Wine has been largely absent from the raging debate over inflation in recent months. While the wholesale price of beef is up by 20 percent and gas costs are at their highest level in seven years, a bottle of wine has been one of the few products consumers could count on to stay stable.

Not for long. Because grapes are harvested just once a year and wine reaches the market through a multitier distribution network, price pressures have simply not caught up to consumers yet. When they do, the perfect storm of inflation (up 6.2 percent in the United States in the past year, the highest rate in decades), supply chain bottlenecks, a small global grape harvest and a surge in demand will mean consumers should brace themselves for spikes in wine prices.

“I’ve never seen inflationary pressure like this,” said Rocco Lombardo, president of Wilson Daniels, an importer that represents wineries like Biondi Santi, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Champagne Gosset. “The massive escalation in the cost of dry goods—glass, corks, labels, cardboard—is actually hyperinflation. Labor and energy costs have skyrocketed. No producer, region or part of the wine industry is immune, and you will see price increases very soon.”

Wine isn’t as volatile as other consumer goods, so it’s historically less subject to price fluctuations. While the overall inflation rate between 2004 and 2021 was 2.11 percent, wine prices only climbed 0.73 percent.

But today’s market challenges have left producers little choice, says Miguel Torres Maczassek, general manager of Familia Torres, one of Spain’s leading wine brands. “There is a sense of caution among producers as nobody is interested in price increases, especially in the middle of the post-pandemic recovery,” he told Wine Spectator. “But for many, there is no option. Costs keep going up and most distributors around the world have already absorbed the higher costs for shipping wines. They must pass them to the market.”

Most winery owners say they have done everything possible until now to maintain pricing. “We held our prices in 2021, but will have to take increases in 2022 within the first part of the year,” said Enore Ceola, CEO at Freixenet Mionetto USA, a leading sparkling wine company. “Everyone worked to delay increases just before the holidays but we will see prices going up between 10 and 15 percent, or even 20 percent on some wines.”

Imported wines feel the cost crunch

Imported wines are battling the most challenging issues. “Price increases are going to be commonplace on imported wine in 2022 because the cost of containers and general freight are up in excess of 100 percent,” said Marc Taub, president and CEO of Palm Bay International and Taub Family Selections, which represents dozens of brands including Cavit and Castello di Fonterutoli.

Disastrously small harvests in regions such as Burgundy, the Loire and Provence, will compound price pressure. Taub says his winery clients are “attempting to be as modest as possible,” but he warns consumers to expect prices to start edging up early in 2022. “Fierce competition in the wine industry will keep the increases moderate, but prices across all wine categories will absolutely go up,” he said.

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Consolidation in companies that control ocean cargo shipments, along with the steadily climbing cost of crude oil, has driven shipping prices up. “When oil barrel prices get to the mid-$80s, that has a big impact,” said Lombardo. “It used to cost us approximately $10 to ship a case of wine from Western Europe to the U.S., and it’s now $15—that’s a 50 percent increase.” Other importers, like Taub, report jumps even higher than that.

Many retailers know what is coming—and see high demand adding fuel to this fire. “We are seeing the beginnings of some serious price hikes,” said Cyrus Tolman of Houston Wine Merchant. “I think they will most impact the regions in highest demand: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Tuscany, Rioja and Napa. Wine buyers could end up with prices that skyrocket 20 to 25 percent within a year.”

Brooke Sabel, wine director at Gary’s Wine & Marketplace in New Jersey, is already seeing wine prices “increasing at every level.” For national brands, that bump is between $1 and $3 per bottle, she observes, and even higher for boutique brands.

And forget about deals. “An overlooked repercussion of this is that retailers can’t get access to large volumes of certain brands at a quantity discount, so we are unable to offer any discounts to our customers—particularly with Champagne,” Tolman adds.

None of this, however, will dampen the appetite for elite wines one bit, insiders project. These are regions that have seen prices inching up for many years, unrelated to inflation. “We have not seen any slowing in the super-premium category at all; there is a very strong demand for luxury wines from Burgundy, Piedmont and Tuscany where prices have been climbing for years,” Lombardo said. “There is a thirst for quality wines from great producers and that is not changing.”

What about everyday wines?

Domestic wines won’t be spared price hikes either, nor will wines in the value end of the spectrum, which will be forced to take bigger percentage step-ups. “We haven’t raised prices in five years, but that is all changing now starting with constrained grape supply based on back-to-back short harvests in California,” said Jeff O’Neill of O’Neill Vintners & Distillers, which owns many wine brands and also operates as a grape supplier to other brands. High-end wines benefit from a cushion of larger margins, and “have always increased price based on exclusivity and scarcity, a slightly different model,” he said.

