• Home
  • About PubClub.com Nightlife Pubs And Clubs Website
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

PubClub

Where The World Goes To Party!

How And Where To Find Good Wines For Less Than $5 For Stay-Home Drinking

January 6, 2021 by kevinwilkerson 2 Comments

Tips On Shopping For Wine, Red Vs. White & Recognizing A Cheap Wine From A Bargain

bargain wine from a California winery
This red blend from California is an outstanding bargain at less than $5. Photo: PubClub.com




By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Wine Blogger

I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to spend a lot of money on wines when I’m at home and by myself.

And in this COVID-19 era, I’m at home and by myself a lot these days. As such, in order to add a little “excitement” to my evenings since I can’t go out to a pub, club or even a restaurant, I enjoy having wine with my dinner.

So I’ve become a master at being able to find great bargains on quality wines and in this article I will tell you how and where to enjoy good yet inexpensive wines for stay-home drinking. And when I say bargains, I’m talking $5 or less a bottle.

Where You Shop For Wines Is Important

First, don’t shop the major grocery stores. They only have major-brand products from the big wineries. Yes, you can indeed fine sales and many stores offer one bottle free when you buy five, but you generally you don’t get some of the real bargains.

Instead, go to Trader Joe’s or a local bargain market. I use Grocery Outlet, and it’s great.

The reason these places are so great for wines is because they often get excess wines direct from the wineries. You can tell when this happens at Trader Joe’s because they put out the wines in big displays. Not all of them are $5 or less but most are less than $10.

The day I wrote this article, in fact, I picked up four different wines for $3,99 each. And there were more available, too. Two of my all-time favorites are Geiser Peak ($4.99) and Barrel Ax ($3.99), both outstanding reds from Napa Valley. These wines are limited or sell-offs, so they come and go and are not there all the time. But that’s why they are so cheap!

TJs does have regular wines at great bargains everyday. My favorites are both the reds and whites that starts with a “P” and has a lion on the label. Sorry, can’t remember the name offhand and with a Grocery Outlet just down the street I don’t make it into TJ’s nearly as often as I did in the past.

Costco and other warehouse stores have their own wines for less than $5 and these can be decent or really bad. You’ll have to get a bottle and judge for yourself.

Reds vs. Whites In Bargain Wines

bargain wine from a California winery
Line ’em up – this is proof you don’t have to spend a lot of money on wines when drinking at home. Photo: PubClub.com
bargain wine from a California winery
I got all these wines from Grocery Outlet for $3.99 each. The FOUR is a very good red blend. Photo: PubClub.com

In my experiences, inexpensive red wines are a whole lot more drinkable than white ones. In fact, most white wines I’ve tried for less than $7-8 are terrible. Red wines just have more flavor and I suggest sticking with reds when purchasing bargain wines. Personally, I prefer red blends.

Being Able To Tell A Quality Wine From a Cheap One

Check the label. The first thing I look for is the location of the winery. Now I may be slanted in my opinion here since I live in the Golden State but whenever I see California, I am confident that I am getting a quality wine. And here, California wines are easy to find. That may not be the case in your location.

Another thing to look for on the label is the label itself.  If it is basic with mostly a couple of words and no artwork or only one color on it, chances are it’s a low-quality wine. Now I know it’s easy to be drawn in by a nice-looking label, it has been my experiences that the nicer the label, the better the wine.

Bad cheap wines just look cheap by their labels.

Conclusion

Bottom line is that a lot of this is trial and error and your taste may be different from mine or other people. But if you follow these principals – going to local markets, looking for reds and paying attention to the labels – then you can find enough good and inexpensive wines for drinking at home during stay-home orders.

Cheers!



Filed Under: Wine Tagged With: inexpensive wines, stay-home drinking, wine, wine blog

Comments

  1. Eric Chance Stone says

    January 19, 2021 at 4:00 pm

    Good article. Now can you one for $2.00 wine?

