Are "special" wines really all that?

Last week I got a mailer offering me the unique opportunity to spend more than $100 a bottle for yet another limited-production Napa Valley red wine.

Here's how this wine was described: "a blend of three vineyards in the St. Helena appellation which (are) planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The unique terroir of each site is apparent in the complexity of the blend. The backbone of the wine is from a rocky, highly elevated parcel east of St. Helena. Two additional vineyards in the western hills complete the blend; one parcel is north of St. Helena planted in dusty red soil, the other is nestled against the base of Spring Mountain amongst decomposed river rock."

I do not see the point of this wine. I'm not averse to wineries charging more than $100 a bottle -- they have every right to make as much money as they can. But what exactly is this product?

It's not an expression of terroir because the grapes come from such different places. It's not a dramatic blend of valley-floor Cab with nearby hillside Merlot, for example.

It's a Frankenwine that might possibly be three great lots of purchased grapes blended into a delicious beverage. But with a glut of expensive wines on the market, who needs another delicious beverage? If the producer of this wine spent so much money for these grapes that he needs to charge $115 a bottle, he overspent. They need to stand on their own in that price range or go into a cheaper bottle.

The luxury wine market will survive the downturn because people of means will keep paying a premium for name recognition and quality. But there's going to be a shakeout, and I hope wines like this, without a purpose, are among those to go away. A three-vineyard blend is perfectly fine, even expected, in the value section of the wine shop. It's insulting at this price.