For wines in the $8 to $30 price range, O’Neill anticipates, at a minimum, 10 percent higher pricing across the board. “Many wines today that sell for less than $30 per bottle move through the system pretty fast,” and reflect a changing economy more quickly than wines that age longer in cellars before release, he explained.

“For certain wine categories like our single-vineyard wines, it is true that the impact of a short or a large harvest is something that might not come into the market for many years,” said Torres. “Younger wines don’t have much flexibility, as the production time is shorter.”

While Champagne is experiencing its own headaches of shortages and logistics nightmares, within the world of affordable sparkling wines like Prosecco and Cava, price increases loom large on the horizon: Ceola estimates that consumers will see increases of $2 to $3 per bottle for wines in the $10 to $17 range, and a $3 to $5 bump up for those falling between $20 and $30.

Just how long will higher prices stick around?

The U.S. Federal Reserve and many market analysts advise that inflation won’t last, as it’s merely the result of “transitory factors,” including shutdowns and restarts in multiple economies. Some in the industry take a similar view. Blake Leonard, vice president of her family’s eight independently owned retail stores, Stew Leonard’s Wines & Spirits, told Shanken News Daily, a sister publication of Wine Spectator that, although her business is seeing these rising costs coming, she believes “this is a temporary disruption and our stores are not raising prices because we anticipate it will all settle.”

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Others are not so sure. “This is not transitory,” said Lombardo. “We are now going into three quarters of these inflationary pressures and I think it is going to be longer term. Until demand is depressed, I think we will continue to see price escalation.”

Besides, Ceola adds, because there is only one wine harvest per year, “which dictates pricing for the next one to five years, it’s a slower process than other consumer goods.”

Even by conservative estimates, prices will remain elevated for more than a year. “Overall price increases will be felt throughout 2022 and 2023,” says O’Neill.

Yet in spite of high demand for wines across the price spectrum, and relatively short supply, the fierce competition within the wine market will keep runaway pricing in check. There remains an abundance of choice for wine drinkers, says Taub. “Wine is different from most other consumer goods. There is wine sold at every price tier, and there are an inexhaustible number of wine choices out there,” which is why producers are reluctant to increase prices.

Inflation could also drive experimentation and may benefit lesser-known regions. “This will lead more people to look outside some of those blue-chip wine regions in search of better value,” said Houston Wine Merchant’s Tolman. “While there are diehard collectors of Burgundy that will only ever purchase Burgundy, many collectors and everyday wine drinkers are looking for new bottles that deliver more wine for less money. Maybe this is the catalyst that will tilt the scales in favor of smaller producers and less famous wine regions.”

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The team behind Wine Spectator Grand Award winner Acquerello in San Francisco opened Sorella (Italian for “sister”) on Dec. 1. “After spending 32 years perfecting the fine dining experience at Acquerello, we are ready for a new challenge,” co-owner Giancarlo Paterlini told Wine Spectator via email. “The time feels right for us to introduce a more casual, versatile restaurant experience that translates to the next generation of diners and allows our team to grow and evolve in new ways.”

Acquerello wine director Gianpaolo Paterlini is curating the new restaurant’s 60-label program in a consulting role. Like Acquerello, Sorella’s wine list centers on Italian appellations, such as Chianti Classico, Barolo and Barbaresco. This includes bottles from well-known estates like Piedmont’s Fratelli Brovia and Tuscany’s Fontodi. The 500-bottle inventory is largely sourced from Acquerello’s cellar, though the plan is for Sorella’s wine collection to eventually become its own entity, and Paterlini expects it to grow to about 1,000 bottles.

“We want wine to be fun and approachable for our guests, so the list focuses on classic regions and low-intervention winemaking,” Gianpaolo Paterlini said. “But I’m always on the lookout for exciting new producers that innovate with respect to tradition and terroir.”

The list will change regularly to represent a wide range of producers, mostly at prices ranging from $50 to $95 per bottle. “At Acquerello, we have over 2,000 selections from every region in Italy and verticals are a huge part of the program, as we want guests to come to us knowing they can find just about anything they’re looking for,” Paterlini said. “At Sorella, we hope that a concise list with very fair prices will encourage a new generation of wine drinkers to discover new wines while seasoned wine lovers will find some of their favorite classics.”

