Supermarket beer and wine price war for Christmas
We're seeing huge pre-Christmas price cuts for supermarket beer and wine. A study by mysupermarket.co.uk found that the price of a third of all beer and wine had been cut - compared to 27% a year ago - representing a booze price war this Christmas.
The study found that the cost of beer was being cut by up to a third, while sparkling wine prices were down up to 57%. At the time it carried out its research, Ocado was the home of the most bargains - where 65% of beer and wine was on offer. Waitrose was least keen to join the price cutting throng - with only 10% of its booze on offer.
Some of the best deals highlighted by the report included Mountain Vinyards Sauvignon Blanc from Tesco - down 52.46% to £4.75. Meanwhile ASDA Extra Special Montepulciano was down a third to £5, and Laurent Perrier Brut Non Vintage Champagne from Sainsbury's was down 37.5% to £25. Jacob's Creek Reserve Sauvignon Blanc from Ocado was reduced 43.7% to £5.63, and Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne was down 41% at Morrisons to £20.
Gilad Simhony, of mySupermarket.co.uk, said: "With less than seven weeks until Christmas, now is a great time for shoppers to bag a bargain. The main supermarkets are increasingly competing with each other for market share. This means that for shoppers this year there are even more offers available and higher savings to be made.''
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Wine deals
At this time of year, the supermarkets tend to use wine as a loss-leader to get people through the door. They often run short-lived wine extravaganzas, like the one that has just ended at Sainsbury's - which was offering 25% off all wine.
M&S is currently offering its version of the same thing. It's cutting up to 50% off all Champagne and up to 40% off all wine. It also has an offer where you can get 25% off it you buy two or more cases. At the moment deals include Burra Brook Pino Grigio, down from £51 per case (£8.50 a bottle) to £72 for two cases (£6 a bottle).
Many of the supermarkets also have a separate wine website, where you can get great discounts on cases. Among the biggest savings at Tesco are Castillo de Albai Rioja Reserva reduced from £10 to £7 a bottle, and Caves Monteiros Reserva down from £12.50 a bottle to £6. If you were to buy a case of each (or indeed any cases taking the price to more than £60) and enter XXLRTY at the checkout, you can also get 500 clubcard points (worth £5 if you spend them at Tesco but up to £20 when you use them with a reward partner).
Meanwhile, Waitrose is currently offering up to 25% on wine, and up to 30% off sparkling wine - with £25 off if you spend £160 and £5 off if you spend more than £85. It means, you could, for example, buy six bottles of Nicolas Feuillatte 2006, and pay just over £21 for each after all the discounts - compared to a full price of £32.99.
Of course, you could hold your nerve, and wait for another wine extravaganza by the likes of Morrisons or Tesco. The trouble is that there's absolutely no guarantee these will materialise before Christmas, and could mean you miss out on the booze price war raging right now.
