Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler wine thread

Funny thing about Manitobans (not that i'm a native but starting to pick it up), they are chintzy, deal searching, buck saving people that will haggle even at the Dollar Store (where everything costs only a buck or less).
I actually have one friend who haggles with the big box stores. No i'm not talking about Future Shop kids who always have something extra to toss in, but places like Sears, Walmart, etc. where the prices are usually fixed except when something is on sale. He actually asks to see managers and haggles them about price.
As you can imagine then, when it comes to wine, and he is a fan, he shops in NOTHING but the sales bins at the liquor stores and wine shops.
Now, he's obviously found some decent wines doing this. As bin ends get down to the last bottle or two, the shops have a clearance of the last few bottles to make room on the shelves for new full cases of wines. If they did not reorder that particular wine, then you can always pick up the last few bottles for 10-15% off the usual price. Sometimes even cheaper.
This friend bought a $75 French chardonnay for $45 in the bin box. [there is a further story to this wine and a chardonnay tasting we did, but i may have already told that one some time back]
It certainly goes to show that the markup on prices in the stores can be huge although the prices are set here in Manitoba by the liquor commission so Store A cannot sell a wine cheaper than Store B down the road.




Again the problem here is borders. Unless they somehow ship to Canada, which i doubt, i'm stuck with local fair. Wineries, much like in the States, cannot just ship across provincial/state borders. Liquor must be 'imported' by the provincial liquor commissions or you fly it back yourself on a plane as luggage, which i've done in the past. Some wineries have in the past shipped us wines anyway through the mail which was nice of them to do. Small quantities so really, what's the big deal?
We're not sales vendors. Just consumers.


I've been thinking more about this Napa trip thing. I'm starting to think that maybe i should be planning a trip when you're heading down there. A guide would be a useful thing for someone who would be overwhelmed by all the options to try in a trip.

That was rather humorous.
I can't believe he vomited.
Though the whole brains eating thing, they actually can that stuff?

The best chardonnay in the world is Canadian?
It was on CNN so the story can't be wrong, right?

I like that story! Thanks for the link, Chess.

I just recently started getting into wine. I mean JUST. Still trying to develop a palette and discover the differences and what I like in wine. I have pretty much stuck with wines under ten bucks. Stories like the one above gives me hope that I can have good wine experiences without breaking the bank.

And you know what? So far I haven't been disappointed. With the exception of a merlot, everything I've tried so far has been tasty.

It’s a lot of fun Chess. You’d enjoy it I’m sure. I don’t know when my next Napa trip will be. I’m planning a trip to Washington wine country now. Sometime in October after crush and hunting season. I don’t know Washington wine very well, so this should be pretty fun. I plan to fly into Seattle and drive west. I’ll spend a couple days in Yakima, then continue over to Walla Walla.

True indeed! I have had their Pinot before and it was superb. I am only about a 35 minute drive to their vinyards. I saw that on the news a while back and was not surprised at all. Their wines are top notch.

Canada also makes excellent riesling, gewurztraminer IMO and of course the only place to get true ice wine.

I'll have to keep that in mind as rieslings have been my favorite so far.

I love riesling as well.

Mike, keep me in mind.

And, buy a map and a compass.

I think everyone starts the same way. How often do you meet someone who first got interested in wine by having their first glass which happened to be from a $300 bottle?
Not often.
It more often starts with the "baby duck" or Hochtaler stuff and progresses into big brand name testing, then eventually into boutique names carrying higher price tags, followed by the search for local mom and pop wineries that can't be found anywhere else, but cost a heck of a doodle to travel to find.