The wines complement executive chef Denise St. Onge’s menu, which primarily consists of house-made pastas. But guests can enjoy other Italian-influenced options too, like pumpkin minestrone soup, potato-and-leek focaccia, striped bass and cicchetti (Venetian-style snacks meant to accompany drinks). Sorella will also feature a signature Acquerello dish: Warm parmesan budino with sunchoke, hazelnut, truffle and brown butter.

Designer Tava Lloyd of Harbour Creative helped create the restaurant’s interior, which features a handmade partition between the bar and the dining room, and a neon “Sorella” sign. “We designed Sorella to be lighthearted, lively and neighborhood friendly,” St. Onge said. “The kind of place that checks the box for a weeknight dinner as well as Saturday night cocktails and bites.”—Collin Dreizen

Jean-Georges Vongerichten Makes His Nashville Debut

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Chef and restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened Drusie & Darr at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 17. Vongerichten’s first Southern location outside of Florida, the restaurant joins his namesake Grand Award winner in New York, as well as his other Restaurant Award–winning concepts: Jean-Georges Steakhouse, the Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges and Jean-Georges in Philadelphia.

“It’s an honor to be part of the growth of Nashville’s prominent food scene,” Vongerichten told Wine Spectator via email. “With Drusie & Darr, I wanted to contribute my style of cuisine, but also incorporate the tastes and flavor preferences of Nashville.”

The chef’s corporate wine director, Rory Pugh, currently manages the 90-label list, though a new wine director for Drusie & Darr will be appointed soon. As with Vongericthen’s other restaurants, the list focuses on French regions like Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, the Loire and the Rhône Valley. It’s rounded out by wines from California, Italy and Spain. “[The] wine list has a focus on the classics with newer discoveries placed throughout,” Pugh said. “We wanted to show off a range of our guests’ favorite wines.”

Executive chef Kelsi Armijo oversees the menu of approachable American- and Asian-influenced dishes, which highlight organic and seasonal ingredients from local sources, such as the Hermitage’s garden at Glen Leven Farm near Nashville. This includes ahi tuna tartare, roasted black sea bass, mushroom risotto and warm chocolate cake. Several pizza options are available as well, cooked in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven.

Drusie & Darr’s dining room was crafted by designer Thomas Juul-Hansen with muted colors and bold lighting that accentuate the space’s vaulted ceiling. A few original Beaux Arts details from the historic space have been preserved, including the restaurant’s oak walls.

Named after the children of the Hermitage’s former general manager, Dick Hall, Drusie & Darr was developed as part of a wider restoration of the nearly 112-year-old hotel. Additionally, Vongerichten will open a café in the hotel called the Pink Hermit in January 2022. “It’s a privilege to be in Nashville, a city that welcomed me so warmly,” Vongerichten said. “I hope to give that and much more back.”—C.D.

D.C. Hospitality Group Debuts All-Day Cafe

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Knead Hospitality + Design, the group behind Restaurant Award winners Succotash and the Grill, debuted another restaurant in Washington D.C.’s District Wharf. Opened last month, Bistro du Jour brings a classic, Parisian café experience to the multipurpose waterfront development.

The menu by chef Treeven Dove features time-tested bistro staples like steak frites, coq au vin, French onion soup and duck confit, while the restaurant’s partnership with New York City-based bakery, Mah-Ze-Dahr, will supply morning pastries and treats.

The beverage program is led by Knead’s beverage director, Darlin Kulla. In addition to a strong selection of French aperitifs like Lillet, Bonal and Suze, it features a nearly exclusive French wine selection of 60 labels, with additions of traditional method sparkling wines from around the globe. This includes Thibaut-Janisson’s Extra Brut Blanc de Blanc from Virginia, South African Cap Classique Brut from Graham Beck and traditional-method Brut from Ferrari in Trento, Italy. At just over 40 labels, the bottle list offers picks from across France, including lesser known regions like Jura and Corsica. The remaining 17 selections are available in 5- or 8-ounce carafes and also span the entirety of France, but highlight sparkling wines.—Taylor McBride

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After an external investigation that began one year ago, the Court of Master Sommeliers-Americas (CMS-A) plans to expel six Master Sommeliers: Bob Bath, Fred Dame, Fred Dexheimer, Drew Hendricks, Joseph Linder and Matt Stamp. The move follows allegations by multiple female wine professionals who were studying for the organization’s certification exams that some of the most senior members committed sexual assault. They also allege that the group suffered from structural toxicity, in which male leaders exploited the mentorship-based nature of the organization and their power to influence exams and careers to harm candidates physically, emotionally and professionally.

