Thursday, 7 May 2009

Value for Money

Tahbilk Reds

A phone call had me heading off to help a mate sort out some internet connectivity problems. The Barra had just changed his ISP arrangements and things weren't working as they should have done, so it was a case of Hughesy To The Rescue. and once the problem was sorted the pair of us sat back chewing the fat in a wide-ranging discussion.

I've been drinking Australian wine, with the odd import thrown in, for close to forty years, and have become convinced, over that time that in general Australian wine consistently provides outstanding value for money with a lot of very good wine available at a very reasonable price point.

And that's without going into cleanskins.

It means, for instance, that I've been able to work to a long-term price per bottle average below the $10 mark, and that's after I've bought assorted bottles ranging in price from the high teens to just over fifty.

As some of the financial constraints from the past couple of years are removed from the day to day equation, I'll be in a position to increase the average, possibly, over time, as high as the $20 mark, though if it does reach that point it'll take some time to get there.

That does, however, have a few implications for what I'm likely to be posting in these parts.

It's more than likely that many of those who read postings on a Telstra BigBlog site fall into the 60% of 3500 wine consumers in an AC Nielsen survey saw themselves as novices, or only slightly knowledgeable about wine.

I'm somewhere towards the other end of the scale, though whether I'd fit into the 5% who regard themselves as expert or very knowledgeable. For a start when it comes to the finer points of overseas labels I am Sergeant Schultz.

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