Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- My e-mail inbox is flooded daily with announcements of wine shop clearance sales, all promising deep discounts for coveted bottles that used to be hard to find. In this slumping economy, I’m in vulture mode, along with every other wine lover.

Circle in on New York’s Acker Merrall & Condit. Among the many tempting offerings in its last e-mail, I spotted 2005 Opus One at $148 a bottle, $42 off the usual price.

Then there’s the Bordeaux sale across town at Sherry-Lehmann -- 2005 Cheval Blanc for $995, down from $1,600.

These follow pre-emptive panic pricings in December at retailers like California’s K&L Wine Merchants, which blew out 2005 Lafite and Latour for $799 per, 45 percent off the previous $1,450.

All these opportunities aren’t the box-wine crowd’s idea of bargains, yet they demonstrate how much it’s a buyer’s market today.

We’re all trading down, even though research studies released this month from Nielsen, Wine Market Council and VinExpo show that in the U.S., we’re all still drinking and the wine market is still growing.

For one thing, more people keep entering the buying pool.

“We are convinced the world will continue to drink because of the financial crisis,” VinExpo Chief Executive Officer Robert Beynat joked in a phone interview. The organization has commissioned studies tracking the global wine industry since 1971 by the International Wine & Spirits Record.

Unwanted Burgundy, Bordeaux

“The good news is we’re selling more cases than ever before and adding new customers,” says Chris Adams, executive vice president at Sherry-Lehmann on New York City’s Upper East Side. “The bad news is silence at the very top, with grand cru Burgundy and Bordeaux. You can’t make up the dollars lost with inexpensive wine.”

Sherry-Lehmann sold twice as many cases of sparkling wines in 2008 as it did in 2007, yet sales of French champagne fell about 20 percent.

Richard Cacciato, chief executive of New York importer Frederick Wildman & Sons, says $40 is the new resistance point, and demand is focused on $10 to $20 wines. Australia is down, while Spain and Argentina are up.

For some shops, discount sales are essential to get rid of stock that didn’t move last fall.

“Can’t have a stagnant inventory,” says Steve Bachmann of Vinfolio, a fine wine and collector services company in San Francisco. “Our average price per bottle is $170.” He points out that the higher the wine price in 2008, the steeper the fall now.

This year should be a great time to buy wine, though my main caveat is to check prices elsewhere before you buy to make sure the label is really being discounted.

Tastings

Discount sales aren’t the only opportunities that retailers are dangling to entice buyers. On Jan. 26, Scarsdale, New York- based Zachys joined with Bordeaux’s Union des Grands Crus, a group of top producers, to host a tasting of 2005 and 2006 Bordeaux for 500 consumers, hoping to drum up business. Vinfolio is offering ground shipping for one penny on all purchases of $500 and up.

And what about auctions? A sale by Zachys last week at New York’s Restaurant Daniel was standing room only at one point. There was plenty of enthusiasm -- 95 percent sold -- though bidders were bargain hunting. Some prices were at the lower level of two or three years ago, welcome news, though top Burgundies remained pretty strong. Obviously, now isn’t the time to sell your cellar, unless you have to.

No What-the-Hell Wines

Restaurant sales have been hit hardest.

“No one’s buying the what-the-hell wines,” moans John Ragan, beverage manager of New York City’s Eleven Madison Park. “Guys from Credit Suisse, whose offices are in the building, used to order a couple of bottles of wine at lunch. Then they’d say, ‘Oh what the hell,’ and order a $500 or $1,000 bottle.”

Instead, we’re drinking more at home.

Among the fire sales, the most imaginative offer I’ve received in recent weeks is Bailout, a yet-to-be-bottled 2007 Napa Valley cabernet whose price tag is pegged to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Made from top Napa grapes by experienced winemakers (Opus One) at San Francisco custom winery Crushpad, it’s billed as “a hedge against further drops in the market.”

The wine will be bottled on Aug. 14 and shipped in the fall, though buyers can reserve a bottle now for $39. If the Dow falls from the day of purchase to bottling day, Crushpad will send the buyer a $2 rebate for every 100 points of the decline. (The company is calling this a “stimulus check.”) Don’t worry if the Dow rises. The $39 is a cap.

(Elin McCoy writes on wine and spirits for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of the story: Elin McCoy at emcwine@aol.com.

Last Updated: January 29, 2009 00:01 EST