Just a few short years ago, in what now seems like another era, American wine consumers and especially collectors, were chasing wine prices into the stratosphere.  I remember watching in amazement as the “auction value” of some Bordeaux wines doubled and tripled within a year or two.  Fast forward now to the present, where deals for wines are as common as baseballs at spring training.  As wine inventories continue to build worldwide and remain with us for the foreseeable future, I expect that this will be the norm. 

I am interested in a deal for a good or even great wine as much as anyone else.  But the one word that has risen from the dust that rankles me to no end is………..CHEAP.  Promotions such as  “Cheap wines sold here” or “Fine wine at cheap prices” makes me see red!  The word just simply conjures up a vision of poorly crafted jug wine produced in mass quantity poured into a small bathroom sized glass.  I know, I know……..I whined endlessly last year when a restaurant served red wine to me in a small table glass and I took issue with that behavior, as well.  But to do the word justice, I thought that I would research the definition of “cheap.”  After all, if I’m going to take sides, it should be based upon objective data. 

My dictionary source was none other than Websters.  The source has several definitions listed.  Here they are in order: