Netscape Forum Poll: Average price I pay for 1 bottle

[Robin Garr]

Are you a spendthrift or a cheapskate when it comes to buying wine ... or do you fall someplace in-between? Here's your invitation to tell us - and the wine-loving world - the average price point that you consider appropriate for the wines you buy. To vote in this week's CompuServe/Netscape forum poll, and to see how others have voted, click here:

<b>Click here to vote</b>

(You don't have to register or log in to Netscape to vote.)

They are usually in the $10-$12 range.

Prices up here are naturally higher. Here is what I forked out last week....

`05 Baco Noir Henry of Pelham>$20 Cdn
`06 Artazuri Garnacha>$25
`02 Malbec Acrux>$47
`05 Garnacha de Fuego>$16
`04 Rabl GV Kaferberg>$30

My cellartracker consumption history says $22.67/bottle over the past couple of years yet my inventory is up closer to $35/bottle ($38 for reds, $23 for whites).

My general range is split fairly evenly betweeen the $10-15 & $15-20 ranges. Although I voted $10-15, my actual range is closer to $10-20.

Richard

About $30 on average, but I've got a big cellar with higher priced stuff purchased from a friend years ago.

I'm not sure that the concept of an average purchase price has much relevance to my buying habits, which to me look like a classic bimodal distribution: one curve that has a mean of $14-15 and consists of mostly ready-to-drink wines and wines from undervalued regions (Beaujolais and the Loire) and a second curve with a mean of $35-40 for "bitter pill" wines (wines that I love enough to buy even as their prices soar into the stratosphere). If one were to graph the overall mean vs. time for the past 5 years, you'd see it moving to lower value as the first curve grows and the second curve shrinks, reflecting a shift from "bitter pill" wines to NFW! wines

Mark Lipton

I think I shouldn`t vote, think I am to well placed here beneath the vineyards ....don`t wanna make you cry, but I pay about 5 -7 € for a good Riesling selection (Auslese) , Late Harvest starts below 5€; depending on growing area and winemaker, if you know where to buy here (and speak the slang lol) you get fair n good prices from the red nosed winemakers

...what was the last dried grape selection (Trockenbeerenauslese).... 8€....icewine starts at 14,50 €...

I pay about 5 -7&#8364; for a good Riesling selection (Auslese) , Late Harvest starts below 5&#8364; depending on growing area and winemaker..

Examples of winemakers include?

I think I shouldn`t vote, think I am to well placed here beneath the vineyards

Welcome to WLDG, Richard, I hope you enjoy the conversation here. Based on your location, I'd be interested in asking you if you could recommend any quality producers in Württemberg--whether in the Württembergisch Unterland or around Stuttgart or Karlsruhe. I've been interested in trying some of the Lembergers or Dornfelders (or anything else, for that matter, but particularly the local reds with which I am not familiar) of the region, but frankly I don't have much to go on. Any ideas or local favorites for you?

add 25% for Buerklin-Wolf

Winzergenossenschaft Wachtenburg + Speckert-Ruprecht is pretty good 2,

can`t think anyone has ever heard of the smaller growers like Forster Lucas or Kirrweiler`s Schwaab (if he is still alive) outside palatinate as they don`t produce enough for (supermarket) wholesalers or for export in larger quantities, they make their wine and just sell it from their yard, it sells through mouth-to-mouth advertising (Ay, dude, drive in this and that village and buy this and that wine)

Diversity is just to big here, 1 year there are hailstorms in 1 growing area - say about 5km² and the harvest is ruined, climate varies from village to village due to the mountains on the west (weather) side, even starlings are a big problem and can ruin an area within half a day so 1 year a winegrower has just like nothing and next year he is able to make wine that makes you (and me) wanna lick out the bottle

Welcome, Richard, but you are right. Don't vote. But do share with us you observations and notes on german wines that are almost free!!!!

As for me, I can't track the cost of wine consumed like Bill B does, only wine in the cellar as of last inventory, and that is a fraction over $20. But I have few bottles at "average" price, mostly 8-15 and 30+++.

[David M. Bueker]

I'm not sure an average price is meaningful for me. I buy lots of QbA and Kabinett wines that cost anywhere from $8 to $20 depending on producer, and then I buy a huge range of wines, both red and white, that run from $15-$150. Then there's my wife's Krug and Salon which gets into the "raise the credit limit" territory.

It's all over the map.

If I had to guess I would say $35.99

I voted $15-20, but like Mark L I have a pair of overlapping curves. Cellartracker reports my average near $30, but the reality is I don't generally enter the "buy to drink bottles", so all of the $7 VdPays, $10 Muscadets, almost every rosé, most Chiantis, Zins, SBs, Bourgogne AC, etc is not included.

I gotcha, DMB ..... $36.01, here!

Seriously, my average bottle purchase value currently sits closer to fifty .... and with a cellar growing and maturing for some years now, the intrinsic values are probably somewhat higher .... but that is of no great importance .... "buy and drink what you like and can afford" is my motto .... and although, from time to time, I cull for purely monetary reasons, the whole idea of buying/cellaring wine is to be able to access the delights of a wine's transition from infantile to fully mature and its' ultimate demise. The problem is I like Burgundy (both colours), Bordeaux, German Riesling, Champagne etc. Some wines are made for instant gratification (e.g. NZ Sauvignon Blanc, Rutherglan Muscats and Tokays) but in the main, it is essential that the classical varieties from the better producer's need considerable time in bottle to maximise their enjoyment. The rewards of patience are sometimes variable, but in the main, the effort is well worth it.

Sorry to go off-subject ...... just my 2 penneth.

[Jenise]

Yeah, I'm having trouble with this too. For one thing, I think the $5 window is way too narrow: moving up five bucks just doesn't achieve a categorical shift in quality or taste. I know many who spend $8-14 for whites but $15-25 for reds.

And last night for instance: we had a '78 Leoville Barton with our schnitzels. Is that a $25 wine? Heck no, but that's what I paid for it three years ago.

Or look at what I bought at auction yesterday. $36 for 78 Pontet Canet, $40 1970 Warres port, $7 for 03 Petit Bocq (because of Bucko's recco, thanks!), $6 for Cusino Macul Reserve Cab, $39 for Clos Pegase Hommage Reserve Cab. Each of those wines retails for at least twice what I paid for them.

What I pay for wine in no way accurately reflects the level of wine I drink regularly. But that said, we average around $30 for reds, maybe $15 for whites.

Judging by what I just put out in the recycle bin, we spend, on average,

The spreadsheet tells me I have reds in my cellar for which I paid from $5 to $91.99, with a mean of $22.61, and whites ranging from $8 to $29.99 with a mean of $17.06.

The "consumed" reds average $17.26 and whites average $14.57. This figure is lower partly because I've felt richer in recent years and partly because prices have risen in general.

My "feelings" say that I'm comfortable spending $10 to $20, with an occasional splurge in the $40 to $50 range. I have no idea what motivated me to spend $90!

I'd have to say between $50-125 on average for vintage port. Since the 1994 vintage was released and received stellar reviews, the average bottle of vintage port has become quite expensive. Major houses (Taylor, Fonseca) easily command $80 per bottle for recent vintages. However, it is not uncommon to find a 1977 for around $125. Needless to say, I want more port then I own.
Cheers!

[David M. Bueker]

I gotcha, DMB ..... $36.01, here!

Fine. Well I'm off to buy a bottle of 2005 DRC La Tache. That should bring my average well over $36.