Just about every post here at Box Wines includes a wine price, and we get occasional questions as to what the price means and why a reader can’t find that price locally. So, we thought we’d spend a minute to explain our wine prices. Generally, our objective is to post a price that might realistically represent what a reader might find the wine for in their local market. There are lots of reasons why that might be way off, though.
First, determining our local store price is hard enough. A wine might be flagged with a list price of $14, a store price of $11, and a sale price of $8. In that case, we’d lean toward the $11 as a “typical” price, but sometimes we see wines on perpetual sale, i.e., the $8 is what we’re seeing in the long run.
Second, different outlets have different price levels – Sam’s Club is likely to have a lower wine price than the same product at a full-service wine shop. We usually aim for a middle-of-the road price level that one might find at, for example, a large supermarket wine shop. (Note that our focus tends to be on affordable wines, and many of our readers frequently buy wines in higher quality supermarket environments.)
Third, we often see widely varying online prices that may be higher or lower than our local prices, and may even differ from each other by large percentages. We don’t usually use these online prices (goofy laws in Indiana prevent us from buying wines online), but sometimes check them if we are trying to estimate the price of a wine that we tasted but can’t find in a local shop.
Fourth, different states have different distribution channels and different taxes, both of which can make a big difference in the price of a bottle of wine.
So, take our wine prices as very rough indicators of what you might pay. You may find it for less, or you may find it more costly in your area. We encourage you to shop around – we find that some stores have real sales that let you save $5 on a $12 bottle. Snap these up when you can find them. If you are lucky enough to be able to shop online, you can do that, too, though you may find it not very economical to buy small quantities of lower-priced wines.
That’s our story on wine prices – happy wine shopping!