CHEAP red wine

[Lord Bracknell]

While I get your point that a much higher percentage of that cost will go to the producer, it doesn't follow that it will always be better value. Sure, they have a lot more money to spend on making the wine good, but there are many other factors to take into account. Are they making more profit per bottle, are their extra expenses worthwhile (ie, do they contribute to a better taste) - and are the retailers here all making the same profit on each bottle? For example, petrol would fall into the same category as wine - a lot of it is tax, with little room for profit per litre, so are you getting inferior petrol from a supermarket forecourt? No, but they can supply their petrol at break-even, just to get you to the shop. They can do the same with wine too. Sure, a lot of the half price wine they have would never have been worth the full price, but that's not to say the sale price isn't a good deal.

The biggest point though, is taste. When it comes to value, if you like the taste of a £5 bottle as much as a £10 bottle, the amount that goes to the producer becomes irrelevant, the £5 bottle is better value. Sure you expect the more expensive bottles to taste nicer, but you have to try them. Some of the cheaper bottles are very nice.

It's also worth thinking about wine prices from the point of view of the producer. A vineyard produces a variable quantity of wine each year, but the producer wants to shift the lot. To sell in the premium market, the producer is in competition with other suppliers and selling can be a struggle, since reputation counts for a lot. If a producer can't sell all his wine in that market, he'll often off-load a significant quantity of identical quality wine into the lower-price market. The only difference is the label. Get hold of that stuff - and you have a bargain.

I like to think (and my palate tends to confirm this) that some of the red wines that get bought up by Laithwaites reach the UK market in that way. Besides which, I went to school with Tony Laithwaite and trust the guy. He's done very well for himself, fiddling around in some of the more obscure parts of the wine producing world.

 

[Gullys Cats]

I love red wine!