Having worked to perfect my fine wine bargain-hunting strategy over the past years, I would be interested in hearing other users good deals and techniques for finding bargains. One deal was finding a bottle of 1991 Graham Vintage Port for $19.99. I found this bottle in a small neighborhood liquor store that seemed to sell more pint bottles than fine wine. However, employing by strategy of saturation (i.e. visiting every wine-selling establishment I come across), I went in to this shop and did a scan. Found a bottom, dusty shelf with quite a stash of Vintage Port. Was surprised to find this bottle in the back with such a low price (I've seen it for $60.00). When the owner saw me looking at these overlooked beauties, he offered me a good deal (half-off)on any of it that I wanted. Ended up buying all he had including Cockburn, Graham and Osbourne. My guess is that sometimes the little mom-and-pop shops are convinced by their distributorsto stock higher-end items that their clientele neither want nor appreciate. If this stuff sits on the shelf for awhile, proprietors are often willing to deal on it to at least recoup their cost or even take a loss. Visiting every shop, no matter how humble greatly increases the odds of finding a a deal and/or a less than knowledgable shop owner. Another deal I came across recently was a bottle of 1998 Dominus for 49.99 (which I've seen elsewhere for 89.99). Although 98 was tricky for CA Cab, good maker, good vineyard, decent score (WS91)and otherwise too lofty price made this one too good to pass up. Found this one in a large, cluttered wine shop with a good selection. In this environment, my technique of saturation also works but in a different way. by visiting so many wine shops, you start to get a feel for what many fine wines go for. When I go into a well-stocked shop, simply scanning prices, particularly in the bottom bins or behind the front rows can sometimes yeild a bargain. Stockers sometimes push last years bottle back to incorporate new stock. With price increases happening from time to time, some bottle don't get remarked. Other times things are just marked incorrectly or have been marked some time ago before an increase or the publishing of a good WS score. Getting a feel for prices in the market and scanning rather than browsing has worked really well for me Anybody have any other retail bargain strategies? Would love to her some stories!

( 2 Reader Comments 2 New Comments )