Drink me

I am constantly amazed at how low wine prices remain, since several factors indicate they should be higher. Wine attracts high taxation in the UK – currently £2.16 for a 75cl bottle, with VAT at 20 per cent then added on the total price. Apart from bottles sourced from our burgeoning local industry, the rest of the wine we drink is imported, and sterling’s current weakness means most cost more than they used to. The weather has also been working against prices – 2017 saw one of the smallest harvests in Europe for decades. We should all be paying a little bit more for our favourites, yet fierce competition on the high street driven by the success of discounters Lidl and Aldi, along with tough economic conditions, have meant, if anything, prices have dropped. This may appear a good thing, but in-store it is becoming harder to find wines of interest. The simple solution is to switch source for a supermarket’s own-label rioja or picpoul de pinet. Cheaper, though, often translates into lower quality, so many of these are dreary wines, unrepresentative of their regions. On the plus side, there are some bargains to be had: here are three gems.