“From this deep disappointment and betrayal, we will continue channeling the learned lessons into growth and positive change for our organization,” said CMS-A chair Emily Wines, in a statement issued when the expulsions were announced Nov. 17. Wines is part of the new board of directors elected in 2020 as part of the organization’s restructuring efforts. “The work does not stop here.”

Some members see it as a step in the right direction. But others, while happy to see any concrete action taken, are dissatisfied with the components of the investigation as well as CMS-A’s actions that followed, especially after such a lengthy process.

“As somebody who has to make a decision as to whether or not I want to sit my Master Sommelier exam next year, [the investigation] really has personally thrown my timeline off,” said Rachel Van Til, a Houston-based sommelier who’s been working toward that goal for about 10 years. “I could not in good conscience move forward with the process while there was an investigation concerning my own experiences within that organization.”

“This was the final chance for [the court] to do the right thing, and they did the wrong thing in every way,” Liz Mitchell, an Advanced Sommelier based in New Orleans, told Wine Spectator.

Van Til and Mitchell are among the more than 20 women who shared explosive allegations in a New York Times article in October 2020 that they had been groped, received explicit texts, were pressured for sex in exchange for professional favors and even raped. They’re also among the members of the organization with concerns about how the investigation was handled, which range from the announcement itself to perceived conflicts of interest to the confidentiality of certain investigation details.

The biggest question for both CMS-A members and the hospitality industry remains, Are these expulsions the start of true reform? Or just damage control?

The investigation

The Court of Master Sommeliers’ investigation was supposed to be the start of rebuilding trust in an organization that members felt was increasingly tone deaf if not downright negligent in ignoring how some members took advantage of others. The board hired attorney Margaret Bell of Lagasse Branch Bell + Kinkead. Multiple members were suspended while she conducted her work.

She investigated a total of 22 cases, based on member complaints and media reports, and then presented her findings to CMS-A’s Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee in September. Committee members worked with anti-sexual-violence organization Raliance to determine discipline recommendations, which were then voted on by the CMS-A board. The harshest actions were taken against those who exhibited an ongoing pattern of bad behavior. “This is not a moment of somebody being drunk and making a bad decision,” Wines told Wine Spectator.

The process was based on a code of ethics created by the committee earlier this year, when a non-discrimination policy and an anti-racism pledge were also implemented. The group also hired a new executive director with experience in nonprofit organizations and corporate leadership, rather than wine. One complaint had been that what had once simply been a small credentialing organization had grown into a large professional society, but leaders never created a human resources department or implemented sufficient rules.

Read more about recent CMS-A changes in our Sommelier Talk with Vincent Morrow, co-chair of the CMS Diversity Committee.

Following the investigation, Geoff Kruth—a former Master Sommelier who resigned after being named in multiple allegations in the Times article—was prohibited from ever applying for reinstatement. Two members were removed from suspension. Other members who were not expelled but remain suspended are undergoing education to attempt to return to the organization in good standing. “We believe that will further lift our culture as opposed to leaving them out and having them potentially reoffend,” said Wines.

CMS-A is also offering to connect survivors to counseling and support via Raliance’s national network of experts.

Most of the Master Sommeliers facing expulsion have not spoken publicly on the decision. They include some of the group’s pioneers. Dame was a co-founder of CMS-A. Bath passed the exam in 2003 and has worked as a professor at the Culinary Institute of America’s Napa campus. Hendricks, Dexheimer and Linder have all worked for top wine programs and served as educators. The decision to expel is pending a hearing within 30 days in accordance with CMS-A’s bylaws and federal law.

Stamp, who operates a popular restaurant in downtown Napa, was first suspended after an internal investigation found that he had undisclosed sexual relationships with two women who took the 2018 Master Sommelier examination. He shared a statement with Wine Spectator. “As a wine educator, I am deeply saddened by today’s decision. The code of ethics of the Court of Master Sommeliers establishes that I should have not been within the vicinity of anyone taking an examination with whom I had a romantic relationship. I take accountability for my error in judgment for not following this bylaw, but did recuse myself in writing from proctoring the exams for these women,” he said. “These were real relationships I cared about, and am saddened for them or anyone hurt by my mistakes,” Stamp continued. “I will learn and grow from my mistakes and accept today’s decision with a heavy heart.”

Partial justice?

“The announcement on Wednesday was one step out of many toward becoming a safer, more transparent and more diverse organization,” said Mia Van de Water, a New York–based Master Sommelier.

But for members like Mitchell, the announcement reopened old wounds.