    Eric

    Reply
    • kevinwilkerson says

      January 19, 2021 at 4:17 pm

      How much is Two Buck Chuck in your area? Tip: Get a red, not a white.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Unfinished Man

Search

Today On PubClub.com

EVENTS CALENDAR:
• Feb. 12 – Super Bowl LVII, Glendale, AZ

LET’S BE SOCIAL!
 
PubClub.com is a member of the Travel & Tourism Marketing Association, Inc.​, and the Travel Massive chapters in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County (CA).

Instagram

Follow on Instagram

Destinations

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Destinations (2,112)
    • Asia (17)
      • Japan (5)
        • Tokyo (3)
      • Taiwan (1)
      • Thailand (7)
    • Australia (19)
      • Surfer's Paradise (3)
      • Sydney (5)
    • Brazil (7)
      • Rio (2)
    • Camping (1)
    • Canada (21)
      • Montreal (2)
      • Niagara Falls (5)
      • Toronto (2)
    • Caribbean (56)
      • Cuba (1)
      • San Juan (5)
      • Virgin Islands (20)
    • Central America (1)
      • Costa Rica (1)
    • Europe (102)
      • Amsterdam (15)
      • France (3)
      • Germany (5)
      • Ibiza (2)
      • Kiev (1)
      • London (6)
      • Malta (1)
      • Moscow (1)
      • Munich (5)
      • Paris (5)
      • Poland (3)
        • Krakow (2)
      • Prague (6)
      • Switzerland (35)
        • Basel (5)
        • Bern (3)
        • Swiss Alps (1)
        • Zermatt (3)
        • Zurich (4)
    • Greek Islands (25)
      • Corfu (3)
      • Ios (2)
      • Mykonos (5)
      • Santorini (5)
    • Mexico (10)
      • Cabo San Lucas (1)
      • Puerto Vallarta (1)
      • Tijuana (1)
    • Michigan (1)
      • Traverse City (1)
    • Ski Resorts (70)
      • Aspen (1)
      • Austria (5)
      • Big Bear (13)
      • Big Sky (6)
      • Mammoth (17)
      • Squaw Valley (4)
      • Whistler (3)
    • Tokyo (1)
    • USA (1,772)
      • Alabama (3)
      • Alaska (1)
      • Arizona (7)
        • Lake Havasu (1)
        • Scottsdale (3)
        • Sedona (1)
      • Boston (5)
      • California (1,324)
        • Carmel (24)
        • Central Coast (9)
        • Lancaster (16)
        • Los Angeles (809)
          • Catalina Island (12)
          • Culver City (1)
          • El Segundo (4)
          • Hermosa Beach (174)
            • Fourth Of July (12)
            • Smackfest Events (22)
          • Hollywood (16)
          • Huntington Beach (1)
          • Lake Arrowhead (2)
          • Long Beach (41)
            • Grand Prix (11)
          • Manhattan Beach (77)
          • Marina del Rey (6)
          • Newport Beach (44)
          • Orange County (27)
          • Party Report (15)
          • Redondo Beach (83)
          • Santa Monica (4)
          • South Bay (93)
          • Sunset Strip (4)
          • Temecula (12)
          • Venice Beach (5)
        • Mendocino (12)
        • Monterey (30)
          • Restaurant Reviews (10)
        • Napa (5)
        • Oakland (7)
        • Palm Springs (8)
        • Paso Robles (7)
        • San Clemente (1)
        • San Diego (281)
          • Balboa Park (1)
          • Del Mar (11)
          • Events (72)
          • Gaslamp (46)
          • Imperial Beach (5)
          • Lifestyle (4)
          • Music (1)
          • Ocean Beach (5)
          • Oceanside (1)
          • Pacific Beach (4)
        • San Francisco (70)
          • Events (12)
        • Santa Barbara (1)
      • Chicago (10)
      • College Towns (1)
      • Colorado (4)
        • Denver (4)
      • Florida (84)
        • Daytona Beach (1)
        • Ft. Lauderdale (3)
        • Jacksonville (1)
        • Key West (25)
        • Keys (8)
        • Miami (10)
        • Panama City Beach (3)
      • Hawaii (25)
        • Waikiki Beach (15)
      • Indianapolis (3)
      • Las Vegas (165)
      • New Jersey (1)
      • New Orleans (41)
      • New York City (14)
      • Newport, R.I. (1)
      • North Carolina (1)
      • Oregon (9)
        • Portland (8)
      • Seattle (2)
      • South Carolina (3)
        • Charleston (3)
      • St. Louis (1)
      • Tennessee (46)
        • Franklin (4)
        • Gatlinburg (5)
        • Knoxville (10)
        • Nashville (5)
        • Smoky Mountains (3)
      • Texas (6)
        • Austin (6)
      • Utah (2)
      • Virginia (1)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Hong Kong (1)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

