Originally Posted by
bhrubin
As I said, I was giving estimates. We also get single vineyard offerings that tend to be more expensive, but since we are ordering directly from the wineries, whatever we are paying is the lowest retail/wholesale price...so maybe I just overestimated. But I know we've ordered Cobos wines costing $175 from Paul Hobbs Imports (co-owner of Cobos).
BTW, Wineries that sell direct often do so because they can charge HIGHER prices than they could if they went through distribution channels. Buying from places like The Wine Club and Costco is invariably cheaper than buying direct from wineries. Of course, the wineries that sell predominantly off of their mailing list are putting most of their efforts into maintaining an air of exclusivity to justify their pricing.