Even with all the hoopla and media hype surrounding the fabled and soon to be revered 2000 vintage now being released out of Bordeaux, with prices of some of these wines up over 300% of initial release price (see accompanying story on page 4), there is indications that falling prices may be the future trend.

While good news for consumers, some vineyards in California and Australia are throwing their grapes away rather than incur the additional expense of trying to produce yet more wine in an already over-crowded market.

Mr. Marvin Shanken, the Marlon Brando of the Wine World, and (for anyone spending the past twenty years living under a rock,) Publisher and Editor of The Wine Spectator, began his own campaign against exorbitant restaurant wine prices about the same time CVWN did. Last year, August, 02, Mr. Shanken wrote an editorial entitled "Attention Restaurateurs: It's time to lower Wine Prices." The response has been gratifying and supportive of this position, one we adopted in our last newspaper, as well.

In response to Mr. Shanken's article, Mr. Richard Betts, Wine Director at The Little Nell, Aspen, CO wrote in a "Letter to the Editor" the following:

"We at The Little Nell lowered our wine prices by an average of one-third across the board just over a year ago. We were fortunate enough to have enjoyed the single largest wine sales year in our history. …. In spite of lower wine prices, the tragedy of 9/11, the resultant economic slump, and the fact that we served fewer guests."

We have found in pooling the management of several local restaurants with lower and more reasonable wine prices that their customers are often willing to have that "second" glass of wine with the meal. Before, with higher prices, that same person would hesitate to purchase the second glass.

Repeat customers tend to return more often to these restaurants. They are given a reason by the restaurant to visit, and in turn, the restaurant is offering their most treasured clients a fail price in return.

Another reader responded in this same article that he found one of his favorite wines on another restaurant wine list at retail. His comment was that if the wine had been priced at the traditional "two times" retail, he probably would not have ordered it. As it was, they enjoyed two bottles with their meal.

It's time restaurant owners and wine managers woke up. You need to give credit to the wine intelligence of your customers. Joe-who-works-hard-for-a-buck isn't going to buy your Chateau Shlocken-glocken at two or three times retail when he knows he can go one mile south to his favorite wine shop and buy a case of it for the same price.