Wine with Christmas dinner? A unique bottle costs an average of €22.93 this year
Choosing a bottle of wine for Christmas dinner or drinks? It could end up costing you quite a bit. A unique bottle costs €22.93 on average, research shows. Before you fall off your chair in shock, there are some caveats to this amount. The prices of the wines surveyed vary widely. The cheapest wine is offered for a meager €1.94, while the most expensive bottle costs €999.
This is shown by a data analysis from online learning platform Laudius.nl. For this purpose, wines on the shelves of the largest supermarkets and well-known liquor stores were mapped. This produced 6,803 wines whose data was analyzed.
Three-quarters of supermarket wines cost under ten euros
Don’t be put off by the average price of such a unique wine; if you look carefully, you can already find wine in the supermarket for under two euros—and that immediately makes you the Scrooge of Christmas this year. You do have to search carefully for such a cheap ass bottle; the average price in the supermarket is €9.31. Naturally, liquor stores have a much larger selection of expensive wines. Of the wine shelves at liquor stores, 42.4% are filled with bottles costing more than €15, and 15.3% of the wines cost €35 or more, compared with just 2.1% in supermarkets. Above that amount at the liquor store, there is still considerable variation in price, as the most expensive wine in the study cost no less than €999—which naturally pushes up the average bottle price considerably. In supermarkets, the price tag on around three-quarters of all different wines shows an amount below ten euros (74.3%).
French or Italian wine at Christmas
French and Italian wines dominate the selection in our country. More than half of all the wines surveyed on Dutch store shelves come from France or Italy. Not surprising, because besides producing an enormous amount of wine, these countries’ wines also pair well with our meals. Take Sangiovese, for example; it is the ideal wine with pasta bolognese, lasagna and pizza. French wines account for almost a third of the selection, and more than a fifth is wine from Italy. In addition, wine merchants import many different Spanish (12.4%), South African (6.3%) and Chilean wines (4.8%).
French wine is the most expensive on average
The selection of French wines in particular stands out for its higher prices, averaging no less than €37.03 per bottle. American wines are also expensive compared with those from other countries.
The top 10 is as follows:
- France: €37.03
- United States: €27.67
- Australia: €23.36
- Italy: €19.11
- Netherlands: €18.77
- Argentina: €18.01
- Uruguay: €17.04
- Chile: €16.63
- Germany: €15.40
- South Africa: €15.09
Alcohol-free wine is considerably cheaper on average
Alcohol-free wines cost considerably less on average than regular wine: €7.72. This is partly because there are fewer expensive outliers. Of all the alcohol-free wines surveyed, the most expensive bottle costs €72.
And would you like to know how much wine you need for your Christmas dinner? With this (hilarious) calculation, you’ll definitely have enough! And my personal tip: finish with a glass of Sauternes, perhaps the most delicious wine in the world. Are you bringing a bottle of wine or receiving one as a gift? Then be sure to read this wine etiquette guide.
You can find the full research report here.
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