My CVS Wine WIN!

We’ve all been there before. It’s Saturday morning, and as you mosey to the kitchen to pour a nice, FULL, mimosa you discover that you’re fresh out of sparkling wine. In my case I needed a bottle to participate in the virtual brunch I was having with my girls, but let’s be clear: you NEVER really need a reason for mimosas!

As I contemplated running to the store or going without my Saturday morning mimosa my Uber Eats order arrived so I had to move quickly because no one wants to re-heat restaurant eggs. So I throw on what I’d classify as an hobo-chic outfit *aka a Grambling State University hoodie, navy camouflage joggers, and my Target slides (NO, I did not match but the face card never declines and I was moisturized so it’s all good) and trek to my local CVS.

As I turn down the wine aisle I see a sign that gave me the feeling of what I supposed Krispy Kreme lovers feel they see the “hot ready.” This was THEE most beautiful basic ass white sheet of print paper I’ve ever seen and it said “select wine 50% off.” Now y’all, I thought it was a joke and they were going to play with my emotions so I pulled out my phone to record the aisle and then texted my girls informing them of how good God was on this Saturday morning.

For context, I first learned about the perks of couponing and CVS points from an old colleague. She was over the Math department in the school district we worked for, and I was over English Language Arts department. Not only did we share an office, but we collorated and car pooled so much that she became my work bestie. On our lunch breaks we’d go to CVS by our office and she’d get to calculating those numbers and I’d just look alongside in awe. It was a rush for her, and I was thoroughly impressed but didn’t have the patience for all of those numbers. Fast forward years later, and here I am attempting to live my best coupon life!

Anyway, I took the video to the cashier so she could confirm or deny the sale before I got my hopes up. By this time I’m already calculating how may cases I could fit into my truck. She then calls her manager and the manager was unbothered as I waited with baited breath. The whole time I was thinking I’d get the deal on some “we need to honor the sign because the customer is always right” technicality, but this was a legitimate sale! The manager looked it up and said it was accurate, so you know what I did next. . . That’s right, I started looking at the labels for regions and makers.

Now we all know that CVS carries largely commercial wines and as someone who holds a WSET Level 2 certification, but also prides themselves on simple pairings, I’m not too unrealistic to admit that I go to CVS for wine. Keep your judgement, but don’t act like you’ve never had one of those exshausting days when you needed a bottle, you forgot to grab a something to take to someone’s house while visiting (I hate going to folks’ house empty handed; blame the Southern Belle in me, but Jackie raised me right), OR you just need a quick bottle to add a drop of juice to for mimosas.

Nevertheless, I grabbed about two and a half cases of wine and took them to the register to check out. The cashier was a trooper because I had her ring up each bottle to give me the regular versus sale price, and while she did that I Googled the bottle to make sure I was getting a deal.

My strategy was simple: anything less than $7 off the standard retail price went back to their shelves. Let me clarify what I mean by “standard retail price.” Now, a bottle of LaMarca Prosecco can range for about $11.99-17.99 retail depending on where you purchase it from. Typically, smaller wine or liquor stores charge more due to smaller orders and larger retailers usually have them for less. CVS on the other hand charges on the higher end due to convenience. I’m aware of this and no, I did not care. There’s a sentimental reason I only drink LaMarca with my mimosas, but that’s another post and I’m trying shade the wine-win.

So she rang everything up and I made my selections based off of a simple equation: Wine region+ at least $7 off= I’m buying it. My initial total was initially somewhere around $289, but after the ExtraCare savings and the wine promotional discount I was left with a grand total of $173.41 (minus my two personal items). At this point we were both SHOOK because I walked away with about 18 bottles!

I’m not sure why these bottles were on sale (I suppose overstock), but I don’t look gift horses in the mouth. Just know what when you see these largely commercial wines in my upcoming food and wine pairings, they were a part of my CVS Wine-Win!