Any QPR (quality price ratio). VFM (value for money) fans out there? It is very dull for the purists (who may have lots)… the grubby fact of money , but it’s always integral to my expectations on what joy a wine can bring vs expectations.
I’ve found myself affording wines at different levels at different times at my life and have found it a good way of grouping buying recommendations
Perhaps a couple of topics that single out wines of a particular price bracket may be useful?
Cheap price but bad value…having said that Anne, my wife, bought a bottle of Aldi’s £6.99 Assyrtiko (oh gosh, I hope I spelt it correctly) it was very good.
We had two wines in this price range last night,Vergelegen Cabernet Merlot, and Aldi South African Cabernet Sauvignon. Both good but I preferred the aromatics on the Vergelegen.
The Aldi South African Merlot is not bad either. I have friends that like a more concentrated, headier wine, and it is a good compromise having some green and herbal notes in there too.
I am 100% a Price/Quality fetishist!
It was advice by a friend when I arrived in France over 30 yrs ago and knew nothing about wine:
“The most important thing is that you find a wine that you like, and that you consider it as good as or better than wine at a similar price…”
He went on to say that his strategy was to try a bottle of wine, especially if it was on offer, and if he felt it met his price / quality expectation he would return and get a case to stash in his cellar.
I followed this and quickly built up a substantial and eclectic collection.
So if I am having a nice dinner with nice friends I will get a decent bottle, but for a midweek pizza say 6 Euros from Aldi can easily suffice.
One thing I will definitely mention is that for me TWS is never a disappointment when it comes to quality at a given price range, even now and living in France.
Best to use the 25% off 6 bottles offers as they appear in the supermarkets. I know the offers are not always as good as they seem but it useful especially for the higher price bottles where the discount will be greater but still works well for a £13 bottle being reduced to £9.95.
A bit out of topic scope but I bought Chateau Clark at £36 a bottle from Waitrose with £9 off which made it taste better!
Currently the 25% off 6 bottles is at Amazon but not sure if anyone has any experience of shopping for wine at Amazon? Moneysupermarkets say “pickings are slim”!
I have purchased from Amazon, in the past, when choices were much better. Managed to pick up Seresin’s top wine, the ‘Sun and Moon’ for £32, as opposed to the usual £60+ and they had an offer on the Graham’s tawny ports, a while back, when prices were considerably less than elsewhere. No problems with delivery.
Just had look at their pinot noir selections currently, though, and I can’t see anything of real value or interest. This has been the case for quite a while, so I imagine that they have changed their business model for wine, over the past year or two.
There is some good value in this range, although I note that some of the ones that I previously liked have now crept into the £10-15 range.
In the under £10 range, I tend to look for easy drinkers, without much complexity, although occasionally one can strike lucky. The greater bargains though do seem to be in the £10-15 range.
I was really impressed by this wine, which is currently out of stock but due in.
At £9.25, I thought that it had more going on than I would expect, at the price but more importantly, it was also really delicious. The vanilla was quite pronounced, which I liked but others may not, so be aware.
Another good one, again at only £9.25 and reminiscent of the Riojas of old.
My final choice would have been a Turkish wine but the new vintage has crept over the £10 limit. Still worth a look though. Perhaps slightly less going on than the above but a really enjoyable wine, nonetheless.
As UK duty rates go up there is even more of an argument for buying lower priced wines on the continent and bringing one’s full allowance back.
I am basing this on the proportion of the selling price which pays for wine rather duty, VAT, bottle, transport margins etc.
I particularly buy Portuguese wines in Luxembourg at the Cactus hypermarket. All the well known brands, including some sold by TWS, at about half or less UK prices.
Of course this does require a holiday going in the right direction and not everyone wants to spend time in the hypermarket on holiday!
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, but it’s always integral to my expectations on what joy a wine can bring vs expectations.
