How much do you pay for your wine?

[Jarcy]

Until recently I've purchase our wine from supermarkets when they have their deals on - half price, 1/3rd off etc. etc.
Tend to aim for a £5iver a bottle, maybe £6uid. Got nice wine for that but recently its all starting to taste rather samey and not too impressive. I used to belong to Naked Wine club, but got bored of their selection, and their whites offered little choice if you weren't a Sauvignon Blanc fan.

So I've started visiting our local independent wine store. I describe the wine I like and pay a little more now - £9 to £12 per bottle. And wow, some truly fantastic wine is available.

I know there's a law of diminishing returns with wines, but it seems certainly worth paying this extra for some quality.

So where is the tipping point? At what price do you get the best balance between cost and quality. Should I be considering £20, after all I'd pay that in a restaurant for their house wine. Or even more?

[anonymous-user]

Some people would say £20 is expensive, some would say its cheap. It all depends on what you like as you could spend a fortune on something that isn't to your taste. for example if you like sauvignon bland you can spend hundreds of pounds on some of the top French wine or you could spend a tenner on a nice Marlborough sauvignon that is very nearly as nice.

[RDMcG]

This is highly subjective as the first priority is to buy what you like. I have paid lots for some wine that I put in the cellar, but very little of summer wines like a nice NZ Sauvignon Blanc. Its much tougher to get a great ,cheap Pinot Noir for example. Doubtless there is a law of diminishing returns.

[BorkFactor]

I spend between £4 and £7 depending on what is on offer. Once spent £10 on a bottle of Rijoca from Aldi which was lovely.

Think I need to be brave and spend some more, but the cheaper reds taste nice to me! Dont drink white so I cant comment there

[Steffan]

Sadly wine does improve over time with quality wines stored appropriately. Cheap wine peaks in 2 - 3 years and then drops off rapidly. If you are prepared to spend the money you will get bigger and better wines generally. Look at the price paid at auction for the Ronanee-Conti sold recently by Ferguson.

I was introduced to the remarkable qualities of that wine 50 years ago by a connoisseur wine importer. The beat wines are better. The very best very much better. I never drink it nowadays because it is simply too expensive for me. But the neighbouring Chambertins I do enjoy and are much less stratospheric. In short buy the beat you can afford. Huge amount to learn about wines. Enjoy the experience and remember the consequences of excessive consumption.

[Bullett]

I rarely find anything decent under £6 a bottle now. Some whites, some reds on special. tend to only buy stuff I know at this price.
Mostly spend £8-10-12 a bottle for nice drinking wine and £20+ for special wine. Rare to spend more on home drinking stuff (unless it's fizzy).
My favourite White at the moment is The FMC a South African Chenin Blanc at £25ish.

[LooneyTunes]

Jarcy said:

At what price do you get the best balance between cost and quality. Should I be considering £20, after all I'd pay that in a restaurant for their house wine. Or even more?

£15-20 seems to be the sweet spot these days, especially if you've got a decent independent merchant (unless you're looking at certain French regions when you'd need to go a bit higher).

There are some stunning wines if you pay more but, even if you had the means to spend £1000 bottle every time, you'd be missing out by only drinking the "best" wines.

Much depends on what you like though. For summer drinking I'd take a single bottle of good Condrieu / Sauternes / Riesling in preference to all the NZ Sauv Blanc on the planet.

[lauda]

I read a slightly longer article on the relative benefits of a £10 bottle versus a £5 bottle the other day but can't remember where now. This much briefer one gives the gist:

http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/articles/how-mu...

[Jarcy]

lauda said:

I read a slightly longer article on the relative benefits of a £10 bottle versus a £5 bottle the other day but can't remember where now. This much briefer one gives the gist:

http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/articles/how-mu...

Exactly this. I think I have also read the full article that you were referring to.
I also disbelieve supermarket RRPs for their wines. When you pick up a £10 bottle for half price at fiver, It's probably only £5 quality. However got some Campo Viejo Rioja from Morrisons the other day @ 3 for a tenner, which is quite palatable.
But my point is that as I could afford more, perhaps I should be more discerning now.

Last night's wine from the indy wine shop was £7, but disappointing. Heyho, try again tonight with something nearer the sweet spot.

[Steffan]

Jarcy said:

lauda said:

I read a slightly longer article on the relative benefits of a £10 bottle versus a £5 bottle the other day but can't remember where now. This much briefer one gives the gist:

http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/articles/how-mu...

Exactly this. I think I have also read the full article that you were referring to.
I also disbelieve supermarket RRPs for their wines. When you pick up a £10 bottle for half price at fiver, It's probably only £5 quality. However got some Campo Viejo Rioja from Morrisons the other day @ 3 for a tenner, which is quite palatable.
But my point is that as I could afford more, perhaps I should be more discerning now.

Last night's wine from the indy wine shop was £7, but disappointing. Heyho, try again tonight with something nearer the sweet spot.

