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I totted up my units per week just before Xmas after I missed a fortnightly recycling day and saw a months worth spilling out of the black bin. It worked out at 60 units a week just drinking in the house!
Thank god the pubs were closed!
I'm down to under half that now due to filling my fridge with alcohol free beer. It's a bit more manageable for my kidneys and now a nice red is a treat rather than a binge opportunity.
**nothing to see here, I didn't change a thing...
Sadly I can taste/smell things a bit more than most, so wine-buying got expensive ;-)
Naked wines was good for me for a while, but after a few year missed the spot more often than hitting it. The whole thing more about activism (great) supporting new wine makers, but not so much focus on reliability, and my favourite Naked wine grower dropped in quality sadly. The tastings are brilliant though, I haven't written them off
So: where/what to buy? Sadly I've found that it's best to follow the posh shoppers: Waitrose and Booths. Just as with good bitter, it's best to follow the most devoted fans, and in the case of wine, AFAIK fussy wine drinkers don't go to cheap shops. Therefore the Chateau neuf du pape in Aldi and Lidl has been a disappointment for me every time I try some, I assume they get the duff batch and no one complains? Whereas buy it in Waitrose or Booths when there is a multi-buy 25% or 33% off sale for 6 bottles or more, and you get the year's decent stuff. I'm no snob, I buy most of my food in Aldi, their aged steaks are better than all the top supermarkets, and their chicken is as good as the best. For me in Aldi, and Lidl, stick to the recommended stuff: medal winners, etc. Install Vivino on your phone and get reviews whilst in the store.
I reckon that the best deals there are things like unknown Argentinian Malbecs that have been overlooked, rather than duff batches of famous French appellations
For me, the best trick is to spot the bargains, and buy in for the long term.
Latest purchase is campo viejo rioja gran reserva, £15 at most places, under £10 this month in Costco. Last time it was this cheap was 3 years ago, lovely stuff
Usually nowadays, I buy via the Sunday Times wine club, it's rebadged Laithwaites
I accept that relatively posh & wealthy Sunday Times readers are on average fussier about wine than your average Lidl shopper, so there is less risk of being send rubbish, and as always with mail order wine, you get a refund on anything you are not happy with
I used to laugh years ago about the fact that the ISWC international world champion rum was ~£22 at Oddbins, but the champion wine was many times that price, even though it only contained 4 or 5 glasses, compared with the 20-30 in the bottle of rum. It's all about supply and demand, and the depth of pockets of those wanting something
we are supporting local business and generally smaller producers and we find that there are less bottles that we don't like overall.
I read something years ago that said if you were paying less than £5 a bottle for wine most of the cost was actually in the glass rather than the wine.
several potential reasons :
Wines/grapes are at the mercy of the weather every year,
like many food products, some producers keep the same label and put their cheaper stuff in it once they have a large number of people buying it.
much of the stuff we drink at this price point are blends, and the balance of those blends are changed by the producer to suit “current tastes”
I don’t mind, it encourages me to try out lots of diffferent wines
https://www.majestic.co.uk/red-wine?orderby=10
Recently on rotation in the JCA2550 wine rack sub a tenner are:
LB7, Lisbon, Portugal
Guv'nor, Spain
Finca Carelio Tempranillo, Spain
Devil's Creek Merlot, New Zealand
Nero Oro Apassimento, from Sicily
Leon Perdigal Cotes du Rhone, France
Definition Zinfandel, Lodi, California
Alain Grignon Carignan, Southern France (D'Oc)
Yellowtail Shiraz, Oz
Also had some fantastic bargains from Lidl and Asda
http://www.theboxwoodchessmen.com/
https://www.facebook.com/tingiants/?view_public_for=231700547508938
As a birthday treat for Her Indoors - bit of a wine-buff but biased against New World wines - I've bought a Stags Leap Vine cabernet and it'd be fun to re-enact the famous Spurrier blind-tasting competition.
Back at the affordable end, we always buy 6 or 12 of the Triade red that Waitrose does whenever it goes on offer. Currently at £8.99.
”Sounds lovely, where’d you buy it from?”
“Lidl.”
the only downside is, I tend to buy a box of 12, and that can be a bit of a problem.
If I'm not careful i can scud the lot in a fortnight....but usually less....haha
Some great wines to be had from there if give them a try.