I’m lucky enough to live in an area where grocery stores can sell alcohol. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot of consistency from state to state on this. If you happen to live in a state where you need to go to a special liquor store to buy wine, then I’m sorry for your loss. We buy our wine almost exclusively at the marvelous wonderland of Trader Joe’s grocery store. We don’t buy a whole lot else there apart from some niche items, but it’s well worth the trip. I have absolutely no affiliation with Trader Joe’s apart from the store earning my loyalty through unbeatable customer experience.
Simply put, Trader Joe’s is amazing. Their wine is by far my favorite of their offerings. Jon Thorsen operates a blog called “Reverse Wine Snob” that is dedicated, in part, to Trader Joe’s wines. That’s how good they are! Like Jon, I also like to get good wines at a great price point. For the record, I’m not cheap. I pay good money for quality items (it’s often a better value to pay more money for something that stands the test of time). For wine, this means I want it to taste good, not make me feel bad, and not be overly expensive. Check, check, and check.
My Favorites
I have a few everyday drinking wines (those are wines you can drink more frequently for non-special occasions, not wines you drink every day) in red and white. For reds, Pepperwood Grove ($5) makes a pretty good Pinot Noir and David Frost ($7) makes a darn good Cabernet Shiraz Pinotage. For whites, I love Green Fin ($4.50) White Table Wine and Mbali ($5) Chenin Blanc Viognier. Green Fin is a little sweeter than Mbali (which is Zulu for “flower,” in case you were wondering), but both are absolutely fantastic.
Let’s Do Math!
The last time I went shopping I bought eight cases of wine. For those people challenged in the art of simple arithmetic, that’s 96 bottles of wine. Many of them were the wines I mentioned above. I also spread out my purchase into some other favorites and some new ones to broaden ye olde horizons. All in, I spent $560, which makes my average per bottle $5.83.
Let’s take a moment to think that over. Imagine you are a moderate consumer of wine and you drink two bottles per week (this is below our household consumption, so no judgment here). At my $5.83 per bottle, you would spend $606 per year, or over the decade, $6,060.
Imagine, instead, if you followed conventional wisdom that said you should spend $15-$25 per bottle to get quality wine.* Take the midpoint amount for argument’s sake, and multiply that $20 per bottle out to get you $2,080 per year for your twice-per-week imbibing. Over the decade, that’s going to cost you $20,800. So we’re talking about a savings of $1,474 per year, or $14,740 for a decade of wine. If you invested that $1,474 each year and earned 7% interest on it, you’d accrue $20,365 just on your wine savings over the decade. Make it two decades: $60,427. Three decades of invested returns on your wine savings? $139,235.
This example really shows the impact of small behavioral changes over time. Since you’re drinking wine, you’re going to live a long time. Wouldn’t it be nice to save a fortune in that time and still have damn good wine to drink?
*According to Vivino, Food & Wine, or Business Insider
We have been big fans of Trader Joe’s for years, including their wines (although they also have good soups, cheeses, crackers and produce). I agree that TJ’s wine selections are top-notch, from French to Chilean to South African. Depending upon your palate, you can find excellent pinots and cabs at many price points to satisfy both your wallet and your taste. If you haven’t gone to TJs you should make a point of exploring their wine selections.
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