Four tips for smarter wine shopping !

A few insider tip to help you choose better sips ;)

1) Tread carefully with ""to good to be true"" wine discounts:

We all love a good deal, especially with a super shiny discount (makes you feel extra satisifed with your purchase). Supermarkets are well atuned with this psychology which is why you see lots of tempting 50% off deals on the wine shelf.

The truth is many of these aren't as attractive as they appear, it's common practice to inflate the price and then drop it by half (it's called yo-yo pricing). That's not to say that there aren't legitimately good deals to be had to the tune of 15 - 25% off especially at Christmas time.

Just be weary of the ultra deep discount, especially the ones that seem to go on off every other month. ;)

2) Seek out 'lesser known' wines and be adventurous:

When a wine doesn't have a blockbuster reputation it needs to rely on being priced more competitively so people are more willing to take a chance and give it a go. This is also true on a restaurant wine list, the wines that customers are more likely to recognize ie. Bordeaux, Prosecco will be priced to reflect their 'popularity', while the ones that are less recognisable will need to be a little more modest in their markup (hence more bang for your buck). The problem with being advenurous is it's hard to know what you will like, we're always here for recommendations so don't be shy!

Here are few suggestions:                                                                                                               

• For rich winter warmers: Try a red from Alentejo or Lisboa (in Portugal) OR lesser known regions in Spain like Monstant or Jumilla.                                                                                                                              
• If you like Chablis: Try a Muscadet Sur Lie from Loire Valley (France) or a Weissburgunder from Germany.                                                                                                     
• If you love your Champagne: Go for a Cremant from France or a Cava Reserva.                                                                                                                       

3) Shop around the 'sweet spot':

"How much should I spend to get a good bottle?"" it a common question. Well, it's a tough answer because a 'good' bottle means something very different to everyone. But rule of thumb is splurging a few more pounds is going to pay off massively in quality!                                                                

Here us out! The UK taxes wine very HIGH, every bottle is subject to £2.67 plus 20% VAT so automatically if you spent £6.00 on a bottle of wine, half of that is tax (yikes) when you deduct the production costs there is very little left for what you're actually drinking (were talking under £1 for the what's inside the bottle).

As you go up in price you get greater value for money in terms of the portion that is being spent on the actual wine. This doesn't mean you have to break the bank, but if you do decide go up a couple pounds (especially when under the £10 mark) - you're getting a heck of a more quality inside the bottle! 

4) Read the fine print:

It's romantic to think that all wine is made in a small cellar and bottled by the vigneron, a labour of love! And this is very true for many wines (the ones we love!).

But there is also the 'not to so romantic' side of wine, we call the 'bulk wine' industry, it's not to be bashed because it serves a purpose and makes it possible to buy a bottle of wine for £6 or £7 (yay!) But, it's a whole different 'wine world' and that's part that's not so obvious. 

It's a big industry, where large volumes of wine are listed and purchased by big retailers (usually a minimum of 25,000L), which is put into a 'bladder' (big tank) and shipped the UK or a close by neighbour to be bottled under a retailers "own brand".

Note: It's hard to spot but if you look at the back label you might see bottled in the UK, which a good clue.