What is your wine worth?

[Boatboy24]

Ahhhh, state store. You must be in Pennsylvania also. I supply all of our friends parties and events and never get a complaint. Have you noticed wineries trending toward sweet? Drives me nuts, and that is a very short drive.

I don't get it, but sweet sells.

 

[ceeaton]

I've only had a few not like a particular wine, it wasn't because it wasn't good, they just were expecting a sweet wine when most of my reds are dry. In the short 3+ years I've been making wine and the 27+ years I've been making beer, I've noticed that free wine and beer is always "good", not that our products aren't, but free wine and beer seems to be preferred around here.

 

[garymc]

I grow my muscadine grapes, elderberries, and blackberries to make the wine I make (I also make jelly and can some juice.) I would not pay what I would have to charge if I went by all my labor and expenses involved in growing the crops, harvesting, and making the wine to establish a value. I make a number of different types and blends to varying degrees of dryness or sweetness. I have a lot of choices of what to open when I'm in a given mood or want a drink for a given purpose. When I consider what I do to bring these things about, I would have to acknowledge that there should be a premium for a hand crafted product as well as for the ability to engineer the wines to my particular uses. Some of these are not obvious, such as the elderberry wine and jelly I'm consuming this time of year with the flu and cold viruses abounding. http://thescienceofeating.com/2017/...eats-flu-prevents-colds-strengthens-immunity/

 

[JohnT]

I have found that telling them that the wine is homemade skews any honest review you might get. Most people, when told it is home made, will immediately have a lowered expectation and are overly surprised when they find it drinkable.

This is why I like blind tastings. I make it where 1/2 of the wines are quality commercial wines of similar variety and age, to be paired against with my stuff. I find that the tasters are amazed and amused when they can't tell one from the other (or even prefer mine).

 

[balatonwine]

I don't get it, but sweet sells.

Sweet is often more approachable, and thus more understandable, to an untrained palate.

 

[sdelli]

I agree. Blind tasting against a commercial bottle gets the best feedback and benchmark. Since I like making high end Cabs from Sonoma and Napa my main run. I like to blind them against names to reach for like Honig, Caymus, Stags Leap. It also helps put a value on it when you always reach a little higher. You do not want to know the bottom number.... Trying to find the top number. My raw cost of Cab with no labor usually around $14 a bottle.

 

[garymc]

I think I'll go out to the wine store and pick up a high end muscadine/elderberry blend for one of them blind things.