A recent aricle in the Orlando Sentinel titled The wine's still flowing -- but from cheaper bottles got me thinking about whether or not my wine and wine buying habits have been a reflection of the tougher economic times.
Without question they are. I was running through my purchases on Cellartacker last night and it has been over 6 months since I purchased anything new to add to my cellar. The interesting aspect of this trend is that I wasn't consciously thinking about not buying wine due to the economy until about 2 months ago.
I have to believe that the tough economic times pushed me into a "hold" mentality and now I am just enjoying the wines I have had in my cellar and those given to me for the purpose of tasting and reviewing on PTC.
PTC is very much in its infancy so there aren't a ton of subscribers and readers as of yet (I think 5 subscribers since we went live 2 days ago - Thanks by the way!). As a result it doesn't make sense for me to start popping up the polling widget yet but I am curious to see if anyone out there would respond to a few questions:
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Are you buying wine or wine futures with the same attitude and spending habits as you were 18 months ago?
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On average, how much do you spend on a bottle of wine now vs. 18 months ago?
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Are you still buying wine in restaurants (with their ridiculous mark ups) or are you now drinking more wine at home with dinner?
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Do you want PTC to review wines ONLY in the lower price ranges, middle price ranges, high end or a good mix of all three?
I will say that, after reviewing the almost unattainable Jackass Vineyard Zinfandel the other day, I decided to be sure and taste more good value wines that are more likely to be found at your local retailer. There are a TON of great wines available for under $20 with an amazing QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) and I have longed subscribed to the theory that the best wine is the kind of wine you like.
That is not to say PTC won't still pull out some of the gems and harder to find wines because we want to try and open up some doors to wine that some might never even think about trying due to a whole host of factors. The bottom line is we want to make wine more easy to understand and more approachable for everyone.
