Does good wine have to be expensive?

Question

Although I have not tasted any really expensive wine, I believe that price alone cannot show the quality of a wine. I know some 8-10 euro a bottle wines taste better than more expensive ones. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Expensive is relative. But, at less than $10, look for Cotes-du-Rhone as a French red, IGT-Toscana as an Italian red, Edelzwicker (and, sometimes, Pinot Blanc) as an Alsace white, Sauvignon Blanc as a California white. If $13-18 is an acceptable price range, by my lights the best value/quality ratio is in that range -- New Zealand whites, South African Whites, Chilean reds, some south-of-France and Tuscan reds. Let a local merchant be your guide.

Answer 2

No. Good wine does not have to be expensive.
I've found that an $8 bottle of wine is almost always better than a $3 bottle of wine, but a $20 bottle of wine is not $12 better than the $8 bottle.

Generally, a good bottle can be bought for between $8 and $12.

Answer 3

No, good wine does not have to expensive. However, you can totally taste the difference of why they would price something a lot higher. I usually drink wine that's between 5-10 dollars a bottle. You can find some great wines in that price range. I have had a sample of wine that were in the 500 dollar a bottle range. It was great wine and you could totally tell the difference.

Answer 4

price for wine is not a very good indication of quality. i have had some very expensive, over $100 wine from places like Beringer and Mondavi that were completely dredful. Yet, also have wine from Silverado for under $20 that is fabulous.

The same can also be said for things like the word Reserve on a bottle. This means absolutely nothing about quality. It is what the winemaker feels is good.

Quality of wine is all a matter of opinion and the price reflects what the market is willing to bear for any particular item.

Answer 5

Good wine does not have to be expensive. Some of our favorites are Luna di Luna, Barefoot wines, and Linganore Wineries. None of those are over $10. We tried a $20 bottle of Kendall Jackson just to test the idea of expensive wines being better and guess what, it was awful!

The good thing about wine though..if you hate it, you can still always cook with it and not let it go to waste!

(Sorry, Linganore is a local winery in Maryland which may not be available where you are, but half the fun is finding local wineries that you like!)

Answer 6

I agree with hank; I live in the south of france and have seen and tasted the difference of wine produced during the last ten years. A very good wine right now doesn't cost more then 3 or 4 euros which is about 6 dollars. Without being an oenophile I have a large choise between the wines of les loires,alsaces,bourgognes,sevres,bordeaux,cotes de provence etc.. philippe

Answer 7

Less expensive wines can be quite good, and less- expensive wines can be quite bad ...or anywhere in-between.

One other thing to consider for this quesiton though is that for those who aren't oenophiles (wine lovers, with "educated palettes"), sweeter wines are generally more appealing than really dry ones and those can often be found relatively inexpensively.

If one's palette hasn't learned yet to differentiate all the "bouquets" and "notes," etc. that can be found in all the wines available, or one isn't looking for something different just because one likes to investigate wines as a hobby, then the many (often expensive) wines that have been created mostly for those customers won't be something an ordinary wine drinker really needs or wants to pay for. Oenophiles like to analyze and appreciate those differences though, so participating in their hobby is worth the extra expense to them.

My 2 cents anyway... enjoy!


Diane B.

Answer 8

There are a lot of wines coming out of Australia that are in the 7-10 dollar range that are quite good. Also are the wines from Chile and Argentina in the same price range.

Answer 9

surprising no on the most part Here in Florida a good red wine normally runs 9-13 dollars however some rare finds can be found as I found a very nice red wine that was just as good as some wines in the 20-30 dollar range for just 3.14USD a bottle case price.
so yes you can.
is it easy no it not
just keep looking around and you might find a real bargain

Answer 10

Nope. I've tasted some very expensive wines and some very cheap ones. It really depends on your preference. Where I work, we have bottles that cost over $900....I prefer the ones in the $40-$60 range.