Events

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Events (516)
    • BVI Interline Regatta (5)
    • Carnival (5)
    • Cinco de Mayo (2)
    • Exercise and Socalize (2)
    • Fourth of July (8)
    • Halloween (9)
    • Holidays (19)
      • Thanksgiving (7)
    • Indy 500 (10)
    • Kentucky Derby (12)
    • Memorial Day Weekend (5)
    • New Year's Eve (43)
    • Oktoberfest (11)
    • Party Report (46)
    • Running Of The Bulls (5)
    • Spring Break (6)
    • St. Patricks Day (8)
    • Sundance Film Festival (8)
    • Super Bowl (16)
    • Valentine's Day (10)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

Sports

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Sports (504)
    • Baseball (8)
    • Beach Volleyball (3)
    • College Football (290)
    • Golf (11)
    • NFL (44)
    • Olympics (13)
    • Racing (25)
    • Soccer (8)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

Lifestyle

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Lifestyle (1,587)
    • Beach Reads (1)
    • Cannabis (4)
    • Celebrity Sightings (6)
    • Entertainment (22)
    • Mr. Sorehead (3)
    • Music (276)
      • Festivals (58)
      • Jimmy Buffett (38)
      • Trop Rock (13)
    • Party Stories (2)
    • People Profiles (10)
    • Singles Life (7)
      • Men Vs Women (2)
      • Relationships (2)
    • Social Media (2)
    • Spirits (26)
    • Travel (651)
      • Airlines (30)
      • Airports (1)
      • Blogger (366)
      • Cruise Ships (23)
      • Hotels (15)
      • Product Reviews (3)
      • Singles Travelers (1)
      • Solo Travel (2)
      • Touring Blog (12)
      • Weather (17)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

From the Bar Stool

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • From The Bar Stool (311)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

Bars

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Bars (260)
    • Bars & Food (24)
    • Bars & Nightlife (196)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

News

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Business News (4,159)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • News (54)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

Colleges

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Colleges (29)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

Food and Drinks

  • 72 Hours (3)
  • Food and Drinks (387)
    • Beer (98)
    • Cocktails (45)
    • Foddie Blog (27)
    • Rum (7)
    • Singles Cooking (1)
    • spirits (8)
    • Spirits & Beer Industry (79)
    • Tequila (16)
    • Vodka (1)
    • Wine (78)
  • Homepage Fun Stuff (6)
  • Homepage Lifestyle (3)
  • Men's Stuff (4)
  • Party Report (3)
  • Virtual Happy Hour (8)

Subscribe To The Party Report

About PubClub.com

PubClub.com is a content-oriented nightlife tourist guide dedicated to social-minded travelers with articles on worldwide destinations such as Amsterdam, the Greek Islands, Prague, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Canada, and more. Top keywords for search are pubclub, pub club, party pubs, club pub, travel pub, pub club night, pubs and clubs and the pub club.
Read More...
Our Terms | Privacy

Legal

Ads

Powered by imFORZA