most representative markets.

But, I have experience in a few other (east coast) cities and it seems to me that over the past ten years there are more high-quality specialty shops (as opposed to crappy liquor/wine shops) opening up with more artisanal wine from smaller regions, or even artisanal producers from the big regions. In addition, these wines seem more common in big shops.

Ten years ago, it seemed much easier to find low quality big brands.

But my 'survey' is hardly scientific.

I sell wine here in Oregon. From my aspect I keep seeing more interesting wines from newer areas all the time. I also see huge amounts of new wines that are just there for price points and to try to suck up the wine glut. I guess it just depends on which part of the country you are in.

[Robin Garr]

Bill, I haven't noticed any real loss of selection here in Louisville as a result of the Bush Depression . We've been fortunate to have pretty good wine selection here since the 1970s, although the nature of retail has changed considerably.

Back in the '70s and '80s, our market was dominated by a single very large wine store with an extremely good selection, first one in Southern Indiana just across the bridge from downtown Louisville, then an even larger, better shop that opened in Louisville and took out the competition. That lasted into the 1990s, at which time the owner of that store sold his Louisville properties to a Lexington firm (listening, Bob H? ) that continued the large size but brought less commitment to high-quality selection and service.

The competition responded quickly, as a couple of existing smaller shops got bigger and a wave of very good new small shops joined the battle. Now we've probably got a dozen or more places worth looking for wine, and collectively the selection is more than it was when a single shop dominated. But you've got to do a lot more running around if you're obsessive enough to want to keep up with it all. Personally, I patronize three shops regularly and a couple more on occasion, tending to stick with the good ones most convenient to me. (One's within walking distance, although it can be pretty good exercise to carry more than three bottles home.

Can't quibble too awfully much with wine selection here in the Portland OR area.

It's a surprisingly sophisticated wine town. Even considering that it's at the head of the Willamette Valley Region (and then the Umpqua and then the Rogue Valley), and benefits from being right next to WA as well, it still has a tremendous and varied selection, thanks in large part to a sophsisticated and appreciative drinking population, a well-oiled two tier type of retail, where the grocery stores tend to carry the plonk-to-mainstream high end stuff (although several of those go above and beyond what you'd expect), and a series of small specialty stores do a thriving business with the out-of-the-mainstream stuff. So everybody stays happy.

It's still interesting how regional markets develop though: for some reason, historically, Seattle was always a very good market for French wines, and Portland was a magnet for Italian wines. Don't really know why.

Having lived in Sonoma for many years prior to moving here, I'm pleased at the general quality of the wine selection---and the fact that the Bush Depression has resulted in some of the stratospheric OR Pinot Noir prices dropping below their formerly sacrosanct entry-level of $30. May not be good for the industry (although I think it is good for the industry, just not those who built their business expectations on $50 wines as common fare), but it sure is good for me.

Although we have private wine stores here along with our state liquor stores, the private ones tend to deal in high-end stuff, which tends to leave me with a selection of one. The state stores vary according to size. Some of them are very very good, and others are horrid. In the larger ones I do see some of the phenomina that Bill is talking about. I'm sure the state buyers are being pressured big time by the mass producers. When I was ITB we had a strict policy regarding heavy movers, that we would give them shelf space based on product movement. This always left plenty of room for new and exciting things, and kept the big guys at bay.

Interesting answers. I guess that some of my reason for posting this was that Rahsaan had mentioned in another thread that there was good Burgundy languishing on the shelf and that perhaps this is because the world has enough Pinot Noir. When I first started getting into wine (10 years ago) there was a ridiculous amount of good, inexpensive Burgundy, Bordeaux, Sud-Ouest, Alsace and Languedoc wines from France, a far better selection of Alto Adige wine, more Swiss bottlings, a better selection of Greek wines at one time, Hungary...In short, I guess more European wines at much better prices. Wines that I drink !

After the introduction of the Euro (and soon thereafter it´s thrashing of the dollar), 911, and smaller distributers getting swallowed up by bigger ones who now focus on the industrial, there aren´t any $12 Mercurey, or $10 Irouleguy, or $15 Elena Walch Gewurztraminers on the shelf anymore. When they were thrust into higher price categories, they ceased to be good values or even viable options and hence are no longer imported.

Sure, there are a shitload of new Argentine Malbecs on the shelf at $8. There are more $12 NZ Sauvignon Blancs, there are more Lux-Napa Cabs and Oregon Pinot Noir and Airplane-hanger-produced Seattle suburb Washington Syrah out there. I like a few of those wines too, but not at the expense of Pierre Frick Pinot Gris for $12, and Da Ros Cotes du Marmandais, and Hungarian Kekfrankos.

And maybe an even bigger question is whether or not wine, and food, and bluejeans SHOULD be imported at all. MAYBE we should all learn to live with what is locally produced. MAYBE that is a discussion for a different thread!

Cheers,
Bill

And maybe an even bigger question is whether or not wine, and food, and bluejeans SHOULD be imported at all. MAYBE we should all learn to live with what is locally produced. MAYBE that is a discussion for a different thread!Cheers,Bill

So long as our local area would include the Finger Lakes, we could do it!