The True Value of Wine Has Little to Do with Price
- Iván González Gaínza
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
Back in December 2025, during a short visit to Tenerife, Ivan was reminded of something simple yet powerful: you can drink wine in any given situation and feel completely at ease with your choice.
We’re constantly surrounded by social media posts of people tasting rare bottles of wine, and filling their feeds with labels most of us will only ever see on a screen. And that’s fine - aspiration has its place. But how often do normal wine lovers encounter those wines in real life, or feel ready to spend €€€ just to open a bottle at home?
Not very often.
Yet great wine moments happen everywhere. Sometimes with one of the rarest bottles in the Canary Islands… and sometimes with anonymous bulk wine poured into a carafe or bottle.
Both experiences can deliver absolute joy.
Here are Ivan’s two examples:
A Rare Canary Island Treasure, Five Years in the Making
In the photos above, Ivan is with one of the rarest wines from the Canary Islands: a bottle from Victoria Torres Pecis of La Palma.
Back in 2020, during lockdown, we had more time than usual so Ivan decided to call Victoria. They spoke about wine, life, and her work, and - perhaps naïvely - Ivan asked whether she might consider letting our newly formed distribution company represent her wines in Mallorca.
She had just signed with a major national distributor and kindly suggested we try and buy stock through them.
So Ivan tried… and tried. For five years he tried to buy a single bottle just to taste her wine and see if it truly lived up to the reputation.
And then, finally, in a small shop in Tenerife, he found one.
Ivan opened it with his mother for her birthday. Nothing fancy - just the wine, a few almonds, and a fabulous moment shared between them.
The wine was exquisite: refined, pure, and expressive.
Was it worth the wait? Absolutely!
It was one of the most beautiful “natural” wines Ivan has ever tasted.
Price: €56 for 0.75L
Value: immeasurable
A Label-Free Bottle of Bulk Wine… and Pure Happiness
In the photos above, Ivan ordered a bottle of wine that had no label, which he drank from a glass tumbler.
This was in a guachinche - the Canarian equivalent of a rustic Mallorcan Celler. These places are anchored in tradition, where the food is homemade, the prices are honest, and there are no tablecloths or napkins.
There’s no wine list. No bottles. No back labels promising fresh minerality or tension.
Just three options: red, dry white, or semi-dry white. They are all served as bulk wine, and made the old-fashioned way.
The red wine Ivan tried was fresh, juicy, humble, and unpretentious.
He drank it at a basic wooden table, with a group of old friends from his childhood, accompanied by simple food. And they spent the evening putting the world to rights.
It was a delicious wine that delivered as much pleasure as any bottle with a prestigious name.
Price: approximately €4 per litre (buried somewhere within the €20-per-head bill)
Value: also immeasurable
Two Wines, Two Different Moments but Equal Value
Both experiences were perfect, in their own way.
A rare, long-awaited natural wine shared with his mother.
And a humble, anonymous bulk wine shared with lifelong friends.
Different price points, different contexts, but the same emotional richness.
And that’s the point: the true value of a wine isn’t decided by its rarity or cost, but by the moment it helps create.
Ivan would pay both prices again - €56 and €4 - without hesitation, if it meant feeling the same warmth, connection, and sense of home.
Why This Matters: Building Confidence in Your Wine Choices
Wine enjoyment doesn’t need to be complicated, and it certainly shouldn’t be intimidating. Whether you choose a €60 bottle or a €4 tumbler, what matters most is:
The people you’re with
The moment you’re celebrating
The pleasure the wine brings
Your confidence in choosing what you enjoy
This mind-set frees you from external pressure and brings you back to the essence of wine: joy, community, memory, and connection.
Conclusion: Drink What Feels Right, and Own the Choice
Ivan's Tenerife trip reminded him that wine doesn’t need a stage, a score, or a status to be valuable.
A rare bottle can be magical.
A simple one can be just as meaningful.
If your choice brings you happiness - if it matches your moment - then this is the true value of wine. And it is the right wine, every time.
Drink with confidence, drink with intention, and drink for the joy of it - because that is what wine is truly about.
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