Market research studies have shown that in our current economy, many people are reluctant to spend more than $15 on a bottle of wine. Almost two thirds of the wine purchased domestically retails in value between $12 and $18 – which says a lot about our drinking preferences being directly related to our wallets. There’s no shame in looking for the best inexpensive wine you can find. As a matter of fact, I have a lot more respect for people who actively look for great, unpretentious value wines as opposed to those who buy expensive wines just to keep up with the Joneses! In my book, it’s a lot more exciting to find the best $12 bottle of wine I can than to assume that the more expensive a wine is, the better it must be. The thing is, price doesn’t always indicate quality when it comes to wine. Many times the exact opposite is true. With that being said, how do we, as the consumer, find the best wines on the market if we can’t use price as a guideline to indicate quality?

The first step is to educate yourself. This involves reading wine publications and reviews, comparison shopping, using the internet as a great resource, and talking with other wine lovers for great recommendations. I, for example, once asked all of my friends and relatives to tell me their favorite bottle of wine under $20. I was able to compile a great list of wines to try – many of which proved to be excellent bottles I still regularly purchase.

My next tip is to skip the grocery store and opt for smaller, boutique bottle shops when experimenting with new and particularly inexpensive wines. A grocery store clerk is not going to be able to recommend a great bottle of wine for you, at any price. At a wine specific store, you can let the person helping you know your perbottle budget and preferred varietal or region and be guaranteed to get a fantastic bottle of wine for the price. They’ve likely tasted every wine in the place and are well equipped to make a stellar recommendation.

And to truly appreciate a great bottle of wine at a low price, you’ll need to be open to wines from places far flung. Argentina is one of my favorite countries producing amazing inexpensive wines. A great big Argentinean Malbec can be had for around $15 a bottle. If you love crispy dry whites, try a South African Chenin Blanc, which at around $13 a bottle is quite a steal. Chile is producing superb Cabernet Sauvignon made by some of the world’s greatest winemakers at a fraction of the cost of their California counterparts. one of the best values, by far, is Spain’s answer to Champagne – sparkling Cava. A great bottle of Cava rivals some of the best Champagnes I’ve had – and retail for under $20 a bottle.

Like anything else, we should all be drinking the best wine we can afford – whether our price tag is $15 or $50. Keep in mind that wine is expensive to produce, and when you start dipping much below the $10 mark, you get what you pay for in terms of quality. While that $2 bottle of wine might sound like a fantastic deal, you’ll get a much better bottle spending a few dollars more and doing a little research first. And at the end of the day, we’ll all have a few more dollars to spend on the other great
things in life!

Provided by: La Quinta Chamber of Commerce