in a $2 to $200 bottle of wine?

Perception, not quality, is number one. And perception is about as hard to define as love. Remember the saying, ‘A face only a mother could love’? Well, you may be ugly; but somewhere someone thinks you’re beautiful. And they may be right. You may just look ugly.

Quality, although it’s more tangible and sometimes measured by wine judges and critics, takes a back seat to image. Image, or the perception of image, can be real and earned, or it can be manipulated and contrived, and everything in-between.

Marketability – perception is a two way street, from the consumer’s eyes looking in or from the producer’s eyes looking out at the marketplace. The wine producer may utilize actual market study data or simply rely on their own perception of whom their target market is and what products, image(s) and perception they desire and respond to. The producer carries forward a perception of their own wine and attempts to position their product to meet the expectations of the image associated with the perception.

Smoke and mirrors, perception and deception paint a faint line between truth, reality and just plain bullshit. It’s the consumer’s job, that’s you, to satisfy yourself that what you’re perceiving isn’t deceiving you into thinking you’re getting true value from your purchase.

Example 1: A very wealthy businessman decides he/she wants to start a winery. He’ll have to hire a winery consultant to plan the winery operations, an architect to design the building(s), a building contractor to build the facility, a vineyard consultant to plan the vineyards, a vineyard development company to plant the vineyard and then of course he must have a luxurious home built with an architect, an interior designer, another building contractor, etc.

After all that, he must hire a vineyard manager and crew, a winemaker and staff, tasting room personnel and a marketing consultant and sales staff. By this time his accountant informs him that he better sell each bottle of wine for $100 or more just to break even with all the money already spent.

However to pull off that bottle price he’ll have to spend a lot more money on an opulent facility, top notch marketing professionals, package designers to create the image, and the image creates the perception of a super-premium product.

How good is the wine? There’s no telling but it better be fantastic for that price.

Example 2: An ambitious young couple buys land in the seventies in an area with excellent viticultural attributes but yet undiscovered. He was fresh out of UCDavis with a degree in Soil & Water Science totally able to plan, plant, manage and actually farm the vineyard. He started the winery with a modest investment, improving the equipment and facilities each year over 25 years. Winemaking skills were self-taught, infused with the aid of wine consultants as needed. Even though their 1980 vintage wines were priced between $4.50 and $6.50, Gold, Silver and Bronze awards were won right away.

Deep commitments were made to create a new level of quality not perception building. Quality started with a healthy living organic soil free of any herbicides, toxic fungicides, pesticides, etc. Healthy soil supports healthy vines that produce clean healthful fruit and wine. The challenge to make world-class wines without the use of any toxic chemicals in the field or in the winery transcends the depth and perception of what typical quality is. Someday consumer perception of this truth in quality will be commonplace and demand will drive prices upward. But for now our prices are modest and typical of Sierra Foothill wineries.

Example 3: A young start up wine operation sees the opportunity to sell wine to a somewhat gullible public. This entrepreneur enjoys wine but doesn’t have the skills or the desire to plant a vineyard or start a winery but has great skills in marketing. The opportunity to do a makeover and create a new brand with a new image is the business plan. Elegant packaging, good PR literature and media exposure and a hefty bottle price conjures up the perception of ultra-premium quality. Everything is a façade, even the name, all designed to impress.

Will people naively bite on this deceptive bait? You bet! And some will rave about the passion of the owners and this new brand.

The world of wine is riddled with images stemming from just the label, the winery’s facility, and the puff written by their PR team or a good article written by a renown wine writer.

Of course not all images are good. And lord knows that bad news travels fast. People can be mean and just blurt out how they don’t like a wine in a crowded tasting room, as if anyone cares if they like or dislike that wine. Sometimes word of mouth can spread someone’s opinion which then gets further spread as an out of context misconception which carries forward unchallenged by making any further contact with the winery to become a stigma until finally someone has the guts to be their own judge and actually visit the winery and taste themselves.

I certainly don’t recommend you become overly sarcastic when you walk into an opulent tasting room or a tasting shack in the woods. Taste the wines and get to know what’s behind all that hype, smoke and mirrors. You wouldn’t judge a book by its cover, neither should you let yourself be wooed by your initial perception.

Image, Perception, Truth, Deception may all factor into determining price.

But in the world of wine Value is the Holy Grail. To seek the true meaning of value means setting aside your prejudices and just absorb without judgment the ambiance and tastes of each wine and/or winery. This openness may not come naturally and may take assertive effort to just enjoy each wine in its naked context.

Hunting for the cheapest wine on the wine list takes no skill, it just takes good eyesight. But hunting for the best value takes some knowledge and savvy and knowing what’s for dinner and how to best pair the wine with the flavors and textures of food.

So the moral of the story is to be amoral and don’t let yourself be swayed one way or another by image and perception but take a genuine interest in tasting a winery’s wines, listening and talking with them about their directions and goals and just enjoying all that each winery has to offer. Even the richest of men (or women) can find value in the wine and the experience of visiting some unlikely small wineries. While the poorest of men (or women), I’m sorry to say, may have trouble enjoying the upper crust of wine because they simply can’t afford their offerings. This exclusivity is another factor affecting price through image. It’s the country club mentality of ‘not on my block’ where you can join an exclusive club and rub shoulders with clones of yourself without the riffraff and lesser citizens of the world. But you will pay for that privilege with wines that may be over-priced and lack true wine value.

You as consumers have power. The power to affirm the quality of the wine by paying the price, the power to support products that have made commitments to quality and health of the environment as well as the product, the power to not support deception and hype in marketing, and the power to find true value in wine are in your hands with every decision you make to buy or not to buy. Value is everything.

Value is a direct reflection of who you are. Remember the saying “You are what you eat”. Your quest for good value in wine can and should be fun. Journeying out to the wineries, tasting their offerings, learning of their techniques, meeting the people behind the wine will make the reward and pleasure of opening that next bottle at home just a bit more memorable and satisfying.