California wine producers are hugging themselves at their astounding good fortune. Despite the very real setbacks of phylloxera and the impending threat of Pierce's disease, they're raking it in like never before. It's not just the Californians, although they're the masters at this game. Fifty dollars per bottle hardly covers expenses. Tom, let me give it to you straight.
Production costs have nothing to do with such high retail prices.
Well, maybe you'll believe David Coffaro, a vineyard owner and winemaker in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley. David Coffaro is an affable guy. And he's not going broke. Enraged at one winery's assertion about why it had to charge so much, Coffaro sat down and ran the numbers. I am sure I forgot something.