WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE' WINE MIDDLE GROUND?'

On Saturday night we had a dinner and wine tasting here at Maison Du Vin.

Around the dinner table conversation a question was posed. In the world of buying wine

'What has happened to the middle ground?' It was a good question and provoked an interesting debate. It seems that the vast majority of the wine buying public do not know where the middle ground is either? This is born out by the stark truth that around 80% of all wine sold in the UK is around the £4 a bottle mark. Sales of fine wines say over £15 per bottle are a fraction of the remaining 20%. So this leaves a whopping price band that has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the countries consciousness

Well hijacked actually, hijacked by the Supermarkets! Who else? They dominate the market. You see they have managed through clever marketing to 'shoe horn most of the countries wine buyers into that very narrow price band that is most profitable and most efficient for them. The £4.00 - £5 bracket.

It is in this grubby little hole where all the truly nasty branded horrors lie. The type of wine that you finished off at a party and wished you hadn't! The cocktail of chemicals that has never been anywhere near a vineyard and has probably been made by boiling a pan of water and waving a bunch of grapes over the top! You may point out that most supermarkets have a so called 'Fine wine section' but is never promoted and sales are in general pretty poor.

Conversely of course all the cheap branded rubbish is promoted to hell.

Over the last ten years or so, many many people have adopted a mind set that pigeon holes wine into two categories. Cheap everyday at £4 then a quantum leap right up to fine wines at £20 a bottle plus. Which in most peoples minds is 'far to good for the likes of them!'

Now here is something that might shock and amaze you. The middle ground is only £2 a bottle more! YES just two quid.

When I first started in the wine trade over 20 years ago the middle ground was where most people spent there money and found great value and nothing has changed. In fact I would say that it has got a whole lot better. So where is this hallowed ground? £6 - £12 per bottle that's where £15 if you want to push it. This is where you are going to find all the great wines that time forgot. Macon Village. Cotes du Rhone Village. Chablis, Sancerre, Rioja, Chianti and many many more. Not to mention lots of great bottles from new world independent producers. One could easily drown ones sorrow's in this huge price vat for the rest of ones life and be constantly surprised and delighted and this bracket stretches across all wine producing countries and grape varieties. It opens up an entire new world of discovery and boundless enjoyment and it is only £2 a bottle more.

Now come on. If somebody offered you the chance to change your life for an extra two quid

would you not be tempted? GO ON. GIVE IT A GO!