How to be an impecunious connoisseur

A guide for skint wine lovers. This one is free to read.

I had a message recently from a young man who is struggling adjusting to life as a student. The problem is that he’s used to far better wine at home than he can now afford. Oh the humanity!

When I was a student I was lucky in having absolutely terrible tastes so I was happy enough drinking Lynx lager or even the infamous White Lightning (£2.49 for a two litre bottle of 7.5% cider-style drink). It was only towards the end of my degree that I began to appreciate semi-decent wine.

Unfortunately wine is not as cheap as it was nearly 30 (!) years ago. According to the Bank of England inflation tracker, most things have roughly doubled in price. When I was at university you could find something really quite drinkable for £2.99 and £3.99 could get you a bottle with a bit of character. Nowadays that’s £6 and £8. I haven’t had anything really worth drinking at under £6 for a while now. Plus students now have to take on thousands of pounds of debt to pay for their degrees. Our education was free, the music was better and smoking was still cool. Different times!

But there is a worldwide wine glut at the moment so you should, in theory, see better quality wines on the shelves. There’s also a whisky surplus so this is a good time to pick up a taste for single malts.

Here’s my little guide to finding good wines that won’t break the bank. At some point it might even be a book.

If you can’t be bothered to read the whole thing, then the three best value wines are:

• Spanish Garnacha or Garnacha blends, e.g. Sangre de Toro

• Côtes-du-Rhône of both colours, e.g. Dauphins Côtes du Rhône Villages

• South African Chenin and white blends, e.g. Fistful of Schist

Supermarket Own Labels Are Your Friends

Don’t turn your nose up at supermarkets’ own range. Tesco has long had some very nice wines in its ‘Finest’ range. ASDA and Morrisons are getting better the whole time. Aldi has brilliant wines but also some absolute stinkers. Generally speaking a £7 supermarket own label will provide good value. They can be made by excellent producers; Sainsbury’s Côtes du Rhône is made by Gabriel Meffre and Tesco’s 10 Year Old Tawny port is made by the Symington family (though thanks to our wonderful new duty system it isn’t the bargain it once was).

Read wine writers

This is going to sound terribly old fashioned in this modern age of Myspace and Bebo, but it’s worth reading newspaper wine writers. Victoria Moore at the Daily Telegraph and Jane MacQuitty at The Times, for example, taste almost everything at supermarket tastings, so they can point out which Aldi or Lidl wines are worth your time. If you follow one wine person on Instagram make it Moore.

Countries/regions to look out for

There are certain countries and regions that are drastically underpriced such as most of the South of France, in fact most of Southern Europe particularly Spain, Portugal, and Southern Italy. Eastern Europe is cheap too but at the bottom end the wines tend to lack character, like Romanian Pinot Grigio. Outside Europe, South Africa is ludicrously cheap. SA Chenin and white blends are some of the best wines for value. Argentina and Chile offer great value. But even regions with cache like Bordeaux or England are not immune to overstocking so there are bargains to be had. If you’re looking for fizz, Cava is much nicer than horrible sweet Prosecco.

Join the Wine Society

This is a cooperative that costs £40 to join as a one-off fee. Get your godfather or mother to buy you membership. There’s lots of really quite drinkable things in the £7-10 bracket. I’ve never had anything from TWS that hasn’t punched well above its price bracket.

Watch out for brands

Some brands are good, some aren’t. Sorry that isn’t very helpful. I generally find 19 Crimes pretty revolting but some people like it. Some big names can be good, especially in an unfamiliar shop. Generally the most reliable are Chilean ones like Casillero del Diablo and Cono Sur, and French ones like La Vieille Ferme (aka the chicken wine), Celliers des Dauphins, Paul Mas and Gérard Bertrand.

Creeping sugar levels

A growing problem is the rise in sugar levels. They seem particularly prevalent with Southern Italian and Portuguese wines from larger retailers. I was dismayed by a recent tasting at Aldi to find an aglianico with over seven grams of residual sugar. Again as with branded wines, people clearly like them, but if you’re reared on good quality French wines, they taste disgusting. Also I suspect they’re made with wines that would otherwise taste too bitter and rough without a good dose of sugar.

Eating out

This requires a whole post of its own but my best advice is to eat somewhere where you can trust the house wine. Having said that, in a trattoria or pizzeria it’s usually worth upgrading to a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. The most reliable wines tend to be the obvious ones like Rioja, Côtes-du-Rhône, Argentine Malbec, Chilean Chardonnay etc. If in doubt, stick to beer.

Going upmarket

If you do have a bit more money to spend, say over £12, it’s worth getting to know your local wine merchant assuming it isn’t Shrine to the Vine. You might be invited to tastings or tipped off about bargains. Or even better, get a part-time job there.

Become a wine influencer

There’s a gap in the market, as far as I can tell, for someone doing student wines on Instagram. At the very least you’ll probably get some freebies.