I Don't Know Much About Wine ........

I don't know much about wine, although I should, I've drunk enough of the stuff! But, the pricing is very confusing. Take French wine; now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the French make the finest wines, but I also know that very little of their best stuff finds its way to the UK. I spent five years working for a Paris based company, quite a lot of it in France and I have yet to have a poor bottle of wine when in the company of a French person, regardless of price.

But I digress. There is a great variety of wine available now; Australian, US, South American, Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian - you name it, you can get it. However, it's the Australian that have taken the premium ground in the mid-range and they seem to have their pricing for profit strategy right.

You can get a decent red for £4.99 up and quite a lot now is at £7.99 to £12.99. If you prefer white, the ubiquitous Chardonnay is still very popular here, although the heavily oaked stuff seems to have been challenged by the crisper European varieties such as Pinot Grigio, which is priced at the value end generally.

The real challenge for the wine producers is the move to screw-top, which I'm told is superior to (cheaper than?) traditional cork. The Aussies are taking the lead here, having moved their low end to screw-top already and I'm told, the mid premium is going to move across imminently. The question is, will they be able to hold the premium price?