How much do you spend on Wine?

SailorSam

I don't drink a lot but i've started making my own wine, so probably about 50p a bottle.

EKI

It is interesting reading people’s views. It seems the majority find a decent bottle of wine in restaurants for under £40.

I do believe what people choose to spend their money on is personal; he obviously feels that the bottles he orders are worth it!
I am looking forward to giving him a red wine taste test though, it would be good to find him a cheap bottle of plonk that he loves, I will definitely get him to try some of the wine from Aldi that was mentioned

flutterby_lil

Eww I hate wine......so nothing, zilch, zero! Ever.

Lunar_Eclipse

I'm not a wine drinker, but do buy it.

In a supermarket, I pay upwards of around £12/bottle on a wine on genuine offer. Chateauneuf du Pape would be the red wine I buy currently. White wine is always from New Zealand, at around the same price. For more special occasions, like Xmas, we'd buy more expensive wines at around £25/bottle.

At a restaurant in the Summer, we saw one of the wines we buy at £39/bottle. It's about £11, but happened to be on 1/2 price offer in Mr T's last week! So in a reasonable restaurant, I think £35-45/bottle isn't expensive (which is partly why we rarely buy wine in restaurants; the mark up is horrific!) My parents will usually choose something around the £70 price mark.

cadburymisshape

Wow, shocked at the amount your BF spends on wine alone when you eat out!!!! Even in our 'good times' we didn't spend that much and we do like our wine!

These days we tend to get some cheap and cheerful red wine from Aldi. Depending which one (Hungarian or Australian) it's either £3 - 3.50 I think...and there's an Italian one we quite like that's only £2.99 Thing is, now we get through 2 bottles a weekend instead of the one we used to drink (£5ish from supermarkets), but hey, it's our treat, we don't drink down the pub much where a couple of pints is nearly the price of 2 bottles from Aldi!

[Deleted User]

de_g. wrote: »

Given that the cost of tax and transportation are broadly similar between bottles, it's fair logic. But most people wouldn't choose to set themselves a minimum nutritional standard and then buy the cheapest food available that achieves that regardless of what it tastes like. They vary what they have, they try new things, they spend a bit more when they fancy a treat. So why the snobbery against those who approach wine in the same way?

But it's not a nutritional thing, it's a marginal "oh this is nice" thing. As you've rightly said, there's only a marginal difference, especially at the bottom price range of the market (because of the initial charges of tax, transport ect.)


From: http://blog.bauduc.com/2012/11/29/where-the-money-goes-on-a-bottle-of-wine-in-the-uk/

So if you've bought a £10 bottle of wine, rather than a £5 bottle - you've only really bought £2.38 of extra wine 'quality'

I think I reserve the same feeling for people who spend a considerable amount on wine for the people who buy £100 Ralph Lauren t-shirts. They're doing so to let other people know they can afford to do so - i.e. vulgarity

If I compare it to a nice steak. I can certainly tell the difference between a £5 steak and a £10 steak, then a £30 steak. If someone sold me a £1000 steak, i really can't imagine it's comparative 'niceness' to be 33 times better. Same goes with wine.

hazyjo

Might be an idea to do a taste test on him.

One bottle he's bought for big bucks, a Chateauneuf du Pape or something equally as 'good' for an under £20 bracket, and say two cheapies from Aldi.

Make sure you mark things up very clearly before doing the test or he'll probably accuse you of fixing it

We'd love to hear the outcome!

Jx
PS remember they'll all need drinking fairly soon so you might want to involve other friends!

de_g.

ringo_24601 wrote: »

But it's not a nutritional thing, it's a marginal "oh this is nice" thing. As you've rightly said, there's only a marginal difference, especially at the bottom price range of the market (because of the initial charges of tax, transport ect.)


From: http://blog.bauduc.com/2012/11/29/where-the-money-goes-on-a-bottle-of-wine-in-the-uk/

So if you've bought a £10 bottle of wine, rather than a £5 bottle - you've only really bought £2.38 of extra wine 'quality'

I think I reserve the same feeling for people who spend a considerable amount on wine for the people who buy £100 Ralph Lauren t-shirts. They're doing so to let other people know they can afford to do so - i.e. vulgarity

If I compare it to a nice steak. I can certainly tell the difference between a £5 steak and a £10 steak, then a £30 steak. If someone sold me a £1000 steak, i really can't imagine it's comparative 'niceness' to be 33 times better. Same goes with wine.

But food isn't *just* a nutrition thing - as Jack Monroe has ably demonstrated, it is possible to get all the nourishment you need from very little. So above that, you're into the discretionary side of it - spending extra for non-essential things like better flavour and convenience.

As for 2.38 extra, the absolute value hides the proportional difference - by doubling what you spend, you're getting a wine which is itself actually four times more expensive, which is likely (though I recognise not universally) to mean better raw materials, potentially more labour-intensive production methods, longer aging, etc.

As for vulgarity, I know quire a few people who spend a lot in wine, and none of them do it to show off - they do it for the experience of trying new and interesting things. The wine snobs I do come across are those who refuse to countenance the idea that wine can be anything more than a fruity means of conveying alcohol into the bloodstream, and ridicule or look down on anyone who would do otherwise.

Edit: I think the clothes analogy is poor one. Buy a Ralph Lauren shirt, and you're paying four times as much for something of no discernible change in quality. Buy a more expensive wine, and you're usually getting something different in which you can identify where the additional value was added, even if you don't think it was ultimately worth it.

[Deleted User]

fair enough. Some people feel they need a £60 drink to enjoy a night whilst others will be fine with a £15 drink.

I'd be interested to know just what justifies the cost of a £400 bottle of champagne compared to a £30 bottle of supermarket fizz from the same region.

Frankly, If my wife decided to buy me a £400 quid bottle of plonk for my birthday, i'd tell her I'd much prefer a new camera. I'm quite happy with a bog standard Californian Zinfandel most the time. If I wanted a nice white wine I'd be looking at a Chablis Premier Cru, and I think that's about the most I'd pay for a wine.

Unsophisticated palate I guess.

andygb

bitemebankers wrote: »

Taragona in Lidl. £4.99 a bottle and outstanding value for money. It's equivalent to spending seven or eight quid in Sainsbury's. Sadly, my partner doesn't like red wine that much

The Taragona is seriously good value at that price. They also had the Wolf Blass Presidents Selection Shiraz reduced to £9.99 I think, but my OH got a bit moody about it, so I just had to look and dream.

My normal spend is around a fiver, but that is why I love popping over to France every so often, you can get decent wines for under 5 Euros.

I reckon that Spain is best value red country, and Chile for white. I would rather drink good Cava than Champagne, or Cremant de Bourgogne.