Vodka is the new wine

I've been having a great time reading Lawrence Osbourne's The Accidental Connoisseur, a book about the wine world. It's been stimulating some thoughts in my small brain on spirits industry innovation and marketing based on what happened in the wine world. Around page 84, he's talking with winemaker Bill Cadman, who says:

"The sick thing is," he said, "that people want to spend more money. It makes them feel reassured."

The point he was making is that the price is the best indicator of quality to most people. (Heck, I still buy wine on price, lacking any real knowledge of it, but you know, the cheap price.) Thus, if you want your brand to stand as the highest-quality product in a crowded market, you need to charge the most. "Well, duh!" I said to myself on the elliptical trainer at the gym where I do all of my best reading. It was more of a "Duh me" than a "No duh." Absolut vodka set a high price point early on and was the standard of high-quality vodka until other brands caught up on price. Then Grey Goose took the next big leap in price and that's how people "knew" it was the best. And now we have a slew of vodkas priced at over 60 bucks for 750 ml, so those are now the best. I have in the recent past blamed the marketing departments for inflated vodka and other spirits prices, and would now like to issue a partial apology. It's consumers' fault too for needing to be told what is best. And it's also the many spirit tasting competitions' fault for telling us a new batch of spirits are the best each year, making the terms "best tasting" and "award-winning" nearly useless. Anyway, just some thoughts.