STRATEGY ONE—Avoid the lockbox

Avoiding certain price ranges and categories will save you loads of time. Obviously, the most expensive wine in the store is unlikely to be the best candidate for a wine bargain, unless it happens to be a humongous “large format” bottle that you can pour for a party of 100 (they exist). So it follows that you can immediately forget the part of the store that’s under lock and key, where you have to look through at the bottles through plexiglass, as if you were at a museum, or a gas station in a bad neighborhood. If you’re a collector, you may from time to time see something in there that might rank as a relative bargain (Hey! Here’s a ‘61 Mouton for only $8,400! I wonder what wrong with it?). But generally, it’s not going to be your treasure trove of killer deals.

STRATEGY TWO—Avoid the top shelf

Likewise, avoiding the top shelf is a good idea. Most retailers keep their prestige items on the very highest shelf, so that you browse past all the other merchandise on your way to finding the good stuff, and then again on your way back to make your final selection. (Most consumers, even if they are not going to buy the most expensive items, generally look for the best products first, check the price and work their way down in perceived quality to judge relative value). Trust me, there will be no deals on the top shelf.

STRATEGY THREE—Check out the bargain basics

The deals that the merchant would like you to “take advantage of” are always located in two places: in bins along the very bottom of shelves on or near the floor, or stacked in their original boxes in the front of the store or along well-traveled aisles. The difference in placement is that the floor-bins have really old stuff, or stuff the merchant has discontinued and does not ever intend to carry again. The goods stacked in boxes are brand new, at drastically discounted prices. Retailers typically offer these discounts either to unload the end of a vintage to make room for a well-known product, or to introduce something new. Both the floor bins and the prominent mark-down displays are good places to find good value, but you can do even better…

STRATEGY FOUR—Bargain for additional discounts on-shelf

In addition to the standard bargain areas outlined above, I’ve got another favorite that can be even more valuable: the on-shelf reduction. The on-shelf reduction is usually a first step before a merchant decides to move a product to special discount display area. If he can get his stock to zero by simply reducing the price on shelf, without having to move everything around, everyone’s in better shape.

When you spot an appealing on-shelf reduction, you can often bargain with the merchant if you’re willing to take the rest he has in stock. If he’s motivated, you can likely get 20% or sometimes even 25% off. Don’t be greedy; at 25% off, the merchant is basically giving the wine to you at cost or even taking a loss. Remember that most stores work on a 30% margin (profit on sell), and the store has to pay staff, pay the electricity bills, and pay the rent, too.

STRATEGY FIVE—Discover the treasure trove

My absolute fave bargain hunting territory is the floor-bin ends basket. This is often literally a shopping cart just inside the store filled with bottles of everything: spirits, liqueurs, salsa, margarita salt, and wine. This is where products end up just before the merchant either gives them away to the help or throws them out in the dumpster (both illegal as concerns alcohol in most states, I believe). Often, you can find overlooked great producers, whose bottles end up at rock-bottom prices due to quirks of supply and distribution.

Every month or so, all the floor-bins throughout the store are cleaned out, their contents transferred to the ends basket for quick sale dirt cheap. The retailer either prices each item individually, or simply labels the whole basket (“Everything $1,” “Everything 50% off” etc.). It’s worth noting that these dramatic discounts are illegal in a few states like Ohio—where they have mandatory minimum mark-ups—and Pennsylvania, where all of the liquor stores are state-owned and controlled.