Cooling wine prices make it time to buy

Let’s get this out of the way first thing: We’ve always been cheapskates.

And believe it or not, that’s especially true when it comes to wine. Our goal is to drink like wine snobs on a jug wine budget.

It’s not always easy, but it has been easier in recent years, as there has been huge competition in the $7-to-$15 range, which pushes quality up and prices down. That equation has only been helped by imports from Chile, New Zealand and Argentina, which have been producing wines of incredible quality at prices half of what you would expect.

But now, with the economy on the ropes, there’s a new emphasis on price.

The Los Angeles Times reported in March that restaurants are now able to get impossible-to-find wines and at prices up to a third less than what they sold for a year ago. One restaurant was offered 10 cases of a wine that previously had gone only to the top restaurants in the country and then only six bottles at a time. The wine sells for $600 a bottle at auction.

Locally, Cap N’ Cork’s Andy Lebamoff said some of the same things are being seen here, even as wine stores pare back the amount of high-end wines they’re buying.

“We’re watching what we’re buying at the upscale wines, because those are taking a hit,” Lebamoff said.

At the same time, they’re seeing deals they can’t pass up – like a case of $350 wine for only $250. Or buy a few cases and get one case free. In those instances, he said, the stores are making personal phone calls to customers that might be interested rather than just putting them on the shelf.

“People who can still afford high-end wines know it’s a great deal and that once it’s gone, it’s gone,” he said.

Belmont Beverage’s Jeff Wolever said their wine buyer also is concentrating on finding deals, such as close-out wines, that the stores can run as a special sale. They, too, have seen people move from more expensive wines to less expensive.

“I think everyone has stepped down a little bit,” he said.

Even small, boutique stores such as Wine Time at Jefferson Pointe are addressing the new realities of the marketplace. That store now has a “10 wines for $10 and under” table.

Owner Jeff Armstrong said the cheaper wines meet the same strict standards he has for any wine on his limited shelves, but he’s now going out of his way to find better values.

“It’s just that I’m digging deeper to find less expensive wine,” Armstrong said. “I don’t think people are not going to drink wine, they’re just bumping it down a notch.”

And we can vouch for several of the wines on the table, such as Garnacha del Fuego – one of Krista’s favorites – and Kanu Chenin Blanc, a South African white wine that is great in the summer.

The L.A. Times story on the trend said restaurants are seeing people spending less a bottle, though they’re still reluctant to buy the least expensive wine on the list for fear of appearing cheap. We love those wines, because we know how hard the restaurant has worked to find them.

Consider this: The usual restaurant mark-up on a bottle is three times. So that $30 bottle of wine on the list costs about $10 wholesale. But what that means to you is that the restaurant has had to find a $10 wine that tastes like a $30 wine – and that’s exactly the kind of wine we love the most: One that tastes like it should cost three times as much.

This kind of market is also the time to make sure you have a wine cellar – even if it’s just a dark, cool corner of your basement. When you see great deals, you’ll have a place to store them. For example, we recently bought nine bottles of one of our favorite summer wines at a clearance price when World Market closed in Fort Wayne. Now we’re set for the summer and at a great deal, to boot.

Krista also gets daily e-mails from Sam’s Wine & Spirits in Chicago, and we’ve found some great deals there, even when the cost of shipping is factored in. And while we were in New York recently, we heard about Wines ’Til Sold Out (www.wtso.com), a Web site focused exclusively on great deals. The wines available are often 30 percent to 70 percent off, and shipping is usually free if you order several bottles.

So if you can afford it, now’s the time to work on building up your cellar. And even if you’re not ready for that, look around and you’ll be able to find some good deals for special occasions. If you spot a deal you want to share, let us know and we’ll pass it along to readers.

Cheers!