What is the science behind the grapes that make a $10 bottle of wine and a $300+ bottle of wine?

Question

is there something in the grapes that make the more expensive wine or more of something?

Answer 1

It depends on the grapes, how and where it is stored, and how long it has aged. Wine that from high quality grapes, stored in oak barrels for a longer period of time fetch higher prices. This answer, by the way, is a total guess.

Answer 2

... It's not really the actuall grapes like your thinking ..... it's the weather during a growing season that effects the grapes and what makes an expensive bottle of wine is how many bottles of wine there are to go around ..... So if they have a great growing season in a small area they produce less. But the quality of the grapes changes from year to year in any given area... as does peoples desire for one kind of wine or another. And yes different grapes have different qualitys most noteably sugar content. Also different methods of making wine change the taste ... like what it's stored in before botttled ...like oak for example. But in reality it's not that 300$ producers have better science behind them it's that some people make 10 dollar bottles on purpose and some don't. Amoung those that are trying for the best it's mostly about the weather. (as far as the grapes) then it's about how they modify the taste through the storage process mostly in red wines.

Answer 3

I grow roses in my garden and get some roses.

My neighbor grows roses and gets championship ribbons.

We both start with the same materials, but she gets phenomenal results ... why?

Simply put knowledge, skill, time and effort.

The grapes themselves are pretty much the same just like roses, but unlike many annual agricultural products like corn or tomatoes, grape vines can grow for a hundred years. It might take several decades before a vine starts producing the best grapes it can and require intensive care all along.

One example of how these differences can be achieved is if because of the weather this growing season the champion grower felt it best to sacrifice 3 out of every 4 blooms so the plants could devote all their energies to the remaining few blooms. In the same way an expert wine maker may sacrifice a large portion of the grape yield so that the rest of the crop can mature to its full potential.

This kind of care and decision making goes all the way through the wine making process ... from growing, selection, processing, blending, and aging.

For example to get a $10 wine take truck fulls of one variety of grape harvested from fields full of young vines, juice them and ferment them in huge stainless steel tanks and after some months bottle it, label it, ship it, and sell it.

To get the $300 bottle of wine you would typically need to grow many varieties of grapes with vines 50+ years old, and carefully nurture small batches of grapes to get just the best. Then hand select each one, and process small batches with the best care and skill possible, adjusting the blend to the qualities that the grapes are showing that particular year, then age and monitor them in specially selected barrels. Even then getting those lofty prices would rest heavily on your skill and reputation for producing those superior products in the past.

Does that make a $300 wine 30 times better than a $10 one. It depends! Is a Ferrari 30 times better than a mini-van? Some would say 1000 times, and others ... well a Ferrari isn't going to be very useful getting groceries or taking the kids to soccer practice now is it?

Answer 4

same difference. there's no science. Though grapes do grow better in some regions than others.

Case in point, Charles Shaw Shiraz 2003, aka 2 buck chuck won a silver medal at the San Francisco wine awards a few years back. I think it tastes like crap.

Opus One retails for over $100 a bottle, rated 90 by Wine Spectator, and also tastes like crap.

the key difference is marketing, and good old supply and demand.

Answer 5

Amount of grapes to produce the wine the region, Bordeaux's tend to be the most expensive, It's the only red wine that if stored properly can last and improve of the years.

Answer 6

it's the condition the grapes are grown in and then the process through which they are plucked, processed, and aged that makes the difference. Also once a brand is established the price goes up. There are plenty of "cheap" wines that taste just as good as the higher priced labels.

Answer 7

If we knew the exact difference between an average and an outstanding vintage, we could consistently produce the best vintage every year. A lot of winemaking is luck; rainfall, temperature and sunshine hours all vary from year to year, hence good and bad years.

Answer 8

well usually the more expensive ones are treated very well and are much older. Because when grapes get older it gives this rich taste to it.

Answer 9

the amount of sweat and **** in the bottle