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The Daily Poverty Post.

bottle-wine-sizes

Bossy isn’t picky when it comes to types of wine, but she has one prejudice in her life and it goes something like this: she thinks wine in 1.5 liter bottles doesn’t taste as good as the same wine in 750 ml bottles.

She doesn’t know if vineyards use castoff wine to fill their larger bottles, or if it has to do with the increased volume of wine itself, or perhaps it’s what that increased volume does to itself stored over a period of time, or maybe it’s the air that flows through the larger bottle neck to mix with the increased volume of wine when opened, and is it a surprise to anyone that Bossy failed science?

But lately Bossy has been rethinking her prejudice and here’s why: when Bossy was shopping for the booze that would eventually be consumed on Election night, she stood in the aisle of her liquor store and eyed up the prices versus sizes yet again, and Bossy found that 1.5 liters of Fetzer Merlot was on sale for something like $12.99 while the 750 ml Fetzer Merlot was on sale for something like $7.99— Bossy would show you the exact figures on the receipt except she lost the receipt and that’s right she said she lost the receipt.

But certainly the larger wine is the better deal right? Because that’s only a five-dollar difference in price for twice as much wine and please excuse Bossy while she slips into a math coma.

There is one big disadvantage of the larger bottles, though: it’s harder to know when to stop. If Bossy has a bottle in front of her and wants it to last for two or three nights, she knows exactly how much to drink. But with the 1.5 liter size, it’s all Frontal Lobotomy.

Opinions?

And congratulations to the winner of Uniroyal’s Emergency Car Kit: Susan! Bossy sent you an email. Thanks to everyone for playing along.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I had that same prejudice against big bottles once upon a time. But then I did the math just as Bossy has done and learned to love the big wine bottle. We enjoyed a happy relationship for many years and still do. But then I discovered the box, Black Box wines in particular. That box just keeps on giving and giving and giving, offering what a priest of wine might call “serviceable” wine. While, “A loaf of bread, a box of wine, and thou” doesn’t sound very appealing, the fact that there’s an abundance of it available and waiting on me at such a low price helps pass life’s more unromantic hours. Like Tuesday night. And Wednesday night. And Thursday night. Embrace the box, Bossy. You can do it! Have your wine and drink it, too!

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  2. I’m uber picky, and if we don’t finish a bottle of wine in one night, I won’t drink it. I will, however, use it in food, so we have a lot of alcoholic recipes around here.

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  3. First? Can I just say that a math coma sounds delicious? Am big math nerd and would gladly go into a math coma.

    Second. The Rite Aids around here have Five Oaks wine for THREE DOLLARS. It is fantastic.

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  4. I don’t drink wine, but people who do say that the best reasonable wine is at Trader Joe’s. I’m inclined to believe that’s probably true, since everything there is good and reasonable. But ours doesn’t see booze. Maybe your’s does.

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  5. Oh – and my guess is that the bigger bottle is cheaper because it’s not as good. But sometimes we have to make sacrifices in order to climb out of debt. You won’t save any money, though, if you drink the whole bigger bottle in as much time as the smaller bottle.

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  6. YES. I can’t agree more on the “how much to drink” thingy!! It’s so hard to judge in the larger bottle. If someone can help …maybe give a little geometric tutorial on “How to read measurements in a 1.5 liter bottle of Fetzer and make it last for 2 adults over the course of 3 – 4 weeknight dinners,” I would be much obliged.

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  7. Wait. I don’t have to finish the bottle (or the second one)the same night I open it? Huh. Well, that right there would probably save us some money.

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  8. Finally…a subject on which I am an expert. Although I love really good wine, I have learned to be not so picky about my daily glass (or 3). The swill I consume during the week is either from those 1.5 liter bottles or from the BEST DEAL EVAH…Charles Shaw (aka “Two Buck Chuck”). Trader Joe’s carries this and since we left CA, my father-in-law has dutifully filled his suitcases with it for every visit (since they don’t sell alcohol at the TJ’s in our state). It has gotten all sorts of write-ups about it’s “drinability” for the price (sometimes it’s 3 bucks, not 2). It’s no Opus One, but definitely a great table wine.

