March Wine Club

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There are many ways of buying cheap wine, though fewer means of buying good cheap wine. Supermarkets often have bargains. Recently, however, I went to a tasting by a very downmarket chain — they had Châteauneuf du Pape for £6.99 and a Chablis for £5.99. These tasted of nothing, and I was amazed at lax appellation laws which allowed them through.

You can go over to France, and that works fine if you want quantity rather than quality. In a highly competitive market, the better French wines tend to be sold abroad or else by specialist merchants; the hypermarchés frequently sell stuff you would not strip paint with. Or you can go for one of those apparently amazing ‘£40 off per case — our special introductory offer! Wine worth £89 delivered to your door for only £49!’ ads in the colour supplements. You wonder how they do it.