What is the best Prosecco or Champagne and how to find wine offers
Everyone has their favourite wine from fans of supermarket discount wine to shoppers looking for the best online wine and wine delivery to enthusiasts for a specialist bottle recommended by their high-end deli! There are different ways to get the best value for whatever wine is your preference. The wine options in the UK have greatly improved in recent years with cheap online wine deliveries and a wide variety of wine tastings now available across the country.
The value is not only to be had from getting the best discount wine but also in how you drink it, be that a wine tasting at home, a romantic picnic on the beach or a Friday evening in your favourite restaurant. Of course, if it is your favourite you will need a case of wine instead of just the bottle!
There are different things that impact the value of white, red and sparkling wine as each of them have their own unique traits. In general, the more you pay for a wine the better it will be. There are limits to this rule though, unless you are a connoisseur looking for the very best.
White wine
Whether your favourite grape variety is Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or even something more unusual like a Semillon or Riesling. There are some key things to look out for to make sure you get the most out of your white wine when you purchase it.
Most white wines are made to be drunk within 2 to 3 years of bottling, as such white wines in general do not last well. If you do buy a discount wine from a shop, make sure that it is not something they have had sitting on the shelf for too long. A good clue (other than the obvious looking for wear and tear and the fade on the label) is to look at the colour of the wine itself. If the wine is darker than you would expect for a white it has likely been on the shelf for a while.
Something else to consider which applies to all wines is if the bottle is sitting in direct light, although unlikely in a shop. A bottle sitting in direct light for any length of time can significantly affect the flavour. If you are ordering wine online or by the case these aren’t problems you will encounter as the wine will not be on display and so will have been stored properly.
Red
Another important aspect to think about is the alcohol strength of your wine, especially for reds, as a discount wine is all well and good but if the wine is discounted because it is lower in alcohol you will likely feel a little short changed when it comes to the taste. This is because a higher alcohol content will help improve the tasting experience for you as alcohol carries flavour in the mouth. A red wine above 13% ABV should give you a good experience if you are looking to impress at your wine tasting at home.
Another good indicator for a bottle of red is how deep the indentation is at the bottom of the bottle (called the punt). The main value this adds is that when pouring your wine it helps to stop sediment ending up in your glass, there are other benefits although they all largely revolve around aesthetics. Typically, punts are associated with more premium wines.
If you want to avoid finding out what corked wine tastes like screw-top wines are the answer! The wine is of the same quality although they are sometimes seen as less premium because the experience of uncorking is missing.
A screw top bottle does not have the risk of being corked and so means you can enjoy your wine without any bottles being lost. Although this is not strictly a discount wine, it does represent better value as no wine will be wasted.
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wine more than any other type of wine has a lot of brands that have dominated the market for a long time. The fact that these brands have established themselves means they are charging a premium for what they offer. In many cases there will be similar tasting sparkling’s from wineries that do not have the same budget for marketing!
The best value in this category is driven by the new wineries and in Renegade and Longton’s case those doing something different.
As with white and red the wine can be damaged by the light so to get the most value out of your liquid darker bottles are best as these help protect the wine.
Alcohol content is again important and ideally you want an ABV of 11.5% and above.
How to taste the wine to get the most out of it!
To get the best value out of your wine serving it in the correct way will really reward the flavour whether that is chilling a variety of white or sparkling or allowing a red to warm slightly so it is at room temperature.
Pairing your wines can really add to the flavour, especially if you are doing a wine tasting at home, mixing and matching your favourite wine with different types of food can have a surprising impact on the taste.
Of course, the setting helps as well, for example a chilled glass of a fruity sparkling wine like our rhubarb wine in the garden on a warm summers evening, is hard to beat!
Where to find best value for your favourite wines?
If you already know your favourite type of wine and favourite winery then there are a variety of ways to get the best value. If it is one of the very large producers, for example a major sparkling wine, then buying from a supermarket when they offer it at a discount (typically Friday and Saturday) will likely be the easiest and best value way to get it.
There is also something to be said for online wine sales as there is a certain excitement when a package turns up on your doorstep. Online wine sales is something the UK does well now with a wide variety of options.
If you have found something a little different as your preference then online platforms like winebuyers offer a good option.
This throws up the question of where to get the best wine online. Typically, the best value place to buy wine online is direct from the winery, with cheap delivery options in the UK now widespread and reliable packaging meaning your bottle will not break on the way to you.
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RENEGADE WINES LTD
95 LONGTON AVENUE
SYDENHAM, LONDON
SE26 6RF
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