Brett happens

It has been pointed out that, however useful some may find the tasting notes posted on this blog, searching for wines in a given price range is next to impossible. As a result, I’ve begun adding price range tags for the wines I review. Clicking on a tag will display the notes for all the reviewed wines in the associated price range.

At this point, only wines reviewed since January 1, 2015, have the tags. Time permitting, I may add them for wines reviewed before then, though inflation makes going very far back pointless: “$30 is the new $20,” as the title of a post I’ve been meaning to write says.

Since WordPress doesn’t allow symbols (including dollar signs) in tags, names, not dollar amounts, are used for the various ranges.

Here are the tags and what they mean:

Inexpensive: under $20
Affordable: $20 to $29.99
Mid-priced: $30 to $39.99
Upper mid: $40 to $59.99
Expensive: $60 to $100
Luxury: over $100

The ranges are, of course, arbitrary and subjective. Many people would scoff at calling a $19 bottle inexpensive or a $39 bottle mid-priced. On the other hand, some affluent wine lovers consider $60 wines to be affordable, everyday drinking. In settling on these tags, I’ve tried not to be too untethered from reality but also, in view of the inevitability of price hikes, to future-proof the ranges to some degree to avoid having constantly to adjust them (as The Gazette‘s Bill Zarcharkiw has just done again). I’ve also tried to avoid tag names that could be interpreted as passing judgment on the product; that’s why it’s “inexpensive” and not “cheap,” “expensive” and not “treat” (not all inexpensive wines taste cheap, not all $75 wines are a treat to drink).

The tags will be found at the bottom of each wine review post and on a page I’ll be adding to the list in the right-hand column. They’ll also show up in the tag cloud eventually.