From time to time, I have to remind myself that not everyone buys wine the same way as I do. I tend to leap with enthusiasm on any grape variety or wine region I haven’t come across before, but for most of my friends, it’s a triumph to find a wine they want to drink day in, day out, and at a price they can afford. They don’t want it to be too grand, too expensive or too challenging. They buy a case of it, and then they buy another one. I’d call it comfort drinking, if I didn’t think that might be misconstrued.
You might think it would also be a money saver but that’s not a given. Most supermarkets charge the same pro rata for a case as they do for an individual bottle, having presumably already twisted their suppliers’ arms to cut prices to the bone. That said, special offers can be a good opportunity to fill your boots. If, for instance, you’re a fan of white rioja, the Cune Barrel-Fermented Rioja 2013 (13% abv) currently on promotion at Waitrose at £7.86 is a steal – it’s usually £10.49.
There’s also no virtue in buying in bulk at the Wine Society (apart, of course, from the convenience of having a favourite bottle to hand), but then the society doesn’t artificially pump up the price to make a case saving look more appealing. In fact, it’s generally the cheapest around – for example, the Wine Society charges only £6.25 (or £75 a case) for its Domaine Condamine Syrah/Mourvèdre 2013 (12.5% abv), a warm, spicy Languedoc red that would make great weeknight drinking. Oddbins, by contrast, has it for £7.75.
You can make a big by-the-case saving at other merchants, though it pays to make sure the initial price isn’t more than you’d shell out elsewhere (wine-searcher.com is a useful tool for cross-checking). At Lea & Sandeman, Domaine Romain Roche’s deliciously intense Côtes du Rhône 2013 is £10.75 a bottle if you buy a case, compared with £11.95 by the bottle – and, at 15% abv, you could argue you need only one glass.
If, on the other hand, you’re buying en primeur, you have to order by the case, though full payment is deferred until delivery. I recently bought the very pretty David Moreau Maranges 2013 (13% abv), a lesser-known appellation in the Côte de Beaune, from Berry Bros & Rudd for £114. When it’s delivered around September, I’ll need to pay a further £52-odd on tax and duty, depending what the chancellor does in the meantime (I’m hopeful. It is election year, after all). That will bring up the cost to around £13.85 a bottle, which is a bargain for good red burgundy these days.
