Post Lockdown Wine Deals Reviewed

As part of the COVID 19 lockdown response here in South Africa alcohol sales were banned. When sales reopened most wineries offered specials and although we had not run out of wine (thankfully) we thought it was a good opportunity to stock up and support the local wine industry.

Prices

I made a rule for myself not to buy anything that wasn’t marked down by at least 20%. The best deal I came across was Spier, who offered 25% of if you bought a minimum of 6 cases.

Interestingly, the big retailers were not offering discounts. I assume this is because they were making sufficient profits out of people coming in to stock up. Keep in mind Pay ‘n Pay had a one day special last year where they offered 25% off and Checkers usually has a special towards November, where if you buy 5 bottles the 6th one is free (although this was limited to certain brands last year).

Most of the wine I chose was from this article https://insideguide.co.za/cape-town/wine-specials/ but I perused the websites of my favourite wine farms and joined a few wine clubs. I also ordered some wine from One day Only and Daddy’s Deals.

Choice

I used the 2019 and 2020 Platters wine guide to formulate my choices. My general rule of thumb was to buy wines 4 stars and up (I have become somewhat of a wine snob). I tried to practice the art of “champagne taste on a beer budget” and maximise the stars:rands ratio – yes I’m a dork!

Most farms had it set up so that you had to buy by the case. I don’t know about you, but I cannot afford to buy ultra premium wines by the case. However, where I was able to buy a bottle of investment wine at a good price I did here and there.

Delivery

It’s taken a month but today the last case of wine was delivered. Some wine farms were clearly struggling with the backlog: Steenberg disappointed by delivering the wrong wine and Glenwood delivered our order twice. Two wine farms packaged ultra premium wines badly and they arrived with stickers all over their damaged high end packaging.

On the other hand Villiera surprised us by sending their wine ambassador to deliver our wine in person, with an extra bottle of their Cab Franc which we can’t wait to taste. They invited us to a Zoom tasting for Chenin Day and brought us a bottle of Chenin for the occasion.

All in all I have enjoyed the process of choosing and logging my wines. I can’t wait to drink them!