There’s Absolutely No Reason To Spend More Than $3 on a Bottle of Wine

[Richard Hakluyt]

I made the mistake, one Christmas, of buying wine a category or two more expensive than my usual tipple............some were fine others rather poor, but on average they were no better than if I'd stuck with the wines I knew at a much lower price. At the £8-£12 level I know what I like, move into the £15-£25 area and I have no idea.

[Malthus]

I am pretty sure everyone can taste the difference between a good bottle of wine and a bad bottle.  Its just that not everyone thinks the bad bottle is bad enough not to drink.  The article says that not everyone can identify the expensive bottle and this is probably true given that the cost of the bottle is not always a good indicator of its quality.

Yes, I agree with this.  Trader Joe's sells a bottle of wine they call "Two Buck Chuck" (except I think it costs $2.50 now) and it's very drinkable.  But certainly I can tell it's not as good as say a $20 bottle.  That said, I had an $800 bottle of wine once and it didn't taste any better than say a $30-40 bottle to me.  I don't drink wine all that often, though, so to someone like say JR I bet there'd be a difference.

I bet "Two Buck Chuck" goes a treat with gas station food. 

[Josephus]

I'm no wine snob by any stretch, but even I can tell there is a difference between qualities of wines. I once for Christmas got a nice reserve Chianti, $200-ish, and it was marvellous.
That said, I don't know about $3 wine, but you could do well with a nice $15-$25 wine. Anything else is excessive.

[HVC]

I am pretty sure everyone can taste the difference between a good bottle of wine and a bad bottle.  Its just that not everyone thinks the bad bottle is bad enough not to drink.  The article says that not everyone can identify the expensive bottle and this is probably true given that the cost of the bottle is not always a good indicator of its quality.

Yes, I agree with this.  Trader Joe's sells a bottle of wine they call "Two Buck Chuck" (except I think it costs $2.50 now) and it's very drinkable.  But certainly I can tell it's not as good as say a $20 bottle.  That said, I had an $800 bottle of wine once and it didn't taste any better than say a $30-40 bottle to me.  I don't drink wine all that often, though, so to someone like say JR I bet there'd be a difference.

I bet "Two Buck Chuck" goes a treat with gas station food. 

That's also the nick name of the tranny hooker behind the gas station

[Sheilbh]

I don't think I've ever had really expensive wine so I've no idea.  My wine buying's basically the same as Brazen.  I don't think you can get £3 bottles or boxes of wine in the UK.

[jimmy olsen]

The average American family spends less than $4,000 pa on groceries?

You can't buy wine that cheap in teh UK. You can just about get a £3 bottle of wine. Generally I agree though. There are plenty of £5 bottles of wine which are as good as £10 bottles, particularly if you like big bold flavours rather than complexity.

That is true. However, the thread title by Timmy just shows that he is a retard.

I didn't come up with that title, that's what the Link was titled on the Slate homepage.

[grumbler]

The average American family spends less than $4,000 pa on groceries?

Possibly.  One of the real differences I can remember facing when I moved to, and then from, England was the vastly more expensive groceries there.  Not even the decline in quality could match the sticker shock.

You can't buy wine that cheap in teh UK. You can just about get a £3 bottle of wine. Generally I agree though. There are plenty of £5 bottles of wine which are as good as £10 bottles, particularly if you like big bold flavours rather than complexity.

You probably can't get any wine that cheap in the US unless it is crap, or you buy it in case lots from a discounter.  There used to be a chain in Virginia called Total Beverage (not related to the existing "Total Wine" chain) that sold cases of decent wine for around $40... not much more than $3 a bottle.  This was the same wine you paid $10 a bottle for in the grocery store, or $15 for in the state-run ABC store.

[The Minsky Moment]

I predict that JR will ragequit when he sees this thread.

Not really.   
There are a couple of stupid things in the article but that is to be expected in a piece of this sort where part of the aim is try to be provocative.

To the extent the main point is that average Joes who just want to have a bottle every now and then don't need to spend $15 or more, I totally agree.  There are plenty of sub $10 that are quite good and while 2 buck chuck would not be a personal recommendation, it is a correct wine suitable for swilling.

[DGuller]

Not even the decline in quality could match the sticker shock.

[Gups]

I know the US is cheaper than the UK - a good rule of thumb is just to assume parity between sterling and the dollar, but I can't imagine the average weekly supermarket shop is $77 for a family (assuming that means a couple and at lease one kid).

[The Minsky Moment]

Yes, I agree with this.  Trader Joe's sells a bottle of wine they call "Two Buck Chuck" (except I think it costs $2.50 now) and it's very drinkable.  But certainly I can tell it's not as good as say a $20 bottle.  That said, I had an $800 bottle of wine once and it didn't taste any better than say a $30-40 bottle to me.  I don't drink wine all that often, though, so to someone like say JR I bet there'd be a difference.

The last time this issue came up, I agreed that price is not a particularly good indicator of wine quality.  Price reflects supply and demand, not intrinsic quality.  Quality has very little connection to supply, other than through the fact that gunning for very high yields tends to harm quality.  Quality has some effect on demand, but there are other big contributors such as the cachet of the name or provenance, advertising/maketing, etc.  For example, if Lafite has an off year, it will still sell for hundreds of dollars if for no other reason so that Chinese businessman can give each other gifts of an authentic Lafite.  Certain names in Burgundy will command attention (e.g. from the restaurant trade) even if the individual producer is second rate.

Also - a major flaw in these studies make claims about wine preferences in relation to price is that they ignore the time element.  Many expensive wines are designed to be cellared for years or even decades.  If you drink them on or shortly after release, they may taste bitter, harsh or unpleasant to a normal person.  A professional critic or taster who tastes barrel samples on a regular basis may be able to discern the underlying potential of the wine - this (in theory) is an acquired skill akin to that of a whiskey blender.  But a normal person, even one with experience in wine drinking, is likely to just experience it as unpleasant.  That may explain at least part of the divergence in "expert" and "layman" perception of certain expensive wines.

[viper37]

3$ might buy you a beer, but no way I can find a wine bottle for such a price.
Cheapest I saw was 7-8$, and that isn't for drinking, only for cooking, and barely.

Yes, wine price is subjective.  Especially in a state controlled monopoly on wine sales, you never get the real price and they use scams to pick more money out of our pocket witht their kickback system.

But anyway, I find, that generally speaking, wines seeling between 16$-35$ are great.  Divide by 2 for US prices.  South American wines are good and cheap.  Australian wines are fucking pricey here, Californians in the middle of the pack.  I avoid most european wines, unless I eat fish.

[alfred russel]

I know the US is cheaper than the UK - a good rule of thumb is just to assume parity between sterling and the dollar, but I can't imagine the average weekly supermarket shop is $77 for a family (assuming that means a couple and at lease one kid).

It is true. The average American family eats most meals at McDonalds, which keeps down the grocery bill. 

[alfred russel]

I know the US is cheaper than the UK - a good rule of thumb is just to assume parity between sterling and the dollar, but I can't imagine the average weekly supermarket shop is $77 for a family (assuming that means a couple and at lease one kid).

I think that is really low too. I would think $10k would be more reasonable.

[Capetan Mihali]

Three dollar wine does not exist in metro Boston.  Maybe the few Trader Joe's with special authority to sell beer and wine carry that corny two buck Chuck shit, but I've never seen it.  $4.95 for a 750ml bottle of Crane Lake is the default bottom in my local liquor stores.  Or some "buy 3 Yellowtail 1.5l bottles for 20 bucks" offer.