Why the perfect bottle of wine will cost you a tenner
EVEN for the most knowledgable of wine lovers, choosing the right bottle can be an ordeal.
Shop shelves groan with a bewildering array of offerings from vineyards as far apart as the Pacific coast of Chile and the gentle hills of Kent.
The solution however may be to focus on price – and spend around £10.
This, according to Mark Price, a former Waitrose boss, is the ‘sweet spot’ where quality and price best meet.
‘A lot of the things you get in a bottle of wine are fixed prices,’ he said. ‘The tax you pay in the UK is the same on every bottle, no matter how expensive.
‘The cost of the glass is roughly the same and the transport is probably the same. So if you buy a bottle of wine for £5 the value of the wine inside that bottle is just under 50p. It’s actually 47p.
‘If you buy a bottle of wine for £10 the quality of the wine inside the bottle is just under £3. So for twice as much you effectively get wine that is six times the quality. If you go up to £20 a bottle the quality of the wine is about seven or eight pounds. So it is better, but you’re effectively doubled up.
‘So if you buy a bottle for about £10 you’ve absolutely hit the sweet spot of quality against cost.’
The former grocer, who became Baron Price last year with a peerage and post as trade minister, said that at the £30 mark, wine came down to personal preference.
‘You are paying for the chateau and you’re paying for the taste,’ he added.
He made the remarks while promoting his book, The Food Lover’s Handbook, at the Oxford Literary Festival.
Food critic Jay Rayner claimed last year that diners should order the cheapest wine on the list and drink better stuff at home because restaurants charged too much. A survey by drinks specialist Harpers found more than half of Britons would pay no more than £6 for a bottle of wine. Only 7 per cent would spend over £10 at a supermarket.
Baron Price also spoke about the effect of the opening of a Waitrose store in raising house prices. ‘I know you want me to say it’s something to do with class and social stereotypes and clearly there is an element of that in terms of fashion and where you shop and which is your closest supermarket,’ he said.
‘Most people shop at the supermarket closest to them. People will drive an extra minute and a half for Waitrose.
‘It’s a different product and a different service. What you tend to find with Waitrose is people with stronger ethical values will shop there. Waitrose does particularly well with older people.’