Friday, January 07, 2005

Bargain hunting Friday night

Alright first bargain find of our new blog came just moments ago. Let it be a lesson in how to do it; well at least one way. I went into a local liquor store this evening after work and checked their “close out” wine section. This is a small store yet it has an intelligent wine selection albeit small. So I noted several wines and their prices in my digital recorder I carry everywhere. It is my mind these days of 50 + years on earth. I went home and logged on to my Wine Spectator on line full membership account which allows me access to their expansive wine evaluations library.

One of the wines I noted was Punter’s Corner 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon. It was marked at $12.99 and the other wine which interested me was Iron Horse Cuvee “R” 1998 which is a Sauvignon Blanc blend. It was marked at $8. Eureka! The Punter's Corner wine was selling for $25 a couple years ago before it was even ready to drink and the Iron Horse sells for $19 normally. So I went back and bought two bottles of each. But note, it wasn’t merely the price but rather the evaluation by the Wine Spectator staff that caused me to rush out to purchase these deals. A word of caution–I rarely buy more than one bottle of wine before having tasted one. Remember, taste is a subjective element which means you might not care for what the evaluator loves. I have learned to trust the Wine Spectator rating system however as it seems to run very closely to my own tastes. That is NOT the case with some other highly competent and highly respected wine evaluators. Caveat Emptor!