Does the Price of Wine Matter?
What I look for – and what I avoid – when bargain for hunting good bottles.
Welcome to Quaintrelle, a weekly newsletter written by me, journalist-turned-sommelier and party host, Erin Henderson.
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Here, I share my my insights from decades of working in hospitality to bring back stylish, laid-back and stress free hosting.
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In This Issue…
5 good, under $25 wines to serve a crowd (yup, I’m naming names – and prices)
My thoughts on wine and price and what does it all matter, anyway? (not to go all existential on you)
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” – Benjamin Franklin
I wish there was an audio version of this post.
Oh, wait – there is an option to do that, I’ve even voiced a few of these posts in the past, but that goes beyond my energy atm.
But if you could hear what I hear, you would be listening to the wind howling past my little condo in the sky, in a long, slow, endless whine, occasionally sputtered by a blast that makes the door rattle.
I’m cozy in my home office, espresso by my side, awaiting the latest round of freezing rain. Toronto, where I live, will be miffed, but mostly ok, however those living a little further north are still dealing with power outages from last weekend’s crippling ice storm, so I’m sure it’s a nail-biting time.
Despite today’s grey and wind and ice and snow… tomorrow promises sun and 15 degrees, so brighter days will be here again. Such is the weather whiplash of spring in southern Ontario.
My sister and I began planning our Easter dinner a few weeks ago. People seem to get annoyed when I announce my advanced plans, like when I talked about Christmas in August, so I kept this one on the DL.
We’re not an observant family; we celebrate the Easter bunny and Santa Clause and the tooth fairy, so our holiday dinners, which fall on Christian holidays, are societal and secular, meaning there isn’t any officially sanctioned (or forbidden) foods on our holiday tables.
This year we’re thinking beef, and I’ve been working on a dark chocolate budino recipe, which I’ll share in future issues.
But today, I’m talking about solid spring wines for serving a crowd (and which bottles offer the best deals.)
Does the Price of Wine Really Matter?
My students all tell me the same story, with variations on place and occasion and people present, of course, that goes something like: they were on vacation in Rome (or Madrid, or Dijon, or wherever), found their way to a back alley enoteca, and had the best wine of their lives, poured from an unending carafe, and it only cost one euro!!!! Why, they lament to me, oh, whyyyy can’t that wine be available for sale here?
Well, here’s the thing.
The reason why that one euro carafe of wine was so delicious, is because you were on vacation, maybe staring into the eyes of a lover, with zero cares in the world. You were utterly charmed by the exotic foreignness of it all. The server could have given you turpentine and you would have thought it was entirely marvellous.
However, I can guarantee that should that one euro wine make it back home with you, and you pop the cork on a blustery night when the power is about to go out, and the kids are screaming for dinner, and the cat just puked on the rug, and your lover is somewhere in the garage irritatingly oblivious to the chaos, that one euro wine is going to be as about as appealing as the lougie the cat just launched under the dining room table.
So, yes, attitude and timing and mood all affect our considerations as to whether a wine is good or bad.
But, romantic trips to Rome aside, bottom line: can a $10 wine be just as good as a $50 bottle?
Truthfully…?
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