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  10. In the Sunshine State household, we are all about the Gin and Vodka.
    COSTCO liquor dept, by the gallon. And it’s even the good stuff.

    Wine? 750ml at the grocery store. Stuff I like at $5 to $6.99 a bottle. We don’t drink much wine, so the 1.75 would turn to vinegar before we finished it.

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  11. I have one word boxed wine. OK, that’s two words. You can thank me later.

    I too as a huuuuge wine snob. No boxed wine in my house, Hell no. Then I spoke to a friend of mine who works in the bidness of all things boozy and well I thought I would give it a try. I haven’t looked back. I still buy bottle wine but my house is never without a box of Banrock Station shiraz.

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  14. Just checking back hoping for the 1.5 liter measuring lesson/tutorial, and what do I find? Boxed wine. Boxed wine! Boxed wine? Kelly, Min, Lindy …Kathy Griffin’s mother, how will I measure a BOX? How long should a box of wine last 2 adults who have a glass (or 2) with dinner most nights? Except on weekends when 2 glasses of wine tell 2 friends, who tell 2 friends and so on and so on… Should I call the Betty Ford clinic and just make myself a reservation NOW? Oh Bossy, remember when we mixed water with soap here at Poverty Post and life was simple?

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  15. Bossy has been reading the comments with great interest, especially the How Will I Know How Much I Am Drinking conundrum regarding the larger bottles… and then Bossy sat with her problem a bit more, and finally she was all, “Wellllllll, when Bossy drinks 1 glass from the big bottle it will be as if she drank 1 glass… and when she drinks 2 glasses from the big bottle, it will be as if she drank 2 glasses…..” and that is the official tutorial about portion control with large bottles… and although Bossy isn’t certain she understands her own tutorial, she does finally understand the long-term effects of alcohol abuse.

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  16. Bartender’s rule: one 750 ml bottle of wine = 5 glasses, one 1.5 liter bottle = 10 glasses (unless you’re Linda’s husband who likes the very, very, very full glass of wine approach).

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  17. I don’t have enough self-control to do the big bottle thing much less the box thing. I like the little bottles.
    Good tutorial; it doesn’t work, though, for a woman of minimal self restraint…

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  19. Thank you, Bossy. I get it NOW. I’ll try to remember the one glass = one glass.

    But come 7:05 PM, when the hubby’s on a business trip, the 3 kids homework has been checked BUT the dishes will still need to be “done” it won’t be so simple. It will just look like a bottle of wine with soooooooooo much left in it that I might think: “I must have only had a small glass and maybe I’ll just top this one off.”
    So, I better NOT buy the box of wine–unless Kathy Griffin’s mother comes to visit me. Otherwise this may be the scenario unfolding in a suburb somewhere in the US:
    Bossy reader JK sighs and dials 411. “Yes, California. The phone number for The Betty Ford Clinic, please…”

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  22. Bossy, please buy boxed wine and do a review. That way, if it’s horrible, then you’ll have spent the money and drank the skank.

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  23. I just think the small bottles are prettier. I can’t tell much difference regarding the taste.

    Speaking of alcohol (specifically gin), I had a setback this weekend.

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  25. Oh, Dear Lord, Looking at the photo I thought you were going to give up your wine and then I’d have to break up with you. Phew!

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  26. I’ve never had a prejudice for larger bottles, but I can’t seem to wrap myself around wine in boxes!

    May I recommend a wonderful CHEAP wine? Opici makes a wine called “Homemade” that is absolutely delish and comes in huge gallon sized bottles for around $15. It’s an Italian table wine made in California. Came recommended to my by the little old Italian guys at the Bocce club. Always happy to share in the poverty party!

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  27. Oh yeah, and save one of your small bottles to pour the big bottle into. My dad does that with the Opici wine. Pours it into a Polar seltzer water bottle — we all call it his Polar wine!

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  28. Bossy,

    you finally explained my husband’s dilemma. All this time I thought it was portion control. Thanks for clearing up the mystery., I kept thinking those big bottle would last longer.

