THE DRINKING MAZE
“A £5 bottle of wine contains about 30p of wine. The rest is Duty, VAT, packaging, profit etc. A £10 bottle of wine has nine times more wine (£2.70) for a bottle costing twice as much. ”
Whenever I am talking to friends about the complexity of buying wine it always comes down to what I would recommend to drink? If I'm in a restaurant, I'm expected to second guess what everybody fancies drinking. If I find it difficult to decide based on flavour, style and price, it's no surprise that the ‘unwashed ‘ really struggle to make decisions.
I thought it would be useful to come up with a strategy to help inform your wine selection process. Despite the fact that there is such a wide choice of where you can buy wine, lockdown has made it a lot easier to shop online. Unlike almost any other retail ‘product ‘, wine still proves extremely difficult to purchase without somebody to help you. Over the next few months, I will be aiming to come up with regular recommendations on what's best to drink out there. These recommendations will be based on the ‘best ‘options available from the independents and the multiples. I must confess that if you are seeking out wines to enjoy, you need to understand that even with Duty on a bottle of wine having been frozen in the most recent budget, you are still paying an inordinate amount of money in extras rather than on the liquid in the bottle. A £5 bottle of wine contains about 30p of wine. The rest is Duty, VAT, packaging, profit etc. A £10 bottle of wine has nine times more wine (£2.70) for a bottle costing twice as much.
So, the majority of my recommendations will be focused on the £10 plus area. it could be that I happen upon a brilliant bottle being promoted for less, but that is a real bonus. The minefield that is the world of wine is smothered in loads of red herrings such as natural wine, organic wine, bio dynamic wine and the like. While I think it's important to try and save the planet where possible, my main objective is to ferret out the truly yummy wines that I know will appeal to the majority of people out there.
I often feel that the members of the wine fraternity are prone to wax lyrical about the subject of wine for themselves rather than for their customers. now is the time for the world of wine to really come together to look after the interests of their paymasters. Like it or not, there's too much choice and not enough knowledge to inform the customer’s choice. So without more ado, here are some thoughts that might help you buy better wine.
Rule 1 Give yourself a budget and don't be tempted to go above or below. You're better off working to a plan. That way you can ask the retailer what's available in a certain price range and be confident you will come away with something that shouldn't disappoint.
Rule 2 Choose a colour, a style and, if possible, a flavour profile. As an example, you might decide you fancy buying some white wine to drink on its own before dinner. So do you like bone dry whites, fruity whites , oaky whites, and so on? So let's decide you like bone-dry whites. Then you need to decide whether you like other flavours with your bone-dry white such as vanilla which you get from Oak, fruit flavours which are most prevalent in the aromatic styles such as, Riesling and the like. The best place for this style is New Zealand. So, ask your retailer for their recommendations under 10 pounds. This system works well pretty much anywhere. However, you still have a challenge of trusting somebody else’s is palate.
Rule 3 When you get home and you open the bottle of white Sauvignon Blanc, it helps to record your feelings in a book or online using one of the apps made specifically to help.
Rule 4 Don't worry about wine and food matching. You'll never get it right. There's always somebody who will have a different taste to you. Always best to look after Number 1.
I very much look forward to doing the job for you over the coming months!
