I picked 1 because it is the closest for me, though “pricier” for me is anything over $20.
That said, the issue of spouse into wine/not and daily drinkers/splurge are totally separate for me.
We (that is, me) drink wine with dinner (virtually) every night. Most nights, that’s a “daily drinker” which almost always means under $20. She almost always has some when it’s one she likes more, and often skips entirely or just has a very small pour when it’s one she likes less.
We used to open the “good stuff” less often, when our income was lower, child-related expenses were higher, and we were still in the “accumulation/aging” phase on the cellar. So maybe one and sometimes two weekends a month, plus special occasions, plus wine events. She almost always has some when it’s one of these, wine events excluded because she usually passes on those. Now that our income is higher, child-related expenses lower, and cellar more mature and stuffed full, we open the “good stuff” more often - almost every weekend now, plus finding more occasions to call “special” plus wine events. Recent purchasing of more “good stuff” on release than before means that in retirement (when those have some age on them) we’ll be able to open the “good stuff” even more often - because (or so I’ve been told) in retirement, every day is Saturday!
Not sure why one set of questions mentions affordable and the other mentions very good. I drink a lot of very good and I think relatively affordable wines regularly. But everyone’s definition of affordable is different. For me with the recent wine inflation I find it’s about $60 that I consider a potential regular weeknight wine if it’s also very good. But I also keep cellar defenders at $20 range that I open most weeknights.
My wife is a great tasting companion on the wine journey. She has a great palate, but is not guy-nerdy like me.
We tend to drink wine together on a given night, or have no wine on a given night. I can’t recall ever feeling I needed wine on nights she wasn’t into it.
We don’t consume enough of any wine to drive us too low on price, so we tend to drink higher end; but our budget keeps from frequent high end balla wines.
My spouse is one of the most knowledge wine people I’ve ever met. His experience dwarfs mine. He’s had more significant aged wine than most people on the board put together. Frankly, he’s a little tired of it.
We both prefer to drink the delicious, food friendly, modestly to moderately priced wine with which we’ve filled our cellar most of the time. We drink the pricier/more “impressive” bottles whenever we feel like it, but that usually means with friends or a particular dish or when we’re in the mood for something to which we need to pay more attention.
Will clarify the “regularly affordable” question, it is meant to be arbitrary per one’s personal preference. For some $60 is a weekday wine, for some anything above $20 is a classified in the expensive group. Both are correct as long as it fits that persons definition of regular/cheap vs. expensive. Part of the poll is to also see how one’s S.O. affects one’s willingness to open a relatively expensive bottle on their own.
I will modify the “very good” and re-name it to relatively expensive. Oops, guess I cannot edit the poll. Please consider the “very good” wines as “relatively expensive” wines.
We’d fall into 3 & 4 if forced to choose. Wife appreciates good wine and has a great palate, but just is not as geeked out about it as I am. Red wines give her a higher chance of a hangover so she rarely drinks them. She loves Rose, which I like from time to time, but she drinks it year round.
If I open a really nice red, I’ll ask her to try it to let me know what she picks up on, and then up to her if she wants anymore, and often she is fine to go back to her cheap screw cap Rose instead of my fancy bottle. Also means I tend to think long and hard about when and what to open with my better stuff, as I’m likely faced with the prospect of finishing it all myself, or making it stretch over 2 or 3 nights, because she chooses not to have any of it.
wife has a great palate, and enjoys what she enjoys very much, but like many here, she doesn’t geek out over it like I do. We generally enjoy affordable (<$20ish) wines daily, but will pull out expensive/rare wines on a whim for no particular reason.
My wife loves wine almost as much as I do. She has a far better palate than I do. Her favorite producer is Raveneau. Hard to argue with that.
By far the most enjoyment I get out of this hobby is drinking good wine with her, at home, as we eat a home-cooked meal. Weeknights we mostly drink humble appellations, but I have no qualms opening any special bottle with her under any circumstances. In fact, it’s by far my preferred environment. More broadly, she’s thrilled to have a cellar at her disposal and she’s thrilled (at least I think she’s thrilled) that I spend the time and money to make it so we always have something delicious to open.
That said, it’s completely inconceivable that she would ever spend even one minute on an online discussion board; scour wine-searcher; discuss the finer points of vintages, vineyards, and producers; or otherwise geek out over wine in any way.
