Drink Great Wine on a Budget

I agree with Jason. Nice info graphic but retail wine marketing is designed to confuse and befuddle the consumer. I have a different method of drinking good but maybe not great wine on a budget. Here is my philosophy of wine purchasing:

There are 2 wine rating guides that are well-established and reliable; Wine Spectator (WS) and Robert Parker (i.e. RP, the wine advocate). In my somewhat cynical opinion, the remainder and vast majority of wine rating guides are most likely in cahoots with wineries, distributors, or wine marketeers, which leaves their ratings suspect.

So, I look for wines rated 85 points or higher by either WS or RP and at a cost less than $9 per bottle. However, be careful when you are in your favorite wine store because wine retailers will put ratings from other wine rating guides that are not corroborated by WS or RP. Also, wine retailers will put little cards that show ratings on the shelf next to the displayed bottle even from WS or RP that do not match the vintage year on the shelf. As most casual buyers don’t know, the quality of a wine is more than likely tied to the vintage year.

So, what we have on the retail end of wine marketing is wine stores that confuse customers into buying lower-rated wines at higher-rated prices.

I’ve complained to some retailers about this practice of the cards with inaccurate information taped to the shelves next to the wine but it still goes on. Some retailers try to point the finger at distributors who come in and manage the shelves for them. This is a bunch of bunk. A wine retailer has control over what goes into her/his store. Why does this practice still go on? Why? Because it’s profitable. If you don’t believe me, go to a local wine retailer and look at the little cards advertising ratings taped on the shelves. Most of them are not accurate.

It is a shameful practice by wine retailers that confuse customers.

By the way. I am in no way connected to any wine making, rating, or marketing businesses. I am an IT technician and software developer by trade.

Tom

Nice to see Columbia Crest keep showing up on lists of excellent budgets wines. Washington State is often overlooked as a wine making region, but there are some truly good wines here.

My advice for drinking great wine on a budget is to learn a bit about wine. Getting an introductory book like Wine for Dummies (yes, it’s actually quite good) will help you figure out enough about wine so that you can make calls for yourself at the wine store. I never go by ratings from Wine Spectator or Robert Parker because they are skewed to the palates of the reviewers there, which are very mainstream and tend to reward big, bold wines that please American palates and big names everyone knows rather than promoting more complex, subtle, delicate wines and different winemakers and varietals. That said, leaving cards to promote wines with the last vintage on it is hardly the height of fraud. With modern winemaking techniques and the constancy of much New World weather, vintages don’t mean as much as they used to, especially when it comes to New World wine (not to mention often a WS or RP review does not beat a vintage change to market and the cards therefore cannot be updated). Vintages are much more important to places like Burgundy where weather is more unpredictable and a touchy grape like pinot noir is dominant. (And I am someone who works in wine.)

What I like to do is go with lesser known varietals and winemakers, where the wine is often as good if not better than the big guns, and a much better value. But at the under $10 price point, a trial and error system won’t break the bank either. Buy a few different bottles and see what you like before splurging on a case or two. It also helps to find a wine shop you trust. Good shops won’t just buy wine to pawn off on unsuspecting customers–the wine they purchase is the wine they like. This might be the most important thing when it comes to buying wine with which you’re unfamiliar, actually.

Vintages are untold many historic to places equal Burgundy where defy is solon capricious and a sensitive grapevine similar pinot noir is predominate. Doesnt matter what the mass say, what it costs, what rank it has. If you bask intemperateness it with your primary moments and friends & origin then it is a smashing inebriant!

No South American suggestions?

I love Dark Castle wine!

WTF? This is an article written in 2010 recommending 1993 cabernet and 1997 merlot? A 2004 blend?

These wines were last available in 1997, 2001, and 2007 respectively. Unless you find them in a dusty gas station in rural Georgia, they cannot be found. And the ones at the gas station have been baked, so you don’t want them anyway.

I know it’s fun to talk about wine, but the key is to talk about wine that people can actually buy.