The price of wine
By Jamie Goode | 27th February 2025
Do you have a limit as to how much you will pay for a bottle of wine? I remember when I first started drinking wine, back in the mid-1990s. I’d go to the supermarket and look at the more affordable wines, because I was on a starter salary and although we were lucky that then you could buy a decent house in South London for £60 000, wine was one of the more expensive items in the grocery basket.
Back then, for comparison, Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay was £4.99. Montana Sauvignon Blanc was a pound more expensive. Maybe we might stretch to £8.99 for Chateau Musar, or Penfolds Bin 389 for £11.99. In South Africa, even a while later in 2000, very few wines breached the 100 Rand barrier: I know, because Greg Sherwood wrote an article on the topic on my website, wineanorak.com.
So wine wasn’t cheap, and although the cheapest wines are now cheaper in relative terms, for most people the goal is to find a really good wine at a price that they are comfortable with.
I’ve always been one for seeking out interesting wines at sensible prices, and because of this there are many wines that I once enjoyed and bought, that I can no longer justify. £100 for a bottle of wine? This will buy me a nice pair of Red Back boots, or two pairs of good jeans. It’s a consideration.
I remember the first time I bought what I thought was an expensive wine. It must have been in the late 1990s, and it was a bottle of the 1996 Armagh Shiraz from Jim Barry in Australia’s Clare Valley. I bought it for £36 from the Oddbins in Farringdon, and it felt like a naughty spend.
The problem with wine prices now is twofold. On the one hand, cheap wines haven’t increased in price if inflation is borne in mind, and what that means is that although it’s possible to buy wine relatively affordably, producers of inexpensive wine are being paid unsustainably low prices for their wines. Supermarkets and discounters know that if they are seen as having affordable wines, then more people will visit to do their weekly shop, and in some cases, wine is used as a loss leader to tempt customers through the door. At this end of the market we are increasingly seeing a shift away from branded products (where a producer makes a wine and has their name on the label) towards private label (‘own brand’ wines) and soft brands (brand names made up by the retailer). These latter two categories are typically made from inexpensive bulk-shipped wines and their source can alter depending on who is most desperate to sell. I’m not suggesting that supermarkets and discounters don’t care about quality, just that price is a significant driver in the wines they will buy: they’ll look for the best wine at a certain (low) price point. It’s a tough situation for wine producers who can often barely cover their farming and winemaking costs, and if we want wine to be produced in a truly sustainable fashion, we have to pay more for it.
The other problem with prices is at the top end where, in contrast to the bottom end, prices have risen sharply in recent years. Many of the wines that I used to love that were occasional treats have now become completely out of reach to me. Fine wines are now mostly the realm of the rich, whereas they used to be in range of enthusiasts on normal salaries. I once bought a case of a favourite Côte-Rôtie of mine for around £25 a bottle. Now the same wine is £150 a pop if you can find it. Burgundy prices have become eye-watering. Some of the natural wines I used to buy have left my orbit of affordability, even if I can find them.
I guess this is because demand for interesting wine has risen, and supply is limited. The good news, though, is that there are always new producers emerging whose prices are a little more palatable. And this is where South Africa comes in.
When I buy a bottle of wine now, I’ve pretty much given up on trying to find something interesting for less than £10, although if you shop carefully you can find something sound, and this is where a good South African Chenin Blanc, Pinotage or red blend can often hit the mark. But there are some interesting things around in the £10-£15 price band, and here South Africa can deliver more consistently. Again, Chenin Blanc is a really good bet here. Raise the ceiling to £20 and there is a lot on offer, including wines from some of the Cape’s most exciting producers.
How much will I usually spend? My ceiling is pretty much £30, which sounds a lot, but still seems quite restrictive in some regions. Mostly though, it’s now the £15-25 range where a lot of fun can be had if you are a wine geek. Part of the fun is going on the hunt for wines that offer lots of excitement in this price range. Of course, it matters where you shop. Specialist wine merchants are the best place to shop, rather than supermarkets or chains. The exception for me is The Wine Society, which has keen pricing, and also buys really well. I like shopping online, but if you have a good independent wine merchant in range, then going out and picking a bottle off the shelves is really satisfying, and many of these shops will have staff who know their range well and can offer useful advice. One of the most satisfying ways to buy wine is from a shop where you build a relationship with the staff, and they get to know your interests and preferences.
It's different in restaurants, where I will raise my price ceiling to take into account the mark-up. If the restaurant or wine bar has a really good wine list, then I’m likely to spend more. The same goes for restaurants with lower mark-ups. In such a place I’m happy to spend £50-70 on a bottle. If the restaurant has a boring list and high mark-ups, then I’m less inclined to splash my cash, and might not even drink wine. My favourite places for drinking wine in London include Noble Rot, The Remedy, Dan’s, Newcomer and The Sourcing Table.
What the world needs more of is solid, affordable wine, and exciting wines within the reach of moderately off consumers. And I think South Africa is well placed to supply this need.