
NY Times article on the struggles of high priced wine:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/business/beckstoffer-wine-napa.html
Perhaps the laziest excuse for poorly sales of your products is to ‘blame the millenials’; as if an entire demographic owes you something. But smirking aside, as a oenoscepetic, my interest in issues in Napa are more related to industry economics and consumer attitudes than they are in the developments of labels and vintages. This article depicts a looming crisis for high end wine labels out of Napa valley by focusing on Andy Beckstoffer, the valley’s largest land owner and the closest thing there is to a wine Robber Baron. The circumstances facing high end wine entails elements of declining conspicuous consumption, creation and exploitation of externalities to limit supply and competition and a strong sense of entitlement.