How much do you spend on a bottle?

$50 (dining out). Half that at home.

And half that again if I'm in the mood for a several glasses.

I must shop at the same places as sneakerfish. $10-15 a bottle but I only ever buy when my favourite brands are on sale. The clean skins (at $7-8 a bottle) can be good or they can be 'orrible. I've paid about $100 in a restaurant once - but we had a gift voucher so I wasn't really paying. It was fabulous - my first grenache experience.

I sometimes buy the el cheapo bubbles for picnics or parties and have been known to splash out $20-25 for a special occasion.

Paying less for wine is more to do with my palette than my pocket, years ago I could tell the difference between excellent, good, mediocre and crap. Unfortunately my palette has gone the same way as my hearing, the noise that comes out of my Quad hi fi doesn't sound any different to my neighbours Sony surround system.

This weekend I read in the IHT that the French consider spending more than 8-10€ on a bottle of wine a waste, so I fit right in. I usually spend 4-5€ for a bottle, never more than 8 and that's only if I see something special during a wine special offer.

There is also a producer about 100 km south of here (Corbières) who makes a very good red that sells for 2€99 in my local supermarket.

After much searching once I moved here I found Lucky Duck Malbec. It's $3.45 a bottle. I get it at Walmart. I will occasionally splurge and spend about $15 for a bottle. I am saving a bottle I got from the wine distributor I used to work for. It cost me $20 but it's only available for a month or 2 and I'm sure I'll never get it again. It's Bogle Phantom. The last time I had it it was quite good. It better be good this time!

I recently drank a bottle of Luigi Bosca malbec that I bought in Argentina several years ago and I had been saving for a special occasion. It lived up to my expectations.

Like many others here - $10 - $15 USD for a very good everyday wine, as little as $5 if a wine I know I like happens to be on-sale. I once spent $30 for a bottle of Rapasso from Italy - it was worth it. And have spent around that for sparkling wine for a special occassion.

years ago I could tell the difference between excellent, good, mediocre and crap. Unfortunately my palette has gone the same way as my hearing

How/why?

I just got back from a trip to a store with a large wine department. They are promoting winners of the California State Fiar Wine Competition (one of the biggies for California wine). I bought 6 bottles of assorted everyday wines for $9 and $10 each.

Among others: This won a double gold. And this. Tony will no doubt enjoy the name and the description.