If you love a decent glass of wine in the evenings but are not so keen on the high prices that you have to pay for a good bottle, this article is for you. To work out how you can best save money on your purchases of wine, a look at what makes the best stuff so expensive in the first place is sure to help. It is also a good idea to ask yourself whether you consider more expensive wines to be worth it, in terms of drinking pleasure. If the answer is yes then you can use the following guide to find ways to buy what you like at cheaper prices and if the answer is no, you can probably find some perfectly drinkable bottles at a fraction of the price of the vintages that you formally enjoyed.
It all adds up
Whether you believe that the cost of a premier cru is worth it in terms of taste, it is fairly easy to understand why the best wines are so expensive. Some key factors that ramp up costs are listed below.
- Manual labour – the best quality vines need to be tended by hand and the grapes harvested by people rather than machines. It is this labour-intensive nature of growing decent grapes that makes the end product more expensive than less grand varieties.
- Yields – in order to produce grapes that taste as good as possible, it is necessary to remove some of the green fruit at an early stage. The fact that vineyard owners who do this will produce less fruit per hectare than their less selective neighbours adds to the cost of the wine that they produce.
- Labels, bottles and corks – the best winemakers do not like to skimp when it comes to packaging and this shows in the cost of their produce. Rather than slapping a generic label on their bottles they may decide to hire a celebrated artist to paint a picture that they can use and instead of using the cheapest corks available they will invest in the best on the market to protect their vintage.
Distribution and retail costs
In addition to the above fixed costs that each producer is faced with, and about which you can do nothing if you wish to drink their produce, there are the costs associated with getting the wine to market that have to be met by the consumer as well. However, if you order fine wine online you can save money on the price of each bottle as the company with which you deal does not have to foot the bill for high street retail space, customer service staff and the other costs associated with running a physical retail outlet. It is worth taking a look at what is on offer to see if your favourite tipple could be purchased for much less online than you are currently paying.
Special occasions
You can lower your bills dramatically by being more selective about the occasions on which you drink famous vintages and go for much cheaper options at other times. For example, whilst it is understandable that you may wish to treat yourself to one of Bordeaux’s finest vintages that you discover on a tour of the area, at Christmas or on your birthday, a humble bottle of vin ordinaire is often perfectly acceptable at a summer barbecue with friends or when you are relaxing with a good book in the evening after work. By only treating yourself occasionally and by buying from online retailers, you can enjoy your wines for a fraction of what you might be paying at the moment.
About the Author:
Sipp London is a business providing a vast array of different spirits and wines. On their website, there can be found a great selection of European fine wine and champagnes.