How much should I spend on wine?

A complex question - but one which does have a sensible answer.

Like most products, wine will generally improve in quality as the price goes up. But most people underestimate what's a realistic starting price for decent wine. The associated costs of selling wine in the UK include alcohol duty at £1.90 per bottle (£2.30 after VAT) plus shipping costs to the UK (wine is heavy), add a bit for the cost of the bottle and labelling, and don't forget a retailer profit. So on a £6 bottle of wine you are probably spending about £1 on the wine itself. Not a great ratio.

However - if you increase your spend to £10 you will allocate about £5 to the wine itself - 5 times more! So there's the maths, and that is why most of my wines retail at around £10.

But it's not a decision based purely on the numbers. In practice there are good reasons why wine tastes better when you spend a bit more. At the bottom end of the market where wine is sold for a euro or two, little time or money is invested in the wine making process because there is no return on the investment. Grapes are literally batted off the vines mechanically, crushed, fermented and bottled.

But when I visit wineries where the trade price increases beyond 5 euros per bottle there is a massive difference in quality. At this price the winemakers can afford to invest more time and money in the vines as they grow, reduce yields, harvest carefully, employ better equipment and working practices in the winery, and allow their wines more time to mature in vats or barrels before release. The result is a handmade product expertly crafted with real character and distinction. In other words - proper wine.

Another important consideration is where you buy your wine. If you buy a bottle on the high street or supermarket the price will have to cover staff, rent and rates and an additional mark up from an importer/distributor before it even gets to the retailer.

My advice is to buy directly from an importer and if you spend between £10 and £20 a bottle you will find fantastic value for money and a lifetime of enjoyment.

Is blind tasting wine useful?

I've tried blind tasting wines a few times with friends and it's a fun activity to combine with dinner. In case you were wondering you don't have to actually blindfold yourself or decant every wine - you can buy numbered wine tasting bags that conceal the bottles. You would think this is a pretty reliable way to assess the quality of wines, but it's not that straightforward.

Some people argue that the label is part of the experience of buying and drinking a bottle of wine - much like the ambiance of a restaurant affects our enjoyment of food. Or that knowing the basic facts about a wine such as the grape variety, age, country of origin (and let's face it - price) creates a better context in which to appreciate it. I agree with both of these arguments but I am nonetheless interested to know how wines perform under more 'scientific' scrutiny.

The problem with judging a wine after a few sips is that the more powerful, up-front wines tend to perform better. They explode with flavour and create an impact. But that's not necessarily what we really want from a wine over the course of an evening. It's great to know how each wine scores in a blind tasting but when I reveal the bottles and we drink them with dinner I pay close attention to which bottle is finished first.

Sometimes this concurs with the scores from the blind tasting - but sometimes not. So which is the better steer?  When people stop analysing the wines and relax with some food and conversation it's the more balanced, subtle wines they reach for and this tells me which wines my customers are more likely to enjoy time and again.

It's not a perfect way to judge wine but it's useful and enjoyable and there are worse experiments for human guinea pigs to endure.

What would Bond drink?

This might seem a slightly silly question on a Wine Blog as the obvious answer is 'Vodka Martini'. However, Bond is evolving and in Casino Royale I spotted him drinking a very nice Chateau Angelus (Saint Emilion Grand Cru) on a train journey to a poker tournament in Montenegro.

He had just been loaned 10 million dollars by the British Government so he was probably feeling quite flush (please excuse the pun).

All things considered, I would agree with his choice of wine. Being a right bank claret with a good percentage of merlot, the Angelus is very approachable even when young. A beautifully balanced wine that will go with most food, and silky smooth to sip on its own.

I'm sure the buffet car would be able to rustle up something tasty, but if the food was disappointing at least he could enjoy a fantastic wine.

Unfortunately this wine is beyond most people's reach, but I can recommend an extremely good alternative from the same neck of the woods. Next time you fancy some glamorous wine drinking can I suggest my Chateau Vieux Larmande 2004 - another Saint Emilion Grand Cru at a very reasonably £15.

Claret - worth the wait

I have been tasting and buying wine professionally for a while now and a couple of questions have recently popped into my mind that have probably been lurking there for a while: 1) Why do Bordeaux wines take so long to reach maturity? And 2) Why do Bordeaux winemakers sell their wines long before they reach their potential?

For the sake of brevity I think the answer to the first question is: Grape varieties and climate.

And the answer to the second question is: Because they can, and it's expensive to store unsold wines.

However, I remain intrigued. I guess what brought these questions to the fore was tasting a glass of my 2005 Chateau de Lescaneaut from Castillon in Bordeaux. 2005 was a spectacular vintage in Bordeaux, but one which only now has reached maturity. By contrast, the 'reserva' wines I buy from Italy and Spain are smooth and balanced from the day I buy them.

