In this current economy it seems everyone is looking for a wine bargain in terms of price. With everyone cutting back, we become very price sensitive especially in regard to “extras” such as wine. But is price sensitivity really a new anything new? For the last thirty years or so, I have been searching for good wine values and I will, like almost anyone else, take the price of the wine into consideration.
Good wine does not have to be expensive and expensive wine may not be necessarily good.
Evidence of this is frequently found in various wine ratings in Parker, the Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and so on. Take, for example, the 2006 Peter Lehmann Shiraz from Barossa Valley, Australia scoring 91 points in the Wine Spectator. I’ve loved this wine for years and at $15 or less is a real bargain. But one will also find many wines of the $50+ variety scoring in the 80′s. But that is a topic of another blog: the relationship of wine prices to ratings.
Back to retail wine prices.
Big Box Discount Retailers and Wine Prices
Wholesale clubs may have started this rush to discounting wine prices and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it’s because they buy nationally on quantity. But have you ever looked for a sales associate at a discount whole sale club store like Sam’s Club or BJs to ask about the flavor components of the wine or the possible food pairings for a particular wine? You might find have found a real bargain based on the wine price, but if you require assistance, then it is not to be found.
Then along comes the big wine and spirit stores with their method of pricing wine.
You know them, the wine supermarkets. They line case stack featured wines by the front door as you grab your shopping cart to load up. Then aisles and aisles of what seems to be great wine bargains. A single wine may have 20 separate facings in different parts of the store. Makes it look like a candy shop for adults. Here they have sales associates ready to direct you and answer your most demanding wine question. Or so it seems. In my judgment, they are playing to the novice wine drinker who accepts their responses as fact. Many of them are not fact, and they would rather give what seems to be an informed response than to say they don’t know.
Local Wine Stores and Local Wine Prices
A local friendly wine retailer, and one who knows something about wine, will also buy wholesalers’ “close outs”. These are wines that are sold a deep discounts by the wholesaler to reduce inventory. Sometimes these are distressed wines or sometimes there are some bargains. You just never know. And if you buy a bottle and like it, there is a real good chance that next time you go in (heck, you can even call the next day), it will be gone, never to return. Don’t forget…they are close-outs.Â
Trust the Wine Source, not the Wine Price
What if you were to pay say one or two dollars more, but knew you were buying from someone that actually took the time and knew something about the wine, the winery and winemaker? What if you knew that they selected a particular wine from the 1000′s of wines in distribution because it was better? And what if you bought wines from this purveyor, knew their tastes and how they compared to yours? You might even come to trust their judgment and know that the dollar or two you pay extra in the price of the wine would always come with a sense of satisfaction. Â Buying wine from a trustworthy wine purveyor does not mean you have to pay a fortune. If $15 is your limit, there are great, highly ranked wines avaialble for $15.00. I’ll bet you can even find some wine priced out at $12 or $10. Don’t forget, “life’s too short to drink bad wine”, but it doesn’t have to be expensive either.
