Richard Shaffer of Israeli Wine Direct sent me a note the other day (on Twitter, @Vinfolio) asking whether there's a formal definition of fine wine. While "fine wine" is a term bandied about by many, including me, I believe most people use it informally to distinguish high quality (generally higher priced) wine from everything else.
In fact, the first of 18 definitions of "fine" on dictionary.com is "of superior or best quality; of high or highest grade." The example used to illustrate this meaning is "fine wine"! But we all know judging quality is highly subjective and that a given wine will generate a wide range of opinions. Rather than debate the well-covered subject of what constitutes a quality wine (e.g., balance, complexity, finish, etc.), I believe a good normalizing proxy for when a wine can safely be referenced as "fine" is its price.
Why price is a good determinant
A wine's median price is essentially the typical merchant's view of what typical consumers are willing to pay. Arguably, this price should be highly correlated to quality (or consumers would be spending less for a better quality alternative) and not to perceptions of quality created by marketers such as clever packaging. In essence, the various ways consumers evaluate quality ultimately translate into a willingness to spend a certain amount of money.
$50 is a good break point
I believe $50 is a good break point, above which, a wine is more likely to be considered "fine" by a majority of people than not. The higher the price above $50, the greater the consensus is likely to be. I don't have a survey or study to confirm this somewhat arbitrary threshold but Vinfolio has long used a minimum $40 retail price point for accepting wine to sell from private sellers (as well as a minimum professional score) and even that level was an accommodation to facilitate selling a greater percentage of the person's cellar. Below $50, we've found that wines are often less differentiated and harder to sell.
What I'm NOT saying
To help clarify the definition, I'm not saying that every wine priced at $50 or more meets the "superior or best quality" standard and we all know there are wines priced below $50 that easily meet this quality standard (particularly in certain QPR categories like sauvignon blanc and Chablis to name a few).
How would you define "fine wine"? Please add your comments.
P.S. For a few other perspectives on defining fine wine, here's an excellent post called What is a fine wine? from the Wine Anorak and another on the LovetoKnow.com site called Fine wine defined.
