by Greville Havenhand
With all the grim news of the “Credit Crunch” and increased inflation I began to think about what to do about wine drinking at this time – but not only to drown my sorrows. There are a number of easy answers- stop drinking, reduce the amount you consume or buy cheaper wine. The first option is unappealing, the second a little less so.
If one takes the third option one has to be very careful. You get what you pay for as the saying goes. Take a bottle of wine at around £4. £2.16 goes on Duty and VAT, about £0.20 on shipping and transport costs, £0.90 retail mark-up, at least £0.10 for bottle, label, cork etc., leaving at best 34p for the wine. Go up to £5.00 and the tax element is now £2.24, the retail mark-up £1.50 but the wine is now around 86p for wine. For a further £2 per bottle, using the same formula for calculating value you are getting over £1.90’s worth of wine. By the time you get to £25 a bottle the wine element is almost half the asking price.
Now I am not knocking inexpensive wines, some are excellent and if these are what you enjoy so much the better, but beware supermarkets bearing gifts. Jean-Manuel Spriet, chief executive of Pernod-Ricard UK (not just the eponymous Pastis but the company behind Jacob’s Creek, Montana, Campo Viejo, Lindauer and Mumm) says that “Buy one, get one free!” or “£7.99 reduced to £3.99″ is a rip-off. He says that “wines designed to sell at £3.99 are introduced at £7.99 then discounted down to the original price which is crazy.” So do not delude yourself.
This gets us no nearer to saying how we should approach straitened times. At least one supermarket chain with a galaxy of Masters of Wine in its buying team does not go in for those practices, but will have special offers. Its own label wines are excellent value as are those of a leading chain store. Another chain which insists that you buy at least twelve bottles also has genuine reductions.
But which wines? The big brands offer fairly priced wines which are consistent, mass-produced and, usually, quaffable, but why not look for something a little different? Chile is now well known for good, reasonably priced wines (although in many areas it is trading up.) Try the organic Sauvignon Blanc from Vistasur or the biodynamic Adobe Carmenere.
From across the Andes in Argentina there is great value in the unusual Torrontes grape (aromatic white). Those from the Norton company are great value, as are the Malbecs from the same area. South West France gives us some really good wines -even though many of them are only classed as “Vin de Pays”. Try those from the Producteurs Plaimont. Many Vins de Pays from Southern France give excellent value. I have recently tasted good ones from The Comté du Tolosan. Sicily, Portugal and the lesser known Spanish regions offer great bargains. If your budget doesn’t run to Champagne why not try a Cremant de Bourgogne or the excellent Sparkling Saumur from Bouvet-Ladubay for around £8.
If you are eating out do not forget that restaurants mark up the wine by anything between two- and -a -half and five times. In a top restaurant the house wine is often very good – they do not want their reputation sullied by a poor wine. Otherwise tell the sommelier what you are eating and how much you want to pay and you will usually get sound advice.
In a more ordinary restaurant the house wine is often the absolute cheapest they could get marked up by as much as they can. There used to be a saying that you should go for the second wine on the list, but restaurateurs got wise to this and priced accordingly. Popular grape varietals such as Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Shiraz need care. Because they are almost a cliché, the less scrupulous establishment will try to get away with very ordinary wines at inflated prices. Again, do your homework and go for the sort of wines suggested above.
Photo: Thanks to photonooner on Flickr (CCL)
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