I went to two tastings the other day that couldn’t have been more different, namely the latest seasonal range from Lidl and the spring tasting at Mayfair wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd, which threw into stark relief what constitutes value in the wine world. Most of BBR’s bottles are at least twice and often three or four times as expensive as Lidl’s, but are they three or four times as good? Most of you, I suspect, would say not, but that’s not the only factor at play.
So long as you could afford it – and I appreciate that these days many can’t – most of you, I imagine, wouldn’t buy the cheapest chicken on the supermarket shelf because of concerns about the conditions under which it was reared. Similarly, you might not shop at Primark because you wonder what the working conditions are like for the garment workers who are making clothes at such low prices. Well, much the same goes for wine. If you cut margins to the bone, someone has to pay, and it’s unlikely to be the supermarket. I’m citing Berry Bros, but many local wine shops, much like butchers and bookshops, provide a real service to their community. If we like the idea of our town being populated with independent shops and want small winemakers to be able to make a living, we ought to patronise these independents. By and large, they stock more interesting wines than supermarkets, too, although the remarkably luscious Hungarian Haraszthy Sauvignon Blanc that Lidl is selling for £8.49 in its latest Wine Tour is certainly the exception to that rule.
