How to find value in your glass

Wine critics love to use the term best buy or best value to make sure you pay attention to our reviews, but what does best value really mean when you open that bottle of wine? If price is seldom a measure of quality, can it possibly be a measure of value?

Value is all about exceeding expectations. A wine should over-deliver in the glass and there is no better accolade one could give a wine than that.

Value also means getting the most for your money, so don’t be fooled into thinking inexpensive wine can offer value.

Wine value falls into three broad categories:

  • The high end – wines that cost R300 and well beyond that.
  • The low end – that massive category of wine (90-95 per cent) under R50
  • The mid-range – wines that cost between R50 and R150.

Test your value spotting skills by comparing the best wines of a young or emerging region with those of an old venerable district and do it blindly. If you can’t tell the difference between an expensive wine from an iconic wine estate and an affordable wine from an unknown producer, save yourself R50 or R100 and buy the cheaper bottle of wine.

Keep in mind however that today’s best values might not be so affordable in the coming years. The rising level of interest in wine and ease of accessing information via the Internet means there are more and more buyers for less and less wine. That creates another kind of value — scarcity — and that kind of value works best when the wine is already in your cellar.

Here are a couple of wines from the Ultra Liquors Winter Catalogue that offer exceptional value for money:

[listwine id=48887]

[listwine id=67928]

[listwine id=63846]

Value Card Members, earn triple points on all wines from the Winter Catalogue. Prices only valid until 6 October.

Article adapted from ottawacitizen.com