Bargain Wine Shopping

Dan Berger gives strategies for improving the odds of choosing a nice casual wine. (G-Stock Studio/Shutterstock)

We’ve all faced this same dilemma: staring at a retail wine shop wall of wine bottles that carry labels without one that’s recognizable.

The prices mostly seem reasonable, but we don’t know enough to determine which wine is worth the $8.99 or $12.99 being asked for it. We’re not looking for a great wine, just something that’s a decent value. Yes, there are some values at higher price points, but only sophisticated buyers will know which ones they are.

I frequently scour wine shop shelves for bargains, to write about in my private wine newsletter, as well as in my other wine-writing responsibilities. And I employ a certain strategy that I rarely put into print. So, here are a few of those ideas:

Pay Attention to the Vintage

The vintage date really doesn’t make a lot of difference if the wine is from California or Washington state. Both regions can make good wine from just about any vintage. But this admonition really does pay dividends when it comes to certain wines, particularly pink wines from other countries.

With rosé wines, younger is usually better. Older pink wines can be tired. I recently saw a 2020 rosé from South Africa on a discount store shelf selling for $3.99. Since it is now 3 1/2 years old, it probably is faded. I passed on it.

Pay Attention to the Appellation

“California” on a label tells you nothing; the grapes could have come from anywhere—from Imperial County to Modoc County and anywhere in between. But if you find a wine that says it came from an area you are completely unfamiliar with, it may be a little risky to purchase.

By law, the country of origin must be on the label.

The district name makes a lot more sense when it comes to other countries, in particular places like France and Italy, where the wine usually reflects the area from which its grapes came. If the appellation is not narrowly identified, the bottling location may give you a clue as to what is in the wine.

If the phrase on the label says the wine was “Imported and Bottled by... ” followed by a city, that phrase implies that the wine was shipped here in bulk and bottled at the location listed. This doesn’t always reflect very much about the quality, but it tells you a little bit about how much the wine probably ought to sell for.

Finer wines rarely are treated this way.

The Smaller the Appellation, the Better the Wine Tends to Be

A few years ago, I purchased two rosé wines that were the same price. One label said it was from the Rhone Valley; the other said it was from, “Costiere de Nimes”—a smaller subregion of the Rhone Valley. The latter wine was much better.

Knowing a bit about appellations can be very important. Australian wines that say they come from the massive area called South Eastern Australia often are inexpensive. However, wines that say they come from South Australia, a smaller region that’s typically a little cooler and more oriented toward quality, tend to be slightly higher in price and usually are worth it.

Even better are wines from Australia’s Northern Victoria, which makes some terrific, cool-climate wines.

In the finer wine districts of France, the name of the district identifies the grape variety or the family of grapes that by law are required to be in that area. If you should see a wine that has the name of a grape variety on the label, such as chardonnay, the wine was never intended to be regional and thus usually is not particularly exceptional—or pricey.

All Champagnes Have Bubbles and Will Be Relatively Expensive

But not all sparkling wines are Champagne, and prices can vary radically. (This idea is mentioned here to alert restaurant diners to pay attention to the labels on all bottles of “champagne,” just in case a server “accidentally” uses that term generically.)

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