You Gets What You Pays For - Usually.

OK, so the average price of a bottle of wine bought in a shop in the UK now is £4.35. Duty is £1.69 and VAT is 65p, making a total of £2.34 to come off. That leaves precisely £2.01 for a lot else - advertising, transport, wages, winemaking, profit margins for resellers, packaging, etc etc. It doesn't take genius to figure out that there's not going to be much left for the winemaker at the end of it all. So what's he/she likely to do - make as much of the stuff as possible as cheaply as possible. And that results in a pretty average bottle.

If you add on a couple of quid or so the end margin improves rapidly - for example duty is exactly the same for a £4 bottle or a £40 bottle. So the maker will take a lot more care of and interest in the wine being made - maybe reduced yield (so more goodness in fewer grapes), picking by hand (perhaps at night to reduce risk of harm from a hot sun), better blending and balance, and so on. Simple moral of the story is spend £7 - £10 per bottle and you will get a better wine - more complex, rewarding, and more truly reflecting its origins.

A couple of caveats - it might not be a good idea to get suckered into the supermarket's special offer "was £9.99 now only £4.99...". There may be all sorts of clever shenanigans going on here. I mean what should the original price actually be? Supermarkets are not in the business of losing money. And also prices over £20 a bottle and you starting to get into premium wines where many other elements come into play - such as status, supply and demand, the name, and so on. People often ask me "What's the best wine you've ever had?" Impossible question. Yes I've had some of the so-called finest wines in the world which were lovely, but I've also eaten in little places deep in French or Italian countryside, and drunk the local stuff for peanuts - outstanding and delicious.

Drinking good wine is great, and can be an adventure that adds romance, laughter, and real pleasure to any occasion. Drinking bad wine serves one function really, which generally ends up with a severe headache. There are plenty of other regular things in life that people happily spend similar money on - why not wine? Up to you of course, but I know which way I go.

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