So why is this? They are made from different grapes and come from slightly warmer climates which makes them more approachable. But the other reason is that Italian and Spanish winemakers age their best wines for a number of years both in barrels and in bottles before release. The result is that all of their promise is available immediately and doesn't disappoint.

So you might think the conclusion is to buy Italian and Spanish wines and forget about Bordeaux. I wish it were that simple. The problem is, when you taste a well made claret from a good vintage that has been given time to mature - you have to set your taste buds to stun. It can reveal layers of complexity and subtle delights that I am yet to discover in other wines. As some people would say, "proper wine".

But also beware of assuming older is always better. The French think we British are absurd in our obsession with old wines - and to some extent I agree. As red wine ages its tanins soften to reveal a more rounded wine, but the delicious fruit flavours are also slowly dying year on year. So very old wines (apart from the absolute best) tend to lose their vivacity - and for me the pleasure is gone.

Not easy then to get your claret buying right. I am doing my best to store and release a small selection of nicely aged clarets. It requires careful stock planning and lots of patience, but I'm not likely to give up on claret any time soon.

Bordeaux wines from 2004, 2005, and 2006 available from Hedonist Wines.

I'll have my chenin blanc neat please

As a wine enthusiast I'm always keen to see people getting stuck into wine with confidence and enjoyment. And I think it's a shame that many people feel intimidated by wine lists in bars and restaurants. However, in the last couple of years I have noticed a distinct shift in ordering habits as more people have gained the confidence to choose what they like. Nowadays you are more likely to hear someone boldly ask for a glass of merlot or shiraz - rather than simply a glass of red.

This is good news all round but would not be possible without the promotion and success of single varietal wines. I'm a huge fan of single varietals - wines made from just one type of grape. I think it's the key to understanding and appreciating wines, and it's the only way to get to know the different characteristics. It's how you discover for example that sauvignon blanc is a zesty citrus white, or shiraz is a full-bodied spicy red.

Ultimately the way a wines tastes is determined by a number of factors like the local climate, the wine making process, and the amount of time it has spent in barrels or bottles. But the type of grape should be the defining characteristic and only single varietals allow you to experience the true expression of the grape.

The other great aspect of single varietals is that they normally come from where that particular grape grows best - where the climate, soil and rainfall match the needs of the grape. People have been making wine for thousands of years and it's no coincidence that specific grape varieties have come to dominate certain regions - it's because they work well together.

The natural style of particular grapes does vary as you move from country to country, but this just adds to the pleasure of getting to know what you like and where you like it to come from.

So I'm looking forward to more people grabbing the wine list off me and seeking out something they know and like.

Whisper it, but some of us still drink Old World wines

I've been wondering how long it will take for wine critics to turn full circle and start singing the praises of Old World wines. It seems to me that New World wines (from Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, California etc) have enjoyed an extended honeymoon period of praise from mainstream journalists and they continue to dominate the recommendations in wine columns every week.

As a wine lover I applaud the success of New World wines, but we should be careful not to overlook the fantastic wines from France, Spain and Italy. Indeed I believe that we in the UK should predominantly drink European wines. I'll start with the obvious environmental issue of shipping liquids half way around the world when we have a perfectly good supply of very fine wines on our doorstep. Admittedly the cheap stuff is shipped efficiently in bulk containers but the same argument applies - if you want cheap wine you don't need to drag it from the other side of the world.

However my main issue is balancing quality with value for money. I am not disputing that the New World can produce some excellent wines, but the ones that genuinely rival the best examples from France, Spain and Italy are now very expensive. For example many of the acclaimed wines coming out of Australia right now are from small producers who can't ship in bulk. This is part of the reason why they are expensive but the other major issue is exchange rates. Ten years ago you could get 3 Australian dollars to the pound whereas now you get 1.5. That alone has doubled the price. True fans are still happy to pay £20+ for quality Australian wines, but I'm afraid I'm out.

When I talk about "quality" wines I mean those that have elegance, individuality and a great expression of the grape variety. These are the qualities I look for in my wines and I believe they are easier to achieve in European climates. New World wine regions tend to have intensely hot summers that can result in an excess of alcohol and overblown flavours. In my experience too many New World wines lack sophistication so they are hard to match with food and a bit 'in your face' when sipped on their own. The best New World winemakers adapt their techniques to the conditions but there's a high price to pay for their efforts.

I must qualify my opinions by saying that after years of sampling wines I now prefer an understated style. Essentially I find it easier to live with wines that whisper their qualities rather than shout.