Cult wines are wines for which dedicated groups of committed enthusiasts will pay large sums of money.
[1] California cult wines refers to any of the California wines "typically but not exclusively Napa Valley Cabernets" for which collectors, investors and enthusiastic consumers will pay high prices.
The emergence of the cult movement coincided with trends in the 1990s towards riper fruit and wines with bigger and more concentrated flavors.
[2][3][4] These wines are generally very expensive, have limited production (often fewer than 600 cases per year) and can sell for several times their "release price" in the secondary market.
[citation needed] The cult wines of Bordeaux tend to be left-bank cabernet-based wines that ranked highly in the Classification of 1855.