There are certain wines that I find truly excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Tempranillo wines from Italy both here and there fit that bill. Similarly almost every Spanish Rioja I buy seems to be a well balanced and thoroughly drinkable wine again at sensible money. Equally the Montepulciano wines from Italy are excellent in the main.

I spend a lot of time each year in Italy (being retired is huge fun just so long as you make it) and in Lucca therein and the local luchese wines are really very good and daft money there at les than 2.50 a bottle. There is real competition in Lucca for Luchese wines at fair prices and when there that is my tipple. But there are wines about like the Rioja you found that make looking for wines really enjoyable. You should get a lot of pleasure in the process of searching

[anonymous-user]

Normally something with an original price of £6 to £12, but there is usually something decent in that range on offer. The only thing I'm strict about is that I don't touch anything which wasn't bottled in it's original country.

[21TonyK]

Generally 7-10 for an everyday red, 10-15 for a weekend wine to go with something nice to eat and every few weeks anything up to about £40 just to broaden my knowledge and experience of wine based on one of our two local merchants recommendation.

[Jayfish]

The discount price at the supermarket is all that the wine is actually worth, they artificially inflate the price just to show a big 'discount' don't be fooled.

[Steffan]

Symbolica said:

Normally something with an original price of £6 to £12, but there is usually something decent in that range on offer. The only thing I'm strict about is that I don't touch anything which wasn't bottled in it's original country.

Absolutely correct.

The wine buff I referred to earlier who awakened my interest in wine and taught me most of what I know about wine when I carried out the audit of his wine importing business for six years always referred to wine bottled elsewhere and not by the Chateaux as "Tube wine" by which he meant it has come over in a tube and who knows where it really originated. He was proved absolutely correct when in the later 1970's such wine became a scandle in the press becusemof the unlawful adulteration and blending that went on. Stopped now but widespread then. I have learnt a great deal over the years from being an Accountant in practice about the realities of business and none more then about wine from that client.

Only buying known source identified wine must be the start of finding a decent bottle and being able to repeat the enjoyment. Thankfully most such nonsenses have been stopped now by the wine controls but I would always stick to known source wine which must be the only way to guarantee consistency. I wish you well in your quest wine is a huge subject and drinking it is the best way to learn!

[Supernova190188]

Bought some Australian Shiraz from Belgium a couple of weeks back , it works out at £1.75 a bottle , but is for sale on Ocado for £7.49, it's certainly very tasty for £1.75 anyway!

[BoRED S2upid]

About £80. - £100 a case.

[Jezzerh]

I find one I like and buy that. Normally the ones that are 'half price'. I know it's a con but at least I know it's worth a fiver it that's what I'm paying and it's supposed to be a tenner a throw.

Current fave is Campo Vieja Rioja Tempranillo. I always wait for it to go on offer at Tesco and buy a few bottles.

I did join one of those wine clubs but tbh I rarely drink and just ended up with wine all over the house.

[Steffan]

Campo Vieja Rioja Tempranillo is another good Rioja and once again confirms the quality of even medium priced Rioja wines. I really think that the modern wine business with the emphasis on using better grapes and improved viniculture has resulted in significantly more drinkable wines at reasonably good prices generally.

It is more than twenty years since I have had a corked bottle of wine. In my youth such events were noticeably more commonplace. The care and attention to producing decent drinkable wines has resulted in a lot more wine sales across the globe. These wines now are generally very reliable. I do find there are better wines available at higher rices but generally the quality and reliability has become excellent IMO providing you stick to chateaux bottled wine and know which brand suits you. It is fun finding out about wine and I still enjoy blind tasting and such like because it makes me realise how much better these modern wines have become. Indeed I am now drinking a sold Beaune and fine wine it is. Learning more and appreciating more about wine can be a real labour of love!

[crossy67]

For every day glugging I spend 3-5€, sometimes I buy a 12€/5ltr box or Merlot. That's just for me drinking a glass a night. When we're with friends we drink the cheaper stuff, couldn't bare sharing a 15-20€ bottle of wine with someone who has brought a 2.50€ bottle from Lidl (I drink Lidl wines and they're quite acceptable sometimes). Main reason for this is after drinking a good wine the ordinary wine tastes really bad. We have friends who appreciate decent wine so don't mind opening a 12-22€ bottle.

We're really lucky living in wine country. St Emilion and Pomerol are about 45 minutes away. We went on a shopping trip a month ago and bought some really nice wine from a dealer but the one that really stood out was the 22€ bottle we bought from an old woman's kitchen in the tiny village of Pomerol.

I used to drink Cabinet Shiraz sort of wines. When we moved here I didn't really like the French wines but a few months on, after drinking and getting used to it we returned home. I bought as bottle of my favorite red and almost (almost) poured it away, it was so thick and aggressive in flavour.

[Cheese Mechanic]

Best move I have ever made in the matter of wine, is join the Wine Society. Not had a poor wine yet, and I've had a few.

I generally spend £7 to £15 a bottle, quite simply because thats where the best bang for buck is, although on rare occasions I'll go up to £20 a bottle.