"Anything worth doing is worth doing well." – Hunter S. Thompson
Why Are Natural and Artisanal Wines So Expensive? If you've ever stood in front of a wine shelf, blinking at the price tags on natural or artisanal bottles, you’re not alone.
It’s a fair question: why are these wines often more expensive? Especially when a mass-produced bottle costs half as much?
The short answer?
Making wine the artisanal way takes an incredible amount of time, skill, and effort.
No Shortcuts = Higher Costs
In the world of mass-produced wine, chemical fertilizers, lab yeasts, and heavy machinery can speed up the process and lower the cost.
In natural or artisanal winemaking, though, it’s the opposite.
Quality From the Start
With artisanal wines, everything starts in the vineyard.
Healthy soil, happy vines, thoughtful pruning—all the way through careful picking by hand. If something goes wrong at the start, it can't be "fixed" later in the winery. So growers have to invest heavily upfront—both financially and personally.
And it doesn’t stop at harvest!
In the cellar, artisanal winemakers often work without added yeasts, temperature controls, or preservatives. That means they need even more skill (and nerves of steel) to guide the wine gently from grape to bottle.
When you buy an artisanal or artisanal wine, you're not just paying for what's inside the glass.
You’re supporting a person (or small team) who is obsessed over every step to bring it to life.
Small Scale = Higher Costs Too
Most natural and artisanal winemakers produce tiny amounts compared to big industrial brands.
Less volume means higher cost per bottle, because there’s no big economy of scale to lean on. Think of it like this: if you bake 10 loaves of bread for friends, it’s going to cost you way more per loaf than it would for a factory baking 10,000 a day.
Is It Worth It?
In my opinion? Absolutely.
