Wine Basics | Should you buy wine in the sales?

Wine Basics

Should you buy wine in the sales?

Just as with every other kind of store, specialist wine shops have sales at this time of year largely to clear stocks that have been slow to sell through and make way for new vintages they've ordered. But is wine the sort of product you should be buying in a sale? Well it depends . . .

On the plus side it provides a chance to buy wines you might not otherwise be able to afford or good everyday drinking at a price that often beats the supermarkets. On the other hand the shop may be seeking to offload wines that have seen better days.

There are three questions to ask yourself:

1. Is it a genuine bargain?
The price may be inflated to start with or the reduction fairly insignificant. Try and find out what other stores are charging for the same wine. I normally check wine-searcher.com for this but you can simply Google the name of the wine and see what comes up.

2. Is it too old a vintage?
A slightly trickier one which depends on the price and style of the wine, how good the vintage was, and the size of the bottle (half bottles age more quickly than standard bottles or magnums.) A 2016 vintage of an inexpensive Australian chardonnay for example would taste a bit tired whereas a Chablis of that vintage should still taste quite fresh. Remember southern hemisphere vintages are six months ahead of northern hemisphere ones so a 2018 wine is already almost five years old.

Personally I'd be reluctant to buy wines that are designed to be drunk young and fresh more than a couple of years on though full-bodied reds can be fine. Berry Bros & Rudd has a useful vintage chart if you want to check.

3. Will I like it?
That might sound like a silly question but there's no point in buying a whole case of a wine you haven't tasted whatever the discount. Even if you liked it a couple of years ago the vintage on offer may not be the same one. You might like X's Cote du Rhone Villages but not Y's. If you have the option of buying a bottle and trying it before you load up it's a wise move (though you obviously have to take the risk they may run out).

And 4 tips:

1. Avoid 'mystery' cases or mixed cases that don't specify vintages
A favourite of wine clubs and on-line specialists like Laithwaite's. Despite the big reductions these usually aren't as good value as they seem, basically giving the merchant the opportunity to offload old vintages. There may of course be some good bottles but if a third are under par that's not a bargain.

2. Use sales as an opportunity to explore the wine world
More obscure wines which the merchant likes but has been over-optimistic about selling can be a good investment in extending your wine knowledge. Look out from wines from countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia or less fashionable wines such as German riesling and demi-sec Vouvray.

Full bodied new world reds that can be a bit over oaky or jammy when young also benefit from a bit of bottle age so snap up mature Australian shiraz and Californian and Chilean cabernet sauvignon.

3. Buy wine out of season
If you like rosé, for example, and don't mind drinking it in February you can pick it up at a good price at this time of year. Same goes for crisp, summery whites.

4. Get in early
The best bargains get snapped up quickly so get yourself on the mailing list of your favourite wine suppliers so you always know exactly when their sale starts.

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