Comments on: Wine-Tasting: A Frugal Hobby or Not?

By: Early Retirement Extreme

Early Retirement Extreme — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:23:09 +0000

@Lazy Man – They have them in Scotland ;-) … which is more like rolling hills and bloody cold. BTW, bike riding in the bay area shares many of these qualities.
As for wine I’m quite partial to the $1.97 Oakleaf available at walmart.

By: kosmo @ The Casual Observer

kosmo @ The Casual Observer — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:33:38 +0000

“We have frugal wine alternatives, so we can stretch a bottle for a couple of weeks.”

If you want to be really frugal, you could stretch a box of wine for a month :)

By: Su Prieta

Su Prieta — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:49:48 +0000

Another frugal way to enjoy wine tasting is to have wine tasting parties. I’m on the East Coast so we don’t have wineries with landscapes as beautiful as California, although we do have quite a few in this area i Virginia. But, obviously in the winter time, it is not convenient to go winery-hopping.

Some friends of mine and I started a wine group about three years ago. And, although activity gets low in the summer, throughout the winter months we meet once a month and bring a themed wine to the host’s house (there’s a different host each month). That way, we only spend between $10 and $25 a month, we still get to taste great wines and we get to see friends, acquaintenances and strangers as there are always new people at the parties every month.

Just another frugal way to enjoy wine and social gathering.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:42:44 +0000

I’m not a big fan of whiskey so the enjoyment isn’t there in the final result.

I haven’t really seen any whiskey tastings that involve the scenery of rolling green hills and sunshine. I also imagine it’s not like meeting a new group of people every 20 minutes.

We have frugal wine alternatives, so we can stretch a bottle for a couple of weeks. It’s not like you go out to great steakhouse every night… sometimes you have to cook at home.

By: Early Retirement Extreme

Early Retirement Extreme — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:16:26 +0000

May I suggest whisky tasting as an alternative. You can get a bunch of bottles for a couple of hundred.
Others do the same but get different kinds. You get together and make blind tests, etc. Big difference between paying $50 for a 15 yo single malt that lasts for months or years and a $20 bottle of wine that lasts … a day or two?

By: Kristy @ Master Your Card

Kristy @ Master Your Card — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:29:38 +0000

I agree with Tight Fisted Miser, wine tasting can be frugal or expensive – that all depends on you. Personally, I’m not a big wine aficionado, so I would find it wasteful to spend the money just to taste wine. However, based on the benefits you mention, I’d say it’s probably worth it. Plus, having a program where you can travel to the different vineyards as a package seems as though it makes the experience more affordable.

I refer back to something a lot of us pf bloggers talk about, frugal isn’t about being cheap and giving up the pleasures in life. It’s about making smart financial decisions for yourself. If you like wine tastings, then there’s nothing wrong with spending a little money to do so. However, to be considered frugal, that means you may have to spend less in another area.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:12:49 +0000

Thanks, my spell checker doesn’t get proper nouns as you might imagine.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:39:06 +0000

I believe it’s Berkeley with 3 Es

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:56:45 +0000

I didn’t see on person spit out the wine in two days. However, as you can imagine going to that many wineries, there were some tastings where people only took a half sip to get the taste and empty the rest of the glass (basically another mouthful) into the disposal pot.

By: Writer's Coin

Writer's Coin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:47:17 +0000

The meeting with strangers and seeing beautiful landscapes sounds great. Definitely a break from the typical.

But one question: do you actually drink the wine or not? Because, not to sound like a lush, one of the things I enjoy about wine is getting that little bit of a buzz. Without it, it’s not so great for me.

By: mfd

mfd — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:22:26 +0000

My fiance and I attend several of the Niagara wine festivals. We tend to stay over night in the region. The entire weekend costs us about $400 and is well worth it. Each time we do it I go through the same thing and have to resist the urge to buy cases of my favorite wines.

By: SimplyForties

SimplyForties — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:59:45 +0000

Definitely a gateway hobby! I love wine tastings and I have a tendency to be a bit of a collector. I have a healthy cellar and did not buy any wine in 2008 as part of my plan for getting my finances under control. It’s been tough!

You are absolutely right about it being about more than the wine. It’s a whole experience with mostly wonderful people. I envy you your ability to head down to wine country for the weekend! The Texas Wine Trail is just not the same!

By: TightFistedMiser

TightFistedMiser — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:15:51 +0000

Wine tasting is like many other hobbies in that it can be frugal or expensive depending on how you do it.

For example running can be very frugal if you just run on your local trail with running shoes you bought on sale and wear old gym clothes. It can be expensive though if you enter a 5k every weekend, buy a GPS enabled personal training device and other gadgets, and purchase special running clothes.