How to Start a Wine Collection For Less

Have you pretended to be a wine snob?

Have you decided to list oenophile on your Facebook page profile?

Did you bust out a long list of words from thesaurus.com trying to impress friends on a recent wine offering at the dinner party - drinkable, complex, fruity, balanced, refined - or start sensing tasting notes of flora or fruit?

Instead of just pretending, embrace the wine lifestyle. For those of us who want to start building a wine collection , but don't have the endless disposable funds, here are five tips to help start - and soon be the aficionado that friends come to for advice.


A recent survey commissioned by G Marquis Vineyards, shows that wine consumption in Canada is increasing steadily and that one in 10 Ontario residents have faked their knowledge about wine.

Instead of pretending, here's five tips from G Marquis on how to build a collection, learn about wine and still maintain the budget:

1. Compare notes - There's plenty of availability, so to keep the budget in check, determine what you and your friends like and what your wine preferences are. This will help you stay focused on selections to enjoy rather purchasing wine bottles that will collect dust.

2. Keep an open mind - When determining your wine preferences, consider wines from New World regions such as Chile, Argentina, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand (quality in these regions often trumps price) rather than established ones such as France, Italy or California.

3. Stay in the know - Take the time to get to know the staff at local wine retailer and share preferences so they can offer suggestions. Narrow your options, without sacrificing taste and quality, and be sure to tell them you're on a budget.

4. Go beyond the hype - Don't equate high price with high quality, this is not always the case. Consider the overall quality of the wine rather than its cache or snob appeal (to avoid paying more and getting less!). Move beyond the fancy labels and hype surrounding certain wines and look for wines from large and/or new producers rather than (snooty) established or smaller ones.

5. Do your homework - When building a wine collection, educate yourself as much as you can. Attend a wine tour or local wine events, learn about wine regions from around the world or take a wine tasting classes to discuss emerging wines, Gathering an array of information will increase your wine knowledge and help you build the collection.