iandg
Legendary Member
- Location
- Dumfries and Galloway
Used to use Laithwaites and Virgin but decided stuff from local supermarkets was as good and as cheap. So just buy when I fancy a bottle rather than have a supply in the house.
Who is your wine merchant?
- Thread starter guitarpete247
- Start date
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Salad Dodger
Guru
- Location
- Kent Coast
Aldi for me.
Mad Doug Biker
Just a damaged guy.
- Location
- Craggy Island
Umm, the local corner shop 😆
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Shadow
member
- Location
- edge of the south downs
Somehow this thread passed me by.
Pay your local wine merchant (LWM) a visit. I like to think of them as a vinous equivalent to our LBS. These days they should be really friendly, want to help, without being snobby or pretentious or trying to push a top of the range claret if you want a (reasonably cheap) cheerful argentine malbec.
[To @guitarpete247 if you are still around, let me know and I will provide a few midlands LWMs for you].
Pay your local wine merchant (LWM) a visit. I like to think of them as a vinous equivalent to our LBS. These days they should be really friendly, want to help, without being snobby or pretentious or trying to push a top of the range claret if you want a (reasonably cheap) cheerful argentine malbec.
[To @guitarpete247 if you are still around, let me know and I will provide a few midlands LWMs for you].
T4tomo
Legendary Member
I'll second the Wine Society - just up the road from me!
They're never going to compete with Aldi on price, but they're pretty good value.
I got a mystery Bin Ends case a few days ago. 6 reds, 4 whites, a rose and a bottle of port.
About £112 at list price. Paid £85.
I do tend to use Aldi quite a lot tooand I also have a box of Languedoc Chateau Cardboard on the go.
Surprisingly drinkable at about 10 euro for three litres.
I did not buy this one...
View attachment 665224
Le Vin de Merde - love it, self deprecating humour. Apparently produced next door to Fat Bastard wines, which are also surprisingly good, picked up a few bottles kicking heels a Calais Eurotunnel lounge/shop.
Shadow
member
- Location
- edge of the south downs
Having now found this, would like to comment on a few points upthread.
''Never give misery an even break, nor bad wine a second sip...'' from the late Greg Trott of Wirra Wirra, a character and visionary down under. Fortunately, we have very little bad wine now in the UK, but we have a huge amount of mediocre wine, mostly in supermarkets. However, it was the supermarkets that led us to more choice and less bad wine, which was good as everybody upped their game. Nowadays, decent wine can be found in the supermarkets, it is just the hit rate is not as good as a local wine merchant (LWM). They are also notorious for their hi-lo policies - list at a higher price so a 'discount' can be shown. The discounted price is usually the 'true' price.
Avoid the bottom shelf - you are paying far too much tax compared with whats in the bottle.
Avoid stuff labelled British wine - it is certainly not british and barely qualifies as wine.
Value can be found in their higher priced Own Label ranges e.g. Taste the Difference at Sainsburys, Tesco Finest etc. Also, the Co-op tends to fly under the radar; it has good buyers and in the larger stores offer a good selection.
The Wine Society - is probably the UK's best overall merchant, providing excellent value to quality ratio, after you forget about their joining fee. Reason is being member owned, they do not have to make a profit. However, I do tire of their overbearing marketing. I also think their range is too big; e.g. right now they have 21 ozzie chardonnays and 25 kiwi savvy b's. And very occasionally they are more expensive e.g. an absolute bargain I have bought is Biferno Rosso, now 9 quid and only 8 quid (or less) at the Co-op.
Naked Wines - not a huge fan. Some of their stuff is good, much is overpriced. Unless you're an Angel.
Sunday Times Wine Club - is Laithwaites by another name. As is the British Airways club. The worlds largest mail order wine company and hugely successful. But their bombardment of mail, emails, phone calls is relentless. Some stuff is good and can be excellent value but it can then disappear from their lists. Overall, extremely irritating for me.
''Never give misery an even break, nor bad wine a second sip...'' from the late Greg Trott of Wirra Wirra, a character and visionary down under. Fortunately, we have very little bad wine now in the UK, but we have a huge amount of mediocre wine, mostly in supermarkets. However, it was the supermarkets that led us to more choice and less bad wine, which was good as everybody upped their game. Nowadays, decent wine can be found in the supermarkets, it is just the hit rate is not as good as a local wine merchant (LWM). They are also notorious for their hi-lo policies - list at a higher price so a 'discount' can be shown. The discounted price is usually the 'true' price.
Avoid the bottom shelf - you are paying far too much tax compared with whats in the bottle.
Avoid stuff labelled British wine - it is certainly not british and barely qualifies as wine.
Value can be found in their higher priced Own Label ranges e.g. Taste the Difference at Sainsburys, Tesco Finest etc. Also, the Co-op tends to fly under the radar; it has good buyers and in the larger stores offer a good selection.
The Wine Society - is probably the UK's best overall merchant, providing excellent value to quality ratio, after you forget about their joining fee. Reason is being member owned, they do not have to make a profit. However, I do tire of their overbearing marketing. I also think their range is too big; e.g. right now they have 21 ozzie chardonnays and 25 kiwi savvy b's. And very occasionally they are more expensive e.g. an absolute bargain I have bought is Biferno Rosso, now 9 quid and only 8 quid (or less) at the Co-op.
Naked Wines - not a huge fan. Some of their stuff is good, much is overpriced. Unless you're an Angel.
