Bottle of Wine for $2.65 Vs $1350. What's The Difference?

[Deactivated] on 29/02/2016 - 12:29

As people who appreciate value for money, I thought I'd ask your opinion.
If we compare two bottles of 14% wine of different values. It seems to me the important part of the wine is exactly the same in both bottles -> 105 mls of alcohol.

The rest is just flavouring. I.E. grape juice. Why do people pay up to 1000 times the price for flavouring with the essential component being identical.

So would it be better to buy 105 mls of alcohol in springwater for $2.50, and add your own flavouring. Would you buy this?
A MYO example might be apricot nectar blended with strawberries. Or just add the alcohol to regular fruit juice.

Just curious if anyone can see my point, and explain why 14% alcohol is worth say over $100? Isn't filtered and refined liquor like Smirnoff vodka, or Jack, Johnny or Chivas, a step up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/worlds-most-expensi…, Retail: $500,000

I'll be back tonight to apologise.

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • oscargamer on 29/02/2016 - 12:33
    +9

    about $1347.35

    :)

    • [Deactivated] on 29/02/2016 - 12:43

      Good answer

    • nicwinner on 02/03/2016 - 14:53

      +1

  • danyboy on 29/02/2016 - 12:49
    +2

    I'm no wine snob, but pretty sure the type of person who drinks a $1500 bottle of wine is not in it for the alcohol contents, whereas the person drinking goon…well you can imagine :)

  • SoBargainVerySave on 29/02/2016 - 12:50
    +1

    Age, brand prestige, processing, bottle materials & packaging, etc.

    Another factor is money. If you have it you'll spend it (within reason). I remember having dinner in the fanciest, #1 restaurant in Sao Paulo and each bottle of Chilean wine set us back $110 AUD. Not a wine person but it was the best wine I've had, so good we ordered 3 bottles by the end of the night.

  • spychiatrist on 29/02/2016 - 12:51
    +2

    No different to people having expensive coffee machines versus instant coffee?

  • JoFord63 on 29/02/2016 - 12:56
    +2

    Q. What's the difference?
    A. One bottle is empty and the other is not?

  • Findo on 29/02/2016 - 13:10
    +5

    This thread makes me sad. I can't drink again lest I die, but I do hope others can appreciate wine I have lost the ability to appreciate. Fine wine is like a fine woman; a cheap one is still good and does the job, but a fine one allows you to really savour it and treasure the taste. Not all bottles are created equal, and some expensive bottles of plonk aren't much better than a $60 bottle. It comes down to personal preference and taste buds. I recommend you join a wine tasting club/society so you may learn to appreciate a fine drop or 10.

    • carwashhair on 29/02/2016 - 13:51

      +1 for fine woman analogy

      • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2016 - 08:43
        +1

        Ewww

    • strikerzebra on 29/02/2016 - 14:01

      Personal question, why have you lost the ability to appreciate wine?

      • Findo on 29/02/2016 - 14:18

        I've had big problems with alcohol in the past. I ended up in rehab and I've been diagnosed as an alcoholic. As such, I can never drink again ;(

        • strikerzebra on 29/02/2016 - 15:51
          +2

          Well congratulations on sorting out your issue, at what point did you realise you were an alcoholic?

        • Findo on 29/02/2016 - 15:52
          +1

          @strikerzebra: probably late last year when I almost died

        • strikerzebra on 29/02/2016 - 15:52
          +1

          @niggard:

          Hope things are better for you now :)

  • Wampus on 29/02/2016 - 13:28
    +2

    I'm a real wine fan and have gone from not being able to tell the difference, to really knowing what I like. I love the fact that in Australia you can get a decent bottle of wine for $12 and a genuinely good one for $20-$25. I spoke to a wine collector who was talking about his collection of Grange and Hill of Grace etc, and some of them were worth $500+… I asked if he would ever drink one and he said not unless it was specifically saved for an occasion. He'd prefer to sell the Grange for $500, get a fantastic bottle of wine for $50, drink that instead and pocket the $450.

