Red wine bargains from Laithwaite's

Six excellent wines from Britain's largest mail order wine merchant

For eight years I ran the BBC Good Food Wine Club in conjunction with Laithwaites, aka Direct Wines. Britain’s largest mail order wine merchant, it’s the company behind The Sunday Times Wine Club, Avery’s and others. Each quarter I would taste dozens of wines and pick my favourites to go into that season’s cases.

The job was a fascinating lesson in the disconnect between what a wine writer is interested in and what the average customer wants. Occasionally, a Laithwaite’s buyer would ask me why I hadn’t included a certain wine. I’d be honest and say that I didn’t love it and then she would casually let slip that it was their bestselling wine with hundreds of 5 star reviews from satisfied costumers. I still wouldn’t include wines that I wouldn’t buy myself but it taught me that what I’m after in a wine, variety, authenticity, freshness, perhaps something a little out of the ordinary, isn’t necessarily what most punters enjoy.