Are Expensive Wines Worth It?
Maybe. Maybe Not.
By Erin Henderson
My favourite chapter in AJ Liebling’s enormously pleasurable book, Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, is Chapter Five, Just Enough Money. If you’re unfamiliar, Between Meals is a memoir, the final book actually, of the New Yorker’s star food writer’s time in Paris, where he studied in the mid-1920’s.
The chapter begins with this fantastic line about dining out, “… when you have enough money to pay the check, but not enough to produce indifference to the size of the total…. The optimum financial position… is to have funds in hand for three more days, with a reasonable, if not certain, prospect of reinforcements thereafter.”
It’s from this belief, Liebling argues the most interesting culinary discoveries are made. He reasons that if funds are just the tiniest bit of a concern, the diner will be more adventurous, trying an off-cut and unknown wine, and will likely be justly rewarded for it. Alternatively, someone with deep pockets can afford to go with the safety of the status quo and is therefore a bit of a dilettante at the table.
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I often feel that way about wine choices.
I’ve had the great – and I do mean great – pleasure of tasting First Growth Bordeaux and $600 a bottle Krug; I’ve sipped wines in Venetian castles and ancient cellars in Burgundy. All have been impressive and memorable, but if I’m honest, mostly for the setting and company. The wines were good, excellent in fact, but not necessarily more impactful than some $20 bottles I’ve also enjoyed over the years.
One experience that I remember fondly and talk of often, is tasting a 10-year-old, $20 Chilean Cabernet. I was at an event with Aurelio Montes Jr., the son of the owner of Chile’s Montes winery. We tasted through the most recent vintages of Montes’ portfolio, including the stalwart Cabernet, a crowd-pleasing red that sold for $19.95 in Ontario. It’s a reliable wine, well made, and does the trick, but I’d be lying if I said it was overly exceptional. Aurelio surprised the group by bringing out a bottle that was a decade old, excited to have wine pros give it a taste. I set my face and braced myself for politeness, the way one might when opening a birthday gift from a well-meaning grandmother addled with a light case of dementia.
The wine was a revelation: the boisterous fruit of youth had mellowed, and light spice and earth began to colour in around the edges. The jubilant energy of the young the wine, levelled into a calming balance as it aged. In short, it was exceptional.
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My experiences, of course, are highly subjective (though everyone at the Montes tasting agreed the 10-year-old Cab blew away all expectations.) So perhaps the real question is what inspires the prices tags on the bottles? That’s a story for business schools and marketing degrees, but often wines that command higher prices have more touch points, the winemaker gives the grapes far more attention; the vineyards are in prime locations, the barrels used are of top quality… and the list goes on. Of course, for the critical amongst us, pedigree and supply and demand play a role the same way it does in fashion and cars and art: why is one brand of jeans $300 and another $30?
However, when looking for really satisfying wine at very pleasing prices, less fashionable regions are nice places to go treasure hunting. Here in Ontario, where we’re based, South Africa, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, and some outlying areas of France all offer tremendous value. This has to do with everything from exchange rates, to government support, to simple awareness of the region.
At the end of the day, I think there’s a time and place for everything: wines and occasions worthy of a splurge, and wines and occasions for seeking out hidden gems. Regardless of price, as long as you are enjoying the wine, the company, and the setting, does it really matter what the bottle cost?
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