    • GaryQ on 01/03/2016 - 11:26
      +1

      Hmmm, I hadn't thought about it that way. I think I would enjoy the idea of drinking Grange 'just because' of the prestige associated with it - and curiosity.

      I bought a bottle for $200 down from $300 when Liqourland had one of those 30% off if you buy 6 bottles. The other 5 were Rawson's Retreat :D

      Apparently now it is worth closer to $900

      So it will come down to whether I am still alive in 5 years to open it on my 50th. My daughter knows what it is worth if I drop dead before then - she can ebay it to pay for the funeral

  • battler on 29/02/2016 - 13:30

    1350 is a collectible item, maybe never drunk. It can be sold/traded.
    2.65 is a drinker.

    in a way similar to paintings.

    • Doggiie on 03/03/2016 - 20:43

      So I can drink a $2.65 painting?

  • carwashhair on 29/02/2016 - 13:59

    But are you not also simply placing a value on a drink which itself is directly valued (or taxed at a certain rate) by the government according to its alcoholic content?

    So if that value is all that speaks to you, then all the flowery verbiage alcohol fans spout on what is smelt and tasted (things that other people do place a value on [over and above pure alc %] to varying degress in each bottle) won't help sell you to their view.

    You make the perfect utilitarian in this respect, bargitrage. But I will likely drink nicer things and be poorer as a result.

  • iridiumstem on 29/02/2016 - 14:04

    If you value getting drunk over other aspects of the wine (which I assume you do, judging from how you've stated that alcohol content is the most important aspect and other things are just flavouring), I think your opinion of beverages with higher alcohol content being a step up would be correct.

    That said, people don't just want to "get drunk" with wine. So if you think of those people who values "flavouring" more than just getting drunk, then I think you'd see why some people choose to spend more on wine, instead of getting certain things with more alcohol content.

    In short, value judgment is dependent on preferences.

  • mskeggs on 29/02/2016 - 14:13
    +1

    It seems to me the important part of the wine is exactly the same

    The important part for you may be the drunkeness that accompanies consumption, but for the purchasers of the expensive bottle they are buying a Veblen good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good.

    I don't spend a lot on wine, $50 tops for a fancy gift as I don't see the value beyond this point, but I can certainly appreciate that a $20 bottle tastes better than $2.65.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2016 - 08:40
    +1

    Buy yourself a $40 wine and a $10 and see if you can tell the difference. If you can't tell, then a $1300 wine is not for you

    • GaryQ on 01/03/2016 - 11:29

      I did this once at a birthday party with a bottle of Yellow, a bottle of Yarra Valley Chandon, and a bottle of Vueve Cliquot. Blind test - most preferred the Chandon because it was crisp and had no aftertaste.

      Actual french champagne is fermented differently - more yeasty and has a very different mouth feel to decent Australian bubbly.

  • doctordv8 on 02/03/2016 - 10:34

    Have a few shots of 100 proof anything first. After that drinking petrol will have the same taste of a good or bad wine.

    • [Deactivated] on 02/03/2016 - 12:13

      Yeah some of the $4 wine needs a bit of Unleaded just to make it palatable.
      Anyway I guess alcohol is seen more as a luxury item, so taste and quality matters a lot to people. I don't drink often, and don't drink for the flavour. I guess I'm odd man out here.
      Anyway I really appreciated everyone's comments.

      • doctordv8 on 02/03/2016 - 12:25
        +1

        You may be odd, that is not my expertise to say with any justification. But as a non drinker since my 21thhhh, and as a mechanic for 40 years I can get just as high and quicker breathing the fumes and getting paid for it while cleaning car parts in all kinds of juice. So I sorta am 'odd' with you.

        I suppose you have your two trains of thought. Those who drink to get drunk, and those that need to taste the grape.
        It just depends on how liquid your budget is, as a flagon at 4 bills works a treat in some circles where a mega $ plonk is standard at the Hilton.

  • AlienC on 05/03/2016 - 18:38

    It's in the same category as diamonds and monster cables buy at your leisure/discretion/money.

    I.e some people can do it and like it some people can't and don't.

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