With major apologies to the late, seriously great Marvin Gaye, one of his best songs might oughta be reworked as “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Economy).” Things ain’t what they used to be, that’s for sure.

I’ve been hearing for months that distributors are having trouble moving any wine in the $15-$40 retail range, especially to restaurants. I’ve been hearing about really good wines at all price points gathering dust at wholesalers’ warehouses. And lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about serious problems at the “high end.”

Alicia Anderson, who operates the fabulous Compleat Wine Cellars business out of France 44, admitted that business has slowed and added that “everyone in the luxury business is kinda scared right now.”  Out in California, the gorgeous food-qand-wine shrine Copia is in major trouble. And the Wine Spectator’s James Suckling has a great blog post up about a cult California winery getting a bit of comeuppance (fun comments thread there, too).

With sales at the medium and high end slowing, distributors will be cutting back on orders. That might be good news for consumers, as wholesalers and retailers might be forced to slash prices on current inventiories in order to bring in newer releases.Â

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