Sunday Times Wine Club - is Laithwaites by another name. As is the British Airways club. The worlds largest mail order wine company and hugely successful. But their bombardment of mail, emails, phone calls is relentless. Some stuff is good and can be excellent value but it can then disappear from their lists. Overall, extremely irritating for me.
- Location
- The TerrorVortex
For me, the Wine Society has one great advantage. They're a 10 minute cycle that way *points South*.
I've worked at far too many places where I could have nipped over there at lunchtime for a quick tasting, which would not do my work ethic any good at all.
I've worked at far too many places where I could have nipped over there at lunchtime for a quick tasting, which would not do my work ethic any good at all.
wiggydiggy
Guru
I am my own merchant! I brew my own wines, got the hobby from my Dad.
I prefer wines made from fruits other than grapes, it's fairly easy to do. The downside is it's quite time consuming, not just the wait for the brew but the preparation and cleaning.
That said a few bags of frozen fruits can be turned into an enjoyable plonk fairly easily. It's making it from fresh fruit that takes longer.
I prefer wines made from fruits other than grapes, it's fairly easy to do. The downside is it's quite time consuming, not just the wait for the brew but the preparation and cleaning.
That said a few bags of frozen fruits can be turned into an enjoyable plonk fairly easily. It's making it from fresh fruit that takes longer.
Shadow
member
- Location
- edge of the south downs
Le Vin de Merde....
I first came across this 8 years ago in Provence, see second from left below. (Bump in background is Mt Ventoux and 3 bottles on right are all local). Like @T4tomo said, I found it extremely amusing and had to try a bottle.
A number of years now, a few winemakers from the south of france got together, fed up with journos saying their wines tasted like shoot, pooled resources, made a few blends, intending to only do one vintage and came up with the catchy name. Consumers liked them and so they are still produced today.
Oh and what's the wine like? It is a little better than ok, but because french taxes are so low, a bargain at only a few euros. Cheap plonk - fine for holiday lunches.
Taxes: the UK has one of the highest tax rates in europe. Today a bottle retailing at GBP 7, GBP 3.40 goes to the Chancellor. GBP 2.23 plus 1.17 VAT. (Apologies, I lost my pound symbol this a.m. and have not re-located it !). And on 1 august it is going up by the largest amount since 1975. This will equate to approx 54p a bottle. However, if you like wine with abv greater than 14%, it will be higher. So, big alcoholic wines and all fortified wines, e.g. sherry and port, will be going up even more as the government wants to attempt to 'harmonise' duty rates - meaning the higher the abv, the higher the duty.
I first came across this 8 years ago in Provence, see second from left below. (Bump in background is Mt Ventoux and 3 bottles on right are all local). Like @T4tomo said, I found it extremely amusing and had to try a bottle.
A number of years now, a few winemakers from the south of france got together, fed up with journos saying their wines tasted like shoot, pooled resources, made a few blends, intending to only do one vintage and came up with the catchy name. Consumers liked them and so they are still produced today.
Oh and what's the wine like? It is a little better than ok, but because french taxes are so low, a bargain at only a few euros. Cheap plonk - fine for holiday lunches.
Taxes: the UK has one of the highest tax rates in europe. Today a bottle retailing at GBP 7, GBP 3.40 goes to the Chancellor. GBP 2.23 plus 1.17 VAT. (Apologies, I lost my pound symbol this a.m. and have not re-located it !). And on 1 august it is going up by the largest amount since 1975. This will equate to approx 54p a bottle. However, if you like wine with abv greater than 14%, it will be higher. So, big alcoholic wines and all fortified wines, e.g. sherry and port, will be going up even more as the government wants to attempt to 'harmonise' duty rates - meaning the higher the abv, the higher the duty.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
Avery's in Bristol.
Whilst we don't buy posh wine exactly, we've been to a few of their wine tasting evenings, and to be fair you end up pleasantly half-cut by the end of the evening so they aren't bad value, and tend to buy a few bottles if it's nice for the money. Usually there's (excellent) cheeses or more recently charcuterie to go with the wines, which again makes it seem a fair enough price. They once did a screening of "the Third Man" as an excuse for a tasting of Hungarian and Austrian wines; Reed's masterpiece being set in post war Vienna of course. Anyhow a good supplier and I think we get a better drop of wine at the £8-£20 (at a pinch) price point than we would at the supermarket. We've generally had a taster of anything before we want pay more than a tenner for it.
Whilst we don't buy posh wine exactly, we've been to a few of their wine tasting evenings, and to be fair you end up pleasantly half-cut by the end of the evening so they aren't bad value, and tend to buy a few bottles if it's nice for the money. Usually there's (excellent) cheeses or more recently charcuterie to go with the wines, which again makes it seem a fair enough price. They once did a screening of "the Third Man" as an excuse for a tasting of Hungarian and Austrian wines; Reed's masterpiece being set in post war Vienna of course. Anyhow a good supplier and I think we get a better drop of wine at the £8-£20 (at a pinch) price point than we would at the supermarket. We've generally had a taster of anything before we want pay more than a tenner for it.
Shadow
member
- Location
- edge of the south downs
I am not familiar with Avery's wines, they certainly used to have a good reputation. However, they are another company owned by Laithwaites. So, I would imagine their mail order stuff is dealt with by Laithwaites, even though there may be a certain amount of autonomy In Bristol.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Aldi !
Moon bunny
Judging your grammar.
- Location
- Basking in my own brilliance.
Booths
Profpointy
Legendary Member
I don't know about ownership per se, but some of the original family are certainly still heavily involved.
