The following question was posed in a reader comment from my post Globalizing fine wine markets and the rise of Asia:
"Is there any difference in the overall quality of similar wines sourced from [the UK and US] markets?
Answer: Generally speaking, no.
I addressed this question indirectly in my post "The impact of U.S. import labels on Asian wine buyers" but let me expand on my explanation.
- Buyers clearly need to pay attention to the source of their supply as suppliers/retailers don't all pay the same degree of attention to provenance and handling.
- Regarding UK sourcing, is wine transferred from Bordeaux to the UK, often in non-refrigerated trucks, better handled than wine transferred in a reefer directly from France to the U.S. that lands directly in a temperature-controlled warehouse?
- Does the location of the purchase source indicate anything about where the wine has traveled? You might be interested to know that many Bordeaux chateaux will buy back wine previously sold to UK wine merchants and then resell it as ex-chateau.
- The large and growing auction market for fine wine in the U.S. is materially larger than London (and the gap is widening). Moreover, prices tend to be higher in the U.S. To me, this further confirms that serious wine collectors don't believe there's a quality difference.
- The emergence and industry adoption of solutions such as eProvenance will help ensure there are no differences in quality regardless of where wine is purchased.
