Good wine doesn’t have to break the bank. Here are four tips.

Whether you’re a collector or want to sip something tasty on a Tuesday, you don’t have to break the bank to drink great wine.

You heard it here first: Wine is not necessary to survive. (I’m as disappointed by this as anyone else.) And so, as prices for everything climb — including domestic and imported bottles affected by tariffs, shipping costs and other factors — bars, restaurants and bottle shops are reasonable places to tighten belts.

Maybe you’re in austerity mode because you’re saving for a big-ticket item, such as a mortgage or a tank of gas. Or you simply need to prioritize finding good deals, whether you’re shopping for patio furniture or pinot grigio. Either way, in this or any economy, few of us can afford to buy wine without considering the price tag.

But protecting your bottom line doesn’t have to mean depriving yourself of glasses and bottles you actually like. There are all sorts of ways to improve the value proposition of wine. It doesn’t matter if your budget is modest or magnum-sized, or if you just want to sip something delicious and affordable when the mood strikes. Here’s how to get the most out of every dollar you spend.

Split a wine club membership

Wine clubs can introduce you to producers or regions you might not otherwise try at below-retail prices. To offset the cost of a membership, consider sharing it with a friend, neighbor, co-worker or other wine-curious person in your contacts list.

Choosing the right club is vital. Slickly marketed digital brands abound, but I’ve found better value and quality from smaller-scale operations run by independent retailers or sommeliers. Love the wine list at a certain restaurant? Ask the somm if they have or know of a great wine club. Or inquire at your local bottle shop.

I’m a fan of Copake Wine Works’s Well-Edited Wine Club; its monthly two-bottle subscriptions include guided tastings, and you can add wines without incurring higher shipping fees. Allie Balin, the food and beverage director at Ruse Restaurant in Saint Michaels, Maryland, is partial to Helen’s Wine Club, a Los Angeles operation that focuses on natural wines. “You can do it quarterly or monthly, and it’s a helpful way to get wine at a better price,” she says.

Like any arrangement where money is involved, establish the rules of the road in advance. Either split the wines in each shipment, or create an alternating schedule where you keep all the bottles in one mailing, and they get the next. Whoever has the most reliable front door or stoop is the delivery address.

Think big in restaurants

If you go out to eat with a group and you have any intention of drinking more than one glass of wine, ask your tablemates if they’re open to sharing a bottle. You could save 40% on wine.

It all comes down to margins, Balin says. Alcohol sales are how many restaurants make up for otherwise limited profitability. Wine markups vary based on location, volume and other factors, but typically the price of a by-the-glass pour is equal to the wholesale cost of that bottle. (Wholesale prices are around 30% to 50% less than retail.)

“Let’s say the restaurant buys a bottle for $18,” she says. “They’re usually going to charge around $18 for a glass of that wine.” Meanwhile, wines sold by the bottle on the menu might be three times the wholesale price.

To be clear, in either instance, the wine has a markup. But restaurant glasses can be five times more expensive.

“If you’re doing the math in your head, and you know that five glasses make a bottle, count how many glasses you’re planning to have and go from there,” suggests Puja Verma, owner and director of operations at Kiran’s in Houston. Bottle lists are often full of deeper cuts than by-the-glass selections, too.

Not sure you can finish a whole bottle? Don’t be afraid to ask the restaurant to save the cork so you can take anything you don’t drink home with you. (Just be sure to check your state’s cork-and-carry laws first.)

Buy in bulk

When it comes to wine, the economics of scale also apply to retail. Many wine stores offer deals when you buy multiple bottles at a time. If you can swing the up-front costs and know that you’ll eventually drink it all, ask a salesperson about bulk discounts.

At indie wine shops, that might mean deals on themed packages, such as 10% off two handpicked spring reds at Beaupierre Wines & Spirits in Manhattan. The Wine Attic in Clifton, Virginia, takes 5% off when you buy six bottles and 10% off 12.

Chain stores such as BevMo! and Total Wine have multi-bottle specials that can encompass beers, wines and spirits. Case discounts are available at retailers of all sizes. There are 12 wine bottles in a case, so find out if you can mix and match or need to stick to one style or producer. “Then you can squirrel them away and drink them at your leisure,” Balin says.

If you’re worried about how to store all those extra bottles because you don’t have a dedicated wine fridge or cellar, don’t fret. “The main things to keep in mind for any wine is to avoid heat, light and inconsistencies in its surroundings,” says Cha McCoy, author of “Wine Pairing for the People.” “Put it someplace cool and dark, like a basement or a closet, and you’re good.”

Start a tasting group

Drinking in a community of like-minded wine lovers is ideal on several fronts. It improves your palate because it forces you to identify and express what you taste, and it can be fascinating to gauge how your perceptions and associations differ from others’. Plus, you get to taste lots of wines for the price of one.

As Tyler Balliet explains in “Rebel School of Wine,” tasting groups are “a great way to pool resources and purchase some more expensive wines.” She suggests choosing a theme, “like Spanish reds, Malbecs under $25, or Italian white wines. Each group member can bring a bottle of wine that fits the theme, or you can designate one person to purchase all the wine and split the expense later.”

Meet with a set frequency, either in a prescribed time and place, such as your living room on the first Tuesday of the month, or go a la carte and set recurring calendar reminders to arrange each tasting. If you opt for the latter, a digital tool such as Doodle will make scheduling en masse easier.

Like the money in your pocket, your time is valuable. So get the most out of both by drinking well.

• Emily Saladino is the associate managing editor of Wine Enthusiast. A former line cook, she has also created and tested recipes for cookbooks and other publications.