Buying wine on a budget can be an enervating experience. It’s fraught with that dreary and all-too-common modern British emotion, the fear of being had, while rarely providing the flipside: a cheeky endorphin hit from knowing for sure that you’ve got a good deal.
The problem starts with a certain lack of transparency that comes with the sheer proliferation of different wine brands and the fuzziness of their nomenclature. This is a market where two wines from the same place and with more or less indistinguishable packaging can easily have price tags at the opposite ends of a spectrum running from £3.99 to several thousand pounds.
Many retailers trade on this ambiguity. It’s certainly the fuel for the kind of voucher offers and discount codes you find falling out of magazines or clogging up your in-box: those introductory cases that promise three-figure “savings”. Because the wines are “exclusives”, there’s no means of comparing the price with a rival retailer. But their nominal pre-discount price can be inflated far beyond their real worth. I’ve yet to taste a voucher-offer wine that’s made me think I’ve come out up on the deal.
Chasing deals is generally a mug’s game if you want to get real vinous value for money, as opposed to the illusion of a saving, or simply finding the cheapest wine on display. The exceptions are the kind of blanket 5% or 10% savings you find on case sales at most independent and online retailers – even those that don’t advertise a discount are generally open to discussion if you ask – and the frequent 25% off everything “wine festivals” at supermarkets. Indeed, if you can afford the upfront cost, buying your wine in bulk makes a lot of sense. At Majestic, whose range has much improved over the past couple of years, the differential between the six-bottle and single-bottle price means you’d be silly to do anything else.
If you buy a lot of wine, paying the annual subscription to a wine price comparison website might also help you save in the long run. The market leader, wine-searcher.com, has an impressive database of retailers but only really comes into its own also if you go beyond the free service.
It would be a mistake to concentrate only on the immediate price. In the long run, some retailers that charge a few pence more on a bottle might actually provide better value, if measured strictly according to units of pleasure per pound. Tapping into the expertise you find at a good independent merchant is the best way to ensure you buy a wine you actually like a lot, and avoiding something you’d rather pour down the sink. A likelihood that will only increase the more they get to know you and your tastes.
The same is true at a restaurant with a good sommelier. If you give them a strict upper limit on price and tell them some things you’ve liked in the past, there’s a good chance they’ll find you a wine you’ll enjoy – a pleasure that will only be enhanced by avoiding the Russian roulette of braving the wine list all by yourself.
Six of the best value wines
BEST BUY
Aspri Petra Greek Assyrtiko Florina, Greece 2021 (£6.99, Aldi)
A lot of the range at both Aldi and Lidl falls into the “drinkably affordable”, rather than “brilliant value” category. This Greek white is definitely an example of the latter: dry and blisteringly fresh it positively shimmers with seafood-friendly lemony fruit.
Co-op Irresistible Leyda Valley Sauvignon Blanc Leyda Valley, Chile (£7.50, the Co-op)
The Co-op has some really good wines in the £7 to £10 area, with its Chilean range particularly strong on value, not least in this effortlessly lime and peapod-scented sauvignon from the Pacific Ocean-cooled vines of Leyda.
Tanners Douro Red Douro, Portugal 2019 (£9.50, tanners-wines.co.uk)
A good example of the kind of value you can find in independent wine merchants: yes, there are cheaper examples of unfortified red wines from the home of port. But, pound for pound, none offer more joyous, dark-fruited succulence than this.
Pepe Mendoza Mares de Luz Monastrell Giro Alicante, Spain 2019 (£9.75, thewinesociety.com)
Sourced by one of the UK’s best-value wine retailers, this south-eastern Spanish red is full of local character, charm and solar-powered vibrancy, with brightly aromatic, plumply juicy blackberry fruit, Mediterranean herb and pepper seasoning, and a satisfyingly chewy finish.
Château de Pennautier Marquis de Pennautier Chardonnay-Viognier IGP Pays d’Oc, France 2021 (£11.99, or £6.99 as part of a mixed case of six, majestic.co.uk)
I wonder how many people have snapped up this southern French dry white for the single-bottle price? There’s a lot more exciting stuff in Majestic’s range at that cost; but as part of a mixed case, seven quid is more than reasonable for a zesty-peachy all-rounder.
Edoardo Miroglio Soli Pinot Noir Thracian Valley, Bulgaria 2019 (from £12.95, swig.co.uk; robersonwine.com)
The combination of good producer (Edoardo Miroglio) and underrated wine region (Bulgaria) is one of the most fruitful ways of finding value in wine: this red is gloriously slinky and prettily perfumed in a way that is more than a match for many pinots several times the price.
