I love web sites where I can view other people’s reviews of products or businesses. I  love how on Amazon when I am buying something I can look at customer reviews of toys or sheets or books or whatever. On Athelta, one of my favorite web sites to buy yoga stuff and bathing suits, people review the fit and fabric etc. I have made a ton of buying decisions based on that. We allow people to post reviews of our wines on the clos.com site as well. And Yelp—I never go anywhere without reading a review on Yelp first.

With that said, I wanted to address something that a Yelper recently said about Clos LaChance. I know that as a business I can respond to this guy, but I have so much to say, I thought I would take it up here.

First, here is the review in question:

“The grounds here are easily the most picturesque in the SC Valley, but that was the only thing that really impressed me. I could see this being a great wedding venue, but I have some philosophical differences with the way they do things here.

The tasting room is large and modern, but the wine was pretty ordinary.

Whenever I go to a winery and I see three tiers of labels, it bothers me. It says, here's something affordable to the masses that it is made cheaply with cheap grapes from wherever. Here's something that's made with a little more care, as we grow the grapes ourself. And finally, here's where we're really going to gouge you because this is what we gave the most attention and care to. And gouge you they will, at $50 bucks a bottle.

I like my wineries to give 100% effort and care on everything. Instead of making 900 different wines, focus on making a few great ones. I guess they want to be like the Ferari-Carano or Mondavi of Santa Clara. No thank you. More power to you if you want to be a billionaire, but I'll give my money to the little guys.”

Now I am fine if people say they do not care for our wine. Everybody has different tastes…and if what we make is not for you, then hey, thank you for trying and I hope you find something you like. But when people question our business model without having the faintest idea how this industry works—well, then I might just have something to say about it.

This is the paragraph that bugs me:

Whenever I go to a winery and I see three tiers of labels, it bothers me. It says, here's something affordable to the masses that it is made cheaply with cheap grapes from wherever. Here's something that's made with a little more care, as we grow the grapes ourself. And finally, here's where we're really going to gouge you because this is what we gave the most attention and care to. And gouge you they will, at $50 bucks a bottle.

A three tier product strategy is definitely not uncommon in this industry and pretty much what has to be done to stay in business these days. You see, my Yelper friend, distributors buy about 70% of our wine. These distributors are the ones that sell the wine to restaurants and wine shops. Distributors, especially those that are in states in the “middle” don’t carry things like Viognier, Petite Sirah and Malbec. They want Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc….because those are the things that sell. They also want wines at a certain price.  If you have taken a look at the economy lately, well you may have noticed that it sucks. People are not going out to eat all that much. So restaurants are not buying a lot of wine. Especially expensive wine. You see, Wall Street banker expense accounts don’t exist anymore (okay, bad joke). So the $200 bottles of wine on a list are few and far between.

So the first tier of products…called our Hummingbird Series..mainly goes to restaurants and wine shops. Yeah, we sell a little in our tasting room, but we find that people who come to our winery want things that are different…and more limited.  Our second and third tier is called the Estate Series (wines made from grapes grown 100% on our Estate) and the Special Selections Series (usually vineyard designate wines). They are made with more expensive barrels, they are stored longer in these barrels, the labor to make them is more costly (smaller lots) and the package is more expensive (when you buy 100 cases of labels vs 1000 cases, the price is much higher). Sometimes we have to buy the grapes. Because we spend more, we charge more. I don’t believe that we are gauging people at $50 a bottle. In fact, we only have three wines (out of 20) that we sell for $50 a bottle. Each are very limited (less than 200 cases made) and they are hard to make. And they sell at that price because people who appreciate them think they are worth it. We have plenty of other wines here that sell starting from $5 all the way to $50 a bottle. Most range in the $18-$30 range. I do not believe we are gauging people at all. In fact, almost every week, we have an amazing deal on something in the tasting room (last week we had a bottle of Zinfandel for $5!) If you don’t want to spend $50 a bottle, then there are PLENTY of other options.

I like my wineries to give 100% effort and care on everything. Instead of making 900 different wines, focus on making a few great ones. I guess they want to be like the Ferari-Carano or Mondavi of Santa Clara. No thank you. More power to you if you want to be a billionaire, but I'll give my money to the little guys.”

We give 100% to every wine that we make. Some are made with less expensive ingredients (grapes that are cheaper to grow (more grapes per vine) and packaging—but it doesn’t mean that they are bad. There are many wines at different price points out there in the world. Some people may want an Everyday Chardonnay or Cabernet for $15 or less. Others may want a special occasion Pinot Noir for $50. And I personally, as a consumer, appreciate when wineries make more unusually varietals that cannot be found in stores or restaurants. Our wine club members like it too. Otherwise, you may never get to try a Grenache or a Marsanne Roussanne blend. Having small lots of different, eclectic varietals gives our winemakers a chance to experiment and come up with new and interesting things.

 I guess they want to be like the Ferari-Carano or Mondavi of Santa Clara. No thank you. More power to you if you want to be a billionaire, but I'll give my money to the little guys.”

This makes me laugh a little—comparing us to Mondavi…who makes MILLIONS of cases. We make 60-80K cases annually. That is TINY compared to Mondavi. And billionaire…ha. When my mom and I stop driving our Chevy’s, I will let you know. It is not easy to make money as a small/mid-sized family-owned winery (yes, we are under 100K cases annually and are still considered barely above a small winery).  This industry is really hard, especially right now. We have a nice place and people have a great time when they are here. It’s not a public park…we do have to pay money to keep this place looking good and running well. And if you choose to give us your money, we won’t gauge you. Your wine will be worth every penny.