Price 'em up to knock 'em down

The above is a very nice Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from a producer called Zaccagnini - it is a wine that we have carried pretty much since we started up - it is a very pleasant, juicy mid-priced Montepulciano, fair value for its price which used to be sub €15, now you will find it in many independents priced around €17-18 after the duty increases in recent budgets. We call it "Twiggy" because of the little stick tied on to the front.

Still, at €17.95 I think it represents reasonable value for money.

Then I see it in Supervalu on promotion at €15 - I don't particularly mind this as we occasionally get undercut by retailers with bigger purchasing power than us and we try to respond as best we can if this happens. However, what surprised me was that it was on promotion as reduced from €23 down to €15!

This is a wine which was never €23 and for Supervalu to try and portray this as a 35% discount when it is clearly a (max) 16% discount is, in my view a blatant attempt to swindle consumers.

This is an issue which I think should be tackled with more vigour by our wine writers but perhaps they shy away from it given that the main culprits also happen to be major newspaper advertisers....

There is a consumer story here that, if it was on bread or milk, would be a major scandal, but wine apparently is fair game for this kind of malpractice.

Anyway, Twiggy, now only €15! Reduced from €18.....