“Not only did the victimized women who all so bravely came forward not get a report or have any communication regarding the ‘findings’ of the investigation, but they were given no advance notice that the ‘findings’ were going to be made public,” said Mitchell in a statement posted on Instagram. She and others called this insensitive, as it could retrigger trauma for survivors.

Wines says members had the opportunity to attend a town hall meeting where the findings were announced, but she acknowledges that “it went public very quickly after that.” She says there were discussions about alerting survivors in advance, but that many of the women spoke to the investigator on the condition of anonymity, which the court would have broken by reaching out.

Mitchell says she never heard of any town hall. Van Til recognized the potential for this issue and specifically asked to be contacted in advance. She says the court did respect that request.

Overall, Van Til has mixed feelings. She was grateful to see actions taken against more under-the-radar offenders and is impressed by the new code of ethics. She says her interactions with Bell during the investigation were mostly positive. And she’s slightly comforted by the leadership of the new executive director, rather than the organization’s past culture, which was dominated by the mostly male longtime Master Sommeliers.

But she notes that the issue has been ingrained in the court for so long that there are inevitably victims who did not speak to the investigator, and therefore offenders who have yet to see justice.

She hopes the court’s decisive moves will encourage more people to come forward, but she says that there’s a harsh-reality flipside to that: “Those women know what I know, which is that putting your name on something like this puts you in a tenuous professional situation.”

Mitchell also said that the offer of support was insufficient. “At this point in time, every woman that I know that was involved has their own therapy, has paid out of their own pocket going back like five years, so the first thing [the court] could do is, at least, monetarily, help people out with the cost that they’ve already incurred for therapy.”

Mitchell and others in the wine community also took issue with CMS-A’s decision to withhold the names of those still-suspended members, which feels too in line with the overarching issue of secrecy that’s drawn criticism for years. She shared additional concern about the presence of current Master Sommeliers on the committee that helped determine the disciplinary actions, calling it a conflict of interest.

“There’s no reason why [Bell] needed to turn over the results of the investigation to the organization that is in question,” she told Wine Spectator. “That, to me, is a major conflict of interest. How are they deciding their own fate? That makes no sense.”

Wines stands by the investigation process. “It was really meticulous and exhaustive,” she said. “I feel like we really did the most thorough process that we could have.”

Asked about concerns over the decision not to share specific details of the investigation—including the identities of suspended members—Wines said they’re “following the guidelines of what’s done in all kinds of organizations.” She points to a new feature on the court’s website, which uses asterisks to indicate which Master Sommeliers are eligible to participate in CMS-A programming such as teaching and examinations. No asterisk could indicate that the member is currently suspended. It could also mean that they haven’t signed the code of ethics or completed the now-standard sexual harassment training, possibly because they aren’t involved in programming and therefore chose not to take those additional steps.

When it comes to allowing suspended members to work toward returning to good standing, Wines stresses that the rehabilitative education (which each participant is financially responsible for) involves many hours of in-depth and individualized psychotherapy. “This is not parking them in front of a video for an hour and saying you’re good to go,” she said. “We want them to really deeply do the work.”

Restoring the main mission

Wines says that hopefully the investigation and resulting actions can help restore CMS-A’s fundamental identity as a group that provides mentorship, education and certification to the sommelier community, rather than feeling like a private club.

It’s a mission that members like Van Til still see value in. “I don’t think anybody else has done what the court has done in terms of how they teach people to sell wine, how they teach people to taste wine and integrate that with theory,” she said. “I think the mentorship, camaraderie and community are a very unique culture with a very extreme upside.”

Van der Water shared a similar sentiment. “I believe, absolutely, in our core mission, and in our ability to grow into an organization with a genuinely positive impact on our community and industry,” she said. “Furthermore, it is deeply important to me personally to be an active participant in enacting these changes.”

Mitchell believes the danger remains. “I do think a lot of people are ready to unfortunately move on and just give them a pass and kind of look the other way. And I think that’s what’s upsetting to me the most, that people have continued to participate in the examinations that have resumed this year and people are back to kind of business as usual with giving power to the court and without them having actually shown one ounce of accountability or change.”

As Van Til points out, the industry’s sexual harassment issue goes beyond just Master Sommeliers, carrying through to other ranks within the organization and to the entire wine community as a whole—and even to guests who exhibit inappropriate behaviors toward sommeliers in restaurants. That means the weight can’t fall entirely on the leadership of a single organization.

“This is a culture change that’s not just going to happen with the people at the top doing investigations and declaring certain people out and others in,” she said. “The only way there’s going to be change is if everybody can internalize this lesson—so I think it’s a call to action for all of us.”

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