£5.93 is the average-spend on a bottle of supermarket wine in the UK and that amount is predicted to pass the £6 barrier some time in 2020. But what can you expect from the wine inside this bottle and what exactly does an average-priced bottle of wine taste like?
Some may have an aftertaste of over-cooked jam (South African reds seem particularly prone) and some may be over-sweet (adding sugar or concentrated grape must to pad things out can work out cheaper than using 100% freshly-pressed grape juice - all allowable within the wine ‘quality’ laws of many countries) but if you can avoid these then you’ll find some perfectly nice fruity reds and refreshing whites.
But while this average labelled, stoppered and taxed supermarket bottle costs just slightly more than a fiver, the value of the wine inside it works out at only two quid.
And should this bottle retail for £5.99, £3.99 or even £2.99 then the wine inside will be worth even less - possibly as low as 50 pence.
So how can wine makers make a profit at these low, low prices? By mass production and investing a lot of money in modern stainless steel wine facilities that’s how. It’s not romantic, but neither is a discounted 23p tin of own-brand baked beans, and we consume vast quantities of these too.