Wine's Dirty Little Secret

When the going gets tough, the tough get drinking!
Booze is one of the few recession-proof industries. In fact, I think its safe to say that the worse things get the more people imbibe. However, its what they imbibe that changes. With the economy in the tank, even the wealthy mucky-mucks have changed their spending habits. Long gone are the unlimited expense accounts and $200 bottles of wine. So what does this mean for wineries that hang their hat on those uber pricey little gems? They are in one hell of a conundrum. The great debate is what to do with the excess of wine that no one's buying. There's the option of riding it out. Wait until the market rebounds and luxury products become feasible again. Sure, the wine may be old and past its prime by this point, but it just may beat option number two.
Obviously, wineries don't want to sit on past vintages so the decision becomes, "do we drop our prices?" This may seem simple enough... lower the price and move through the product. In reality what this translates to the consumer is "our wine really isn't worth what you suckers have been paying all these years. We've enjoyed having you over a barrel (pardon the pun) and look forward to gouging you in the future."
Enter the red-headed step child of the wine world... the "declassified" wine. These little beauties are winery orphans, the wines that no one wants to claim as their own but gladly reap the monetary benefits. You see, wineries commit to making so much wine a year, many sitting on acres and acres of land that produce much more fruit than what goes into their premium bottlings. In the day's of yore, the "excess" fruit was sold off to wineries that didn't own any vineyards. The next thing you know, you have a little podunk wine, breaking confidentiality clauses, and shouting from the mountain tops "this is Silver Oak Fruit for only $15 a bottle!!" Needless to say, Silver Oak would not be happy about this exclamation. (Even though, in my personal opinion, $15 is still too much for a bottle of Silver Joke, er, Oak). Of course this begged the question, "why should I pay $100 for this bottle, when I can get the same thing for $15?" Well, because it's not the same thing. Not by a long shot. Just because a winery bought the fruit from a famous vineyard does not mean the end result will be the same. Different winemakers, techniques, oak treatment, aging, strains of yeast, etc. etc. etc. The way to solve this dilemma was for the prestigious winery to keep the "excess" fruit and create their own second label. This way, you've eliminated someone else taking credit for your fruit, and skill of your million dollar vineyard manager. You have also maintained a level of quality, and depending on the producer, very few wine making differences between the notorious label and the declassified label.
Now, how do you know you've purchased a declassified gem, a superstar wineries second label? You don't. That was certainly more true a couple of years ago, but it's still the norm for a winery to cut all ties to the second label. You won't find tasting notes or information online and there won't be any mention of the famous winery on the label.  It's almost like the wine doesn't exist. Buahhaha (insert evil laughing voice).
So here comes the greatest incentive to get out and go to wine tastings... Sommeliers live for this. We are waiting to dish the dirt to anyone who'll listen. When we find out about a fabulous bottle of wine that is one-eighth the price of its counterpart, we ache to share the discovery. And trust me on this, we know lots and lots of secrets that you'll want to know too.
It's Saturday night... I know there's a wine tasting going on somewhere near you. GO.

Cheers!

P.S. While I was writing this, I was enjoying a lovely bottle of Caravan Cabernet from Napa. Aren't you just dying to know who makes this?? Buaahaahaa