The PLCB: Where luxury starts one step above Mad Dog.

Luxury — Merriam-Webster defines "luxury" as "something that is expensive and not necessary."

Just a tad below 'Luxury', says the PLCB

The January PLCB product catalog lists 11,146 luxury wines starting at $5.49, which to me seems to be a bit of an oxymoron, since that's only 50 cents more than Mad Dog 20/20...which is definitely not a luxury (although it is "not necessary"). In comparison, there are only 2,451 "regular" wines listed, with the most expensive non-holiday offering being $155 — but that isn't luxury, according to the PLCB.

82% of the non-SLO wines listed are Luxury items, including all of the so-called "Chairman's Selections", and ALL of these wines are selected by the Luxury Product Team...six people in Harrisburg. The PLCB says that "Luxury Product wines are personally selected by our Luxury Product Team." Since there is also a Chairman's Selection team and all Chairman's Selections are Luxury items, I guess they get selected twice.

The selection criteria is stated as, "The products are managed geographically and reviewed for soundness, price/value relationship, and market appeal. The luxury division reviews wines during offering periods throughout the calendar year to insure a constant flow of the world’s best wines into our premium collection stores." No mention about tasting, just the marketing, which given that there aren't any highly wine certified people in the PLCB makes sense....unless you are a consumer who isn't allowed to go anywhere else and choose for themselves. 

Could you imagine 6 people actually trying to taste 11,000+ wines that would be only...let's see...11,146 divided by six is 1,857 each, over 240 work days, or just under 8 wines per day every work day.  Doable but not feasible.Or maybe they get together every Friday and do 38 different wines each.  More likely they don't try the majority of the wines selected as "Luxury."

The PLCB where Luxury starts at $5.49. God help us rid ourselves of these idiots.

Privatize.