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  29. Linda260: Bossy is laughing so hard at the prospect that a 750ml bottle contains five glasses. Maybe if you pour like Bossy’s tight Uncle Harris. He also added ice cubes, if Bossy remembers…

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  32. Oh, Bossy. I have such a strong opinion on this one that I’ve not even read the previous comments and so forgive me if I’m being repetitious.

    I absolutely AGREE that there is something different about the liter bottles insofar as I believe they add WATER to it because it takes so much more drinking of that than if it came from the smaller bottle plus there is a discernible difference in taste.

    Also, if you have to drink more of it to get the same effect, are you really saving money? I say no.

    But I will also say this: I recently went from a situation known as, “Hey, I can buy whatever wine I want because money is here and steady coming in,” to the SHITuation known as, “Holy crap. I have to consider that half of my grocery budget is spent on wine, and I don’t really have money to waste on any such luxury, but I’ll be damned if I’m doing without my wine. Toilet paper is optional..”

    So, I feel your predicament very acutely. If it helps you any, I still buy the smaller bottles for just the reasons you cite: there is a difference and I don’t drink as much.

    Where as much = “If I’m going to drink one bottle, it may as well be a smaller one.”

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  33. Dear Bossy,
    We cordially invite you to pick one of three area bridges and stop over here in Jersey. Our wine prices are cheaper! Then, you can stop and save a few cents on gas before heading home! I’m just sayin’. OK that concludes my list of what ‘s good about living on the Jersey side. CHEERS!

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  34. The nexus of poverty and drinking is a slippery slope. First you say boxed wine is okay, and before you know it you’re telling yourself WIld Irish Rose and Thunderbird are okay, and you’ll save water by drinking out of the bottle and you repurpose the screw-off tops as bird seed cups for the squirrels that visit you on your bench and then you start collecting kids’ thrown away juice boxes to make Hobo wine. Slippery, slippery slope.

    Be careful.

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  35. That’s way too much thinking and too much math. I hate math. Just enjoy the wine and forget the rest! I found a cheap wine recently that I really like it is Berringers White Zinfandel. it was on sale for $5.99 a bottle- YEAH!

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  36. well, in operas people are ALWAYS drinking wine, so it comes with the territory.

    Two words people: TRADER JOES.
    Three words: Three-buck Chuck

    They also will mark down other non-Chuck brands to the Chuck price.

    A case will run you approx. $36
    Thats $12 bottles o’ vino, folks!

    Yeah, I’m a bit lushy, too.

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  37. Boxed wine? Um, no. Until I read the comment that it has a bladder to keep air out. I might reconsider. But there is still that issue with not being able to see how much I’ve drunk… In the meanwhile I’ll stick to my local Kroger’s. Every now and then they haul an entire cart of wine out near the front and it’s all marked down! Scored a $16 bottle for $4 the other day.

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  39. i didn’t read all the comments, but i agree with the fans of box wine, absolutely. i’m the only one in our house who drinks wine, and i’m not a BIG drinker, just a glass at dinner (ok, sometimes 2), so even a small bottle of wine goes bad before i finish it (especially reds). that vacuum seal really keeps it fresh, and the taste is great. plus the price can’t be beat (esp. on sale), and it fits so nicely in the fridge.

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  42. Bossy (#29): HAHAHAHAHA!!! To paraphrase bethany – then how do you make a bottle last 3 nights? 🙂
    Also, Vella boxed chardonney is not bad at all.

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  43. For what it’s worth, I am currently drinking a glass of swill–oops–red wine from a bigger bottle.

    The brand is tolerable/decent for what I call affordable wines–Beringer– BUT I heart Beringer merlot in the small bottles and gladly lap it up and sniff around for more, but this swill in the larger bottles cannot be the same stuff. I am cringing on the second glass, and normally that cringing is done and over after the first glass and all taste buds have surrendered for the night.

    I’m starting to think the box is the way to go for those on a budget. Box over Big Bottle any day. But smaller bottles preferred when affordable.

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