JUNE WINE CLUB

Here’s a very exciting offer. We start with two wines which are phenomenal value. They are from the Pierre Henri estate in southern France. This is a big enterprise (they have just taken an order for 50,000 cases from Royal Thai airlines) and you might expect the wines to be bland and mass-produced: alcoholic grape juice. Not so. The Syrah 2006 is plump and fruity, and the Chardonnay 2006 is fresh, lively and packed with flavour. There’s perfume provided by the 5 per cent Viognier that M. Henri adds when nobody is looking. These wines are sold under a different label in one of our best-known chains for £5.90 a bottle, and people still feel they’ve got a bargain. Now Simon Wrightson, who runs a splendidly quirky wine business in North Yorkshire, is selling them both — not for his list price of £4, but for £3.50 a bottle. £3.50!