Tips so you don’t make mistakes when buying wines on Black Friday – 11/23/2023 – Red or White

I hate Black Friday. I can’t stand crowded stores and, even online, exaggerated offers make me dizzy. I admit, however, that discounts can be of great help to an individual or family’s budget. Wine is not a cheap product, so any discount opportunity is always welcome.

A survey by the consultancy NielsenIQ, released by Folha on the 9th of this month, showed that medicines without a prescription and alcoholic beverages were the most sought after items in online promotions, ahead of electronics and household appliances, which used to be the strongest consumer desire this period of the year.

However, to avoid drowning in this sea of ​​advertisements and offers, it is always good to draw up a strategy. Even at the last minute, when things catch fire. Below are some things I’ve learned over the years buying wines at “blequefraidei” and some label suggestions.

Avoid Whatsapp lists and suspicious websites.
Both can literally be a steal. This tip applies to any time of year. Do you know those websites that even outside of Black Friday sell DV Catena wine for a quarter of the price of Mistral, which is the official importer of the brand? Do you know someone who is on their friend’s Whatsapp list who brings these wines straight from Argentina and sells them cheap? These people and companies, in fact, are criminals, often linked to factions such as the PCC or Comando Vermelho, and are involved with organized gangs that illegally pass wine across the border or even counterfeit it. On Black Friday, offers of this type are mixed in among the legitimate offers. If you don’t want to end up with spoiled, counterfeit wine or even not getting what you paid for, only buy from trustworthy sites that you know.

Google is the buyer’s best friend at this time.
You don’t know if a website is trustworthy or not? Google it. Some of these companies don’t even have a website or social media profile. When there is , the content tends to be exclusively about Chinese business. Google can also help you a lot to compare prices and avoid falling for the old merchant scam that triples the price of a product three days before the promotion for a 70% discount.

The biggest advantage is buying wines for special occasions.
Discounts on goods that are naturally already cheaper are only worth it for those who want to buy large quantities. Otherwise, they could represent negligible savings. Personally, I prefer to buy a smaller number of slightly more expensive bottles.
Of course, what is expensive for one person may be cheap for another. As I have stated before, my limit for everyday wines is usually between R$70.00 and R$80.00. For special occasions, I can spend up to R$150.00.
On Black Friday, instead of buying two bottles of 50 something, for example, I prefer to spend the R$ 108.50 that Zahil is charging for Château Penin Tradition Bordeaux Supérieur, a wine that normally costs R$ 217.00. This way, I make special days more special without spending extra for it. Just being a Bordeaux Supérieur is already a guarantee of quality. This combined with the importer’s reputation gives me security.

Pay more attention to the discount percentage than the price
Some websites or even physical stores indicate how many percent of the original value each discount represents. Others are not so clear, but just use the calculator on your cell phone and you will find out what the biggest discounts are. Start making your selection among those with a higher percentage. They are not always the most obvious, such as Pequenos Rebentos, a wine from the Vinhos Verdes region in Portugal. When talking about green wine, people tend to associate it with cheap and very simple wines. When they are more expensive. Pequeno Rebentos, however, is a high quality laurel tree. It normally costs R$ 183.00 and is now R$ 91.50, a 50% discount.

However, the biggest discount is not always the best deal.
It is always necessary to analyze perspectives. Both on the website and in physical stores, for example, Pão de Açúcar supermarkets offer discounts of up to 70%, but, based on the summary list they recommended to me, the best deals are among those that have around 40% to 50%. I, at least, I couldn’t recognize any of the wines that were 70% off. Among those with less discounts, there are wines from renowned wineries, even if the name of the winery does not appear very prominently on the label. This is the case, for example, with the 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Red, a bottle that offers an augmented reality feature on the label. It is a blend produced by the Chilean winery Santa Rita, a very reliable house. From R$ 139.98, it costs R$ 69.90.

Look for whites, rosés and sparkling wines under 3 years old
I’m tired of buying white, sparkling or rosé wine that’s already half-baked on sales. Wines of this type do not last long. With exceptions, more expensive wines, the ideal is to look for more recent vintages. In a physical store, the year of production, commonly known as harvest, is usually written on the label or back label. On websites, however, this information is often missing. While browsing the importers’ websites, for example, I came across an offer that seemed very good to me from the importer Vinci. The Portuguese wine Irmãos Unidos White, priced at R$93.41, is priced at R$37.36. This wine is produced in Beira by Caves São João, a great winery, which I visited the first time I was in Portugal. There was no information about the harvest, however, so I almost gave up recommending it to you. But I contacted the importer and received information that it is from 2020. So, it’s valid, but it can’t take too long to drink it.

Search for well-known brands, regions and denominations
I always recommend that you play around, try grapes, explore regions. On Black Friday, however, I think it’s better to be more conservative, go with what you already have an idea of ​​as being good. If you don’t know the producer and can’t ask a consultant for their opinion, famous European names that you’ve heard once in your life, such as Champagne, Rhône, Chianti or Rioja, are signs of some quality. If in doubt, Google it and read what is said about the wines of this or that denomination.

When in addition to the name of the wine and the name of the region, it has another name, it is a good sign, meaning that it belongs to a controlled denomination. For example, at Château du Fort Pontus Fronsac 2018, which has a 50% discount at Chez France, for example, from R$ 199.00 to R$ 99.50, for example, it has the information that it is from Fronsac, an AOC on the right bank, a region that tends to produce more velvety Bordeaux than the bank. right.

In the new world, go for the icon grapes. Cabernet sauvignon and carménère, in Chile. Malbec, in Argentina. Tannat, in Uruguay.

Look for sales on brands that have changed importers
It is very common for wineries to change importers. When this happens, the importer that used to bring those wines to Brazil usually tries to get rid of the stock of bottles from that producer and, therefore, make great discounts. How to find out? In physical stores, ask the salesperson if there are any brands that are being discontinued. On websites, it’s more difficult, but you can be suspicious due to the number of labels from the same producer that are on offer. This is the case of Viña Montes in Mistral. All bottles, with the exception of one very expensive one, are on offer. Choose the one that pleases you most. I suggest Viña Montes Outer Limits Cinsault 2019. I know that above I told you not to venture out and here I am suggesting a grape that no one knows about, but, trust me, the Chilean cinsault is delicious, it yields very fresh and light wines, of R$ 275.81, it costs R$ 137.91.