... but know what is a bargain.
Supermarkets, on-line wine suppliers, chain liquor stores and wine shops will always have specials. These could be lines they are hoping to quit, old wines that are past their use-by date, suppliers end-of-line deals, ''failed export offers' or legitimate specials that the competitive nature of the wine industry has necessitated.
It pays to select carefully. Most 'specials' highlight a former price (one that the current price is discounted down to). The various consumer protection laws specify that the former price has to be proved, for a mandatory period of time, to have been on offer. This is fine if the product is an established, long-term brand that the consumer is familiar with. The problem arises when it is a new and unfamiliar product. Now there are many new and legitimate products coming onto the wine market all the time, but, at the same time there are many new labels being created to meet the 'special' demand. These products have never properly been on the market but to meet the legal requirements have been listed or offered for sale at a fairly high price. If you are not familiar with the brand or new label it pays to do a bit of research. I've been in the wine industry for many years but I am still surprised at some of the offerings and have to do some checking before buying a 'special'.
Even the established brands in legitimate channels like supermarkets can be set up to mislead you. When a supermarket says something like ..."now 10.99, was 18.99 - save 8.00'.. it pays to have a bit of inside knowledge. Sometimes that '18.99' is a very optimistic calculation of a price that has never really seen the light of day (even though on paper it can be proved). If you know (by experience or by advice) what the 'normal' price of a particular wine is then you can work out what is a bargain or what isn't.
Which leads me to ... bargains.
5 comments:
Was this meant to be a concert review? Was there a double bass in the concert?
No, this is not a concert review, it is an observation on wine specials. If we were to use a double bass as a metaphor to describe a wine it would likely be a big, blowsy, clumsy and over-wooded boring wine - not worth keeping although laying it down is thoroughly recommended.
Hey, The Wine Guy, you're a bit of a comedian.
"Even better if you see Selaks Winemakers Favourite Chardonnay at $15 - down fro about $21 - buy as much as you can get your hands on."
What if I only had $15 amd it was a choice between one bottle of SWFC or a home brew kit of Coopers Stout which makes 30 bottles?
No contest. SWFC. The other will give you dysentery.
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