25% off wine

[PhilB]

I realise that drinking large quantities of wine isn't the most mustachian of pastimes, but for those of you who do imbibe can I recommend the current 25% off wine deal at Sainsburys.  Unlike certain other retailers, they don't put all the prices up beforehand when they do their '25%off if you buy 6 or more bottles' deal - indeed they often have some decent wines already reduced before you get the extra 25% off.  The current deal lasts until 2 April so if you would be buying wine anyway and you have somewhere to store it, you can save a packet.  I can recommend just about everything in their 'taste the difference' range, and even their 'house' range is ridiculously quaffable for the price.  The offer includes sparkling wines and fortified wine (I always stock up on Marsala for cooking)

(I have no connection with Sainsbugs, nor with any of their suppliers - I just like drinking wine and hate paying full price if I can avoid it!)

[PropJoe]

Great tip Phil, I'll try to get over to Sainsburys this weekend.
I've never been there for wine before, any light reds you can recommend?

As an aside, I was recently told it's a good time to buy South African and a bad time to buy Australian. It may be stating the obvious but never occurred to me before - apparently the quality of wine you are getting for your money has a lot to do with exchange rate... so currently weak ZAR, strong AUD.

[poppydog]

On the subject of wine, I’ve been getting a special offer from Laithwaites in my Facebook feed, 12 bottles of NZ Sauvignon Blanc for £63.48 with free delivery.  These are truly outstanding wines and this is a no obligation introductory offer.

The offer keeps coming back though and I’ve managed to buy it three times so far.....  Happy days!

[rob/d]

 Tesco are doing 25% off six bottles at the moment .

 Six bottles of cava in the cupboard .

[shelivesthedream]

Just while we're on the subject:

I know absolutely nothing about wine and never drink it, but I know Mr SLTD has been very happy with the Wine Society. Apparently the selection at the cheap end is surprisingly good and he appreciates the flexibility of being able to make up one's own order of individual bottles (or half bottles, of which they apparently have many) or to get a preselected case at a discount on the individual bottle price. As I said, I have no idea myself but he has been enjoying it and I *can* tell you that we have not been spending an outrageous amount on wine.

I think they also do things other than wine...? Like bourbon and stuff? Again, not my area of expertise!

[PhilB]

Great tip Phil, I'll try to get over to Sainsburys this weekend.
I've never been there for wine before, any light reds you can recommend?

As an aside, I was recently told it's a good time to buy South African and a bad time to buy Australian. It may be stating the obvious but never occurred to me before - apparently the quality of wine you are getting for your money has a lot to do with exchange rate... so currently weak ZAR, strong AUD.

I'm definitely a fan of keeping an eye on the FX markets in choosing wine and have sadly been drinking a lot less Australian wine in the last few years as a result.  The South African economy has been in freefall under Zuma for years so I've been drinking a fair bit from there.  The other best deals tend to be Italy (despite the strong Euro).
Not the lightest of reds, but the taste the difference fairtrade pinotage is usually pretty good.  They usually have some decent Italians eg primitivo or montepulciano d'abruzzo (sp?).  For sparklers we stocked up on the taste the difference cremant de loire which is down to £9 before the 25% off.

[DblEntry]

Sainsbury’s has a good wine selection for the mainstream supermarkets, unlike Tesco which shocks me every time I go in there how awful it is. Then again I generally find Tesco the ultimate manipulator of the consumer so avoid shopping there in general.

I always find Lidl wines good value for money but you can’t beat the Wine Society. The quality of an £8 bottle from Wine Society will typically be £10 in the supermarkets.

[Rightflyer]

Thanks PhilB

Given that "wine/alcohol" is a budget line item for us, we will head off to Sainsbury's to peruse the shelves.

As someone noted above, Tescos had the same Buy 6/25% off deal the other day.
Our local Tesco's selection isn't too bad. 

Looking forward to the summer we are planning a driving trip to Belgium/France.
Seems to be decent duty-free deals for the return.

Has anyone done the cross-Channel duty-free run here?

 

[shelivesthedream]

I think all the supermarkets are panic jumping on the bandwagon. Ocado has it too!

[PhilB]

Looking forward to the summer we are planning a driving trip to Belgium/France.
Seems to be decent duty-free deals for the return.

Has anyone done the cross-Channel duty-free run here?

There is no duty free any more (at least until we leave the EU), but they can charge French or Belgian duty rather than UK.  I always cross from Portsmouth, Poole or Plymouth generally as I live in the west and I have generally found that the prices on the boat are worse than those in the French supermarkets.  I don't know if Dover-Calais is any better. 
As it happens, we're actually catching the ferry tonight for 2 weeks in France :o).  We'll be stocking up on things like Cointreau (for cocktails) as that is way cheaper over there, as well as lots of un-mustachian treats like tinned gesiers de canard.  In our defence, we'll be self catering and cooking in the gite every evening / taking picnics with us every lunch.  Those picnics will, however, include lots of good cheese, saucisson, rillettes, etc!
Time to go play the 'how many bikes and canoes can you strap to a Volvo' game!

[PropJoe]

Sounds like a great trip Phil, have fun!

I ventured over to Sainsburys yesterday and went for a selection of taste the difference reds. After discount, they came in at an average of less than £6 a bottle. I must say I'm very impressed so far, drank a Morador Malbec tonight and it was superb. Best red I've had in a while, much better than anything I've tried from Tesco.

[Rightflyer]

Well, we went to Sainsbury's AND Tesco.

30 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of port for 171 quid.


I am sorry to say however, that 2 bottles are empty already.
Oops.

[rob/d]

 Hey Rightflyer.
 If you haven't already tried it  , order a " GUEUZE " in Belgium for me .
 Truly unusual drink, i always bring a couple of crates back when i can.

[Rightflyer]

Hey Rightflyer.
 If you haven't already tried it  , order a " GUEUZE " in Belgium for me .
 Truly unusual drink, i always bring a couple of crates back when i can.

I had to look that up.
"Brussels Champagne" they call it.

We'll have to give that a go.
Thanks

[PhilB]

If anyone's interested, Sainsbug's are doing the same deal again until 11 Dec so could be a good opportunity to stock up for Xmas.  Watch out though as fortified wines aren't included any more.  Best of all for me, it all lasts much longer since I FIREd as without all that work stress I don't feel the need to drink quite as much!