Wine Bottle - no year on it

php-fox

I was in a bar on Sunday night, ordered a glass of french wine. The bottle was opened in front of me, and I noticed that it had no year of production stated on it. The wine didn't smell right too.

So, I sent the bottle back.

How common is it for the bottle to have no year on it? It was the first time I came across such a bottle.

the beer revolu

php-fox wrote: »

I was in a bar on Sunday night, ordered a glass of french wine. The bottle was opened in front of me, and I noticed that it had no year of production stated on it. The wine didn't smell right too.

So, I sent the bottle back.

How common is it for the bottle to have no year on it? It was the first time I came across such a bottle.

Common enough for inexpensive wines made to be drunk quickly and cheaply but they're not usually for export. The wine might just have been a year too old.. who knows who imported it and from whom?

php-fox

Well, it wasn't the cheap wine. 23 euro for bottle in a bar. That was an average really.

Padraig Mor

php-fox wrote: »

Well, it wasn't the cheap wine. 23 euro for bottle in a bar. That was an average really.

At 23 euro for a bottle in a bar, it probably WAS very cheap wine!

rubadub

I have only seen it on cheap wines. If they are working on the same margin as bottled beers then your €23 would be ~€3.50 in a supermarket!

the beer revolu

Most bar operate on a margin of around 50% on most 'premium' beer bottles (Weissbier, Euro lagers etc.)

I imagine you're talking about €1 long necks as priced in the supermarket compared to what bars typically charge for longnecks. 80% margin in this case.

Your €3.50 bottle sold at €23 gives a margin of about 84%. I'd hate to think that any publican would be getting that kind of margin on wine.

Either way I can't imagine any wine without a vintage date on it should be selling for €23 in a pub or restaurant.

rubadub

the beer revolu wrote: »

I'd hate to think that any publican would be getting that kind of margin on wine.

Yeah, it was really a tongue in cheek comment, basically saying you cannot equate quality with price, esp. in pubs.

"Cheap" can mean a low price/good value, or low quality (which can be very expensive)

Slaphead07

Depends on the pub really. If they have a good turnover of wine then I wouldn't be too concerned but if not then it's a simple way of selling dull industrial wine without raising too many questions. An undated bottle is more likely to be a white wine as it won't have the same shelf life of a red. The fact that it tasted awful kinda answers a lot of the questions raised anyway.

enda1

I've paid over €15 in France for non-vintage wine. (Well it actually is/was vintage but they couldn't state the vintage because they didn't have a designation.)

Point is that not all VdT is worse than all VdP or AoC.

afatbollix

Most champagne bottles doesn't have a year on it. More than likely it was blend of a couple of years different vintages. They do that with the cheaper wines.