Also tough for me to answer, as my wife and I RARELY drink the same wine. IF we share a bottle, it’s a Cab both of us like, or a Chardonnay she loves and I’m ok with, or Champagne which we always agree upon. She drinks only those - Cab, Chardonnay, and Champagne, with a very occasional Zinfandel, which typically we agree on. Anything French other than Champagne is ‘poop and dirt’ to her, she drinks no Syrah, and Pinot is ‘watery red wine’ to her, so most often we have two bottles. More of a ‘binge and purge’ mentality here, as we almost never drink during the week, most often only Thur, Fri, Sat
Not really, I usually try to open something she’ll enjoy. There will be the occasional scruntched nose and eww but for the most part her palate has progressed far from Fetzer Gewürztraminer which was all she would drink when we met. She even went toe to toe with me on a ‘99 Ravenswood Cooke Zin the other night. If she doesn’t like what I pour I’ll open her something I know she’ll enjoy. We’ll range from a $20 Ode to Lulu to a $100+ Napa Cab any day of the week based on what we cook for dinner. What day it is has little bearing on what we drink.
My wife is very limited to riesling, rosé, and bubbly. If I’m not opening one of those three I’m on my own. Thus, my most expensive reds (typically in the $50-70 range) I tend to hold for group tastings, though sometimes I’ll open a bottle for myself especially if I have multiples (e.g. CA zin/zin blends or Oregon pinot noir SVDs). Regarding riesling, I buy mostly in the $20-40 range and don’t mind cracking one open on a regular night. The GGs or higher pradikat/aged rieslings I usually save for weekends, special occasions, or group tastings.
My partner and i drink something special, fairly serious wines together almost every Sat; since what the f*** else is there to do in a small town, especially during a pandemic. (And yes, we usually cook something special as well.)
During the week, I drink and only on Thurs (and only a bit–sometimes cocktails, sometimes coravin a white, which will be part of the weekend). Work suffers too much otherwise.
We drink wine every evening with dinner. I prepare the meal and I select the wine to go with the meal. We eat lighter Monday-Friday, so generally have a less “serious” wine. I don’t dwell on price, because that decision is made when I purchase the wine. I’ve been at this a long time, and have a good selection of nicely aged wines that I prefer to have on the weekend. My husband enjoys what I open, but has a preference for younger wines. He has no interest in choosing a bottle from the cellar, and if I am out for the evening, or out of town for a few days, asks that I leave him a bottle, or a few bottles.
When I say “less serious,” I mean less complex, less contemplative.
Very interesting answers so far, the poll definitely has its shortcomings as there are so many variables. Looking at the poll, seems like its a close split between people whose S.O. is really into wine and those who are not so into wine (will drink occasionally). Also a trend in the posts is that most S.O. even if an avid wine drinker, is not into the nerdiness like most/all of us. One interesting trend in choices #3 and #4, is that those whose S.O. is really into wine has an almost 2X factor compared to those whose S.O. wasn’t so much into wine, but those in #5 and #6 are much closer.
I voted for #2, but surprised it’s the lowest representation in the poll. May be the definitions. What’s a special occasion?
For me it’s actually three discrete buckets:
Weekdays is typically “affordable” wines in the $15-20 range, although lately that’s been drifting up to $20-25.
Weekends is nicer wines - say $40-60. Nowadays that leaves some $30 wines in a funny limbo - too nice for a weekday, but not nice enough when I get to the weekend.
True special occasions - even nicer wines, although I’m still cellarbuilding and don’t break into that stuff very often.
Also, is price the best indicator of a “nicer” wine? What about aged wines that didn’t cost much back then? For me a great weekend wine could also be something that was $25 10 years ago and now is aged just right.
So, mine is a hybrid. Wife not in to wine, me whatever floats my boat. However… when I am opening something higher end, my wife seems to summon a glass magically in to her hand.
Then she is in to wine lol, and merely because she can tell given the difference in my cadence with a daily drinker vs something deserving some care.
If I were answering the poll 20-30 years ago, the choice would have been #2- now the answer is #5.
Same wife, and she still enjoys wine, but the extent of our level of interest has diverged. Our spending habits have changed also, with mortgages paid off, and no college tuition to subsidize.
I no longer try to save more expensive and special wines for events and special days. I open the wine that I want that evening, without particular regard to price or rarity.
My wife enjoys most of what I open, usually without comment.