So you want to have a glass of wine with your midweek meal, but you don’t want to take out a second mortgage to do it.
Or you’re hosting a casual weekend dinner for friends, and you don’t necessarily want to spend a lot of money on drinks.
Here are nine tips that can help you save a few bucks to a fortune when buying wine.
1. Find the second label.
Some top wineries bottle less expensive wines under other labels. These wines are often quite outstanding but for one reason or another fail to make it into the winery’s final top blend. Typically, these wines cost half the price of the chateau’s best wines, without any noticeable loss in quality.
Perhaps the second most famous brand is Mouton Cadet, the brand of the great Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the first growths in the Bordeaux region of France. A bottle of Mouton Rothschild sells for more than $250, while Mouton Cadet sells for about $10.
To find a second label, ask your local wine merchant for some recommendations.
2. Buy by the case.
When you find a wine you really like, buy it by the case. Almost every winery and many retailers offer discounts of 5% to 15% when you purchase multiple bottles of wine. Some will give you the same discount even if you buy 12 different bottles of wine.
3. Buy at a discount store.
Large retailers such as Costco, Trader Joe’s, Sam’s Club and Grocery Outlet are able to use their buying power to purchase wine at lower prices and pass these savings on to customers. Discounts of 20% or more are not uncommon in such stores.
4. Buy Southern Hemisphere wines.
Many countries in the Southern Hemisphere produce excellent quality wines at great prices. Look for wines from Australia (Shiraz), New Zealand (Sauvignon Blanc), Argentina (Malbec) and Chile (Merlot). It’s not hard to find rich, delicious wines in these countries for $10 to $15.
5. Buy extra large bottles.
The large bottle has a capacity of 1.5 liters, which is twice the size of a regular bottle. Some large wineries bottle their wine in these extra-large bottles at a considerable price discount compared to buying two regular bottles.
A large Shiraz from the famous Australian winery Yellow Tail sells for about US$10, which is equivalent to US$5 per 750ml bottle. Columbia Crest is a large Washington state winery that bottles most of its two-vine wines in large bottles.
6. Consider boxed wine.
Boxed wine (also known as bag-in-box wine) has a cheesy reputation thanks to low-end brands from California like Franzia and Carlo Rossi.
However, many reputable wineries now package their wines in boxes, so you can save money since a bag and box is cheaper than a bottle and a cork. Additionally, boxed wine is almost always packaged in larger quantities, such as 3 to 5 liters.
Bandit is a California producer that packages its wine in Tetra Pak, similar to a kid’s juice box. For example, Bandit sells a 1-liter box of Pinot Grigio for less than $8. Other top box brands worth looking for are Bota Box (3 liters of Shiraz, $20), Black Box (3 liters of Merlot, $25) and Target’s Wine Cube (3 liters of Merlot, $15).
One advantage of bag-in-box wine is that the wine remains in a vacuum after you start pouring it, allowing it to stay on your kitchen counter for weeks without going bad.
7. Join a wine club.
If you like a winery, consider joining their wine club. Most wineries have wine clubs because they like to sell wine directly to consumers – this way they don’t have to share profits with distributors and retailers, making more money.
The benefits of a wine club are many. One is that you can usually buy any wine at a winery at a discount—sometimes as much as 20% off. When you visit a winery, it will often waive any tasting fees you may have to pay.
8. Work for the wine.
You have to live near a winery to get this tip, but if you’re willing to work (especially during harvest) you can get paid for the wine. Working in a winery during harvest is fun and you get to know the staff.
9. Check out ads for antique sales ending.
When wineries prepare their next vintage for sale, grocery stores often discount wines. You’ll often find these wines at the end of the aisle in the wine, meat or seafood department. Discounts range from 10% to 30%.
