I was recently reading a novel set in England – one of those “lad fic” humorous stories about a single guy trying to come to terms with commitment, etc.
One of the points made was that when the protagonist was planning a romantic dinner, he always chose wine that was priced at 5 pounds or less a bottle.
How cheap would that be in American terms? Is he being moderately thrifty or is he offering his dinner companions undrinkable wine?
friend acsenray,
5 english pounds converts to $9.02124 u.s. dollars. nine dollars will buy a drinkable bottle of wine, if you shop wisely
turning leaf sells a bottle of cabernet for about that price. while not winning any awards at the international wine competitions, it isn’t too bad.
lh
I’m not sure that it’s possible to give a simple answer to the question.
In exchange rate terms, 5 pounds is US$9.
But, this may not be an accurate guide. 5 pounds is also equivalent to AU$12.30. I know I can get a decent wine for that much, certainly not undrinkable, but they probably aren’t paying the same prices for wines that are familiar to you in the US, or me in Australia.
Apparently, six out of ten of the top selling brands in the UK are Australian. So I checked out some on-line wine sales places.
Penfolds Rawsons Retreat is on special at 57.48 pounds per dozen, so that brings it in under 5 pounds a bottle. It’s certainly not a bad wine, but here in Australia I’d be able to pick it up for about AU$9, or about 3.65 pounds.
Bottom line, it looks like you can what I, at least, would call a decent wine for 5 pounds.
Rather than estimate the quality of a £5 bottle of wine, let me say that wine retails in the UK in a supermarket from £3 upwards. So a £5 bottle would be towards the cheaper end. Most people buying wine in the aforesaid supermarket for day to day use probably wouldn’t be paying more than £5 and quite a few less than that.
The range of wines displayed are mostly in the £3 to £6 bracket.
Here is what I got when I googled “best wines for under a fiver”. The article indicates that it is possible to buy good wines but does mention “cheap and nasty” as the default choice.
Here in Australia one can buy plenty of good stuff for less than $10.
I’m not sure this helps much.
First of all, you’re using currency conversion, which has no relation to buying power.
I realize that there are very good wines available for low prices for those who know about them. But are these the kinds of things that the ordinary Joe is going to know about and be able to find at the supermarket or liquor store near home?
I’m no connoisseur… and if I go out to buy a bottle of wine to drink for myself or just if I have mates around whatever (usualy I’d go for beer) I’d generally go for a cheap bottle around the 2 pound mark…
the most I’ve ever spent was still less than a fiver…
I would expect the point being made is that the guy didn’t splash out much - - even when it was a romantic dinner…
I would say he’s being moderatley thrifty - - unless of course he has some real stuck up dates who expect the best vintage…
Blue Nun anyone ?