Hunt for the wine value sweet-spot

I do think (indeed I do blog) about things other than Bordeaux. I really do. I’m just choosing not to right now – OK? Fact is, I find myself tempted. I’ve shaken off (maybe “suppressed” is more realistic) most of the really deep-nerd, OCD, “Omigod! I haven’t got any ’99 northern Rhônes – what will become of me?!” aspects of my character (as far as they shape my little wine cellar, anyway). I go for value now. And with school fees to pay, what better value can there be than not buying any en primeur wine at all, as I have for the last couple of years? Well, nearly nothing, anyway.

The thing is that I’ve increasingly found the sweet spot buying-wise to be in the £10-20 range and that’s not so extravagant, at least the lower end isn’t, is it? It’s the level where the stashing away of the stuff for a long enough period is what takes it up to another level of quality (or, at least, of complexity). It’s just not economic for merchants to store wine at that price level for the necessary amount of time. (We punters are paying getting on for a-quid-a-bottle-a-year for storage but even if a merchant is paying a quarter of that rate, a ten-quid bottle adds 25% to its cost over ten
years.)

So what tempts me in the current sales campaign for the 2008 vintage? Well, I’m a drinker and not an investor so the fact that a lot of the big guns are 40-plus% down from last year year’s prices doesn’t really do it for me even though the first growths (Latour, Lafite, Margaux etc.) may never be released at these prices again. In fact, the volatility itself is alarming enough. No. I’d be down and dirty with d’Angludet, say, or Camensac at around £150/case (with duty, VAT etc. to pay when they’re shipped in a couple of years). Or even go for bulk with a good few cases of Villa Bel-Air or Sénéjac - if they keep the prices well under a ton. Or maybe I’ll sit on my hands. School fees to pay next week.