Wine:If it is cheap it is almost certainly considered naff

It’s cool to be budget in fashion but not in wine.” That attitude runs right through US wine buying – if it is cheap, it is almost certainly considered naff. By contrast, folk here often read no further than the cheapest deal.

Mathematics seem to support the US case because the first £2.17 of each bottle is now duty and VAT on that duty. You can do the detailed calculations but, in effect, double the £4 you might spend on a bottle (to £8) and almost three times as much money goes on the actual wine. The implication is that, when you spend less money, quality goes down faster than price.

To try to get a fix on the real value of discounted wines, I asked some unashamedly cost-conscious shoppers to show me the wine they had bought and challenged supermarket buyers to suggest better options that were only slightly dearer. Then our shoppers blind tasted both wines in the Edinburgh Hotel du Vin’s fantastic Laroche room – there can surely be few better compact tasting venues in the city.

The first contest was between two new world chardonnays. There was nothing terribly wrong with the branded Oz version our shoppers had bought (on a £5 half-price offer) but the 2010 La Leyenda Chardonnay Torrontes (£7.29, Tesco) was certainly better. It has smooth lemon and orange or mango flavours and a balanced but lively acidity.

Advocates of trading up to get better value were given another boost with the rosés. 2010 Finest Navarra Garnacha Rosé (£6.99, Tesco) is a little dearer than the Spanish alternative but there was no comparison when it came to taste. Reflecting the biggest gap in the whole event, the tasters waxed lyrical about the clean (bubblegum-free), crisp and long raspberry flavours of the garnacha. The result also underlined the reliability of premium brands.

Those premium brands won more praise when two examples that used the same grape, Sicily’s fiano, went head to head. Predictably, this was close but 2009 Finest Fiano (£6.99, Tesco) with its light apple and lemon, easy-drinking style narrowly won the day – and the hearts of these shoppers, who said that fiano was not hitherto on their radar.

Just as I was starting to think I had all this cracked, along came a giant killer to upset the applecart. A premium brand Italian red came second to 2010 Italia Primitivo (down from £6.79 to £4.99 at Morrisons). It is a dark, well-rounded wine with cranberry and plum fruit and some really nice, balanced, spicy tannin on the finish.

A different – but very useful – pointer about sources emerged from our next comparison. The value for money available from places like the Iberian peninsula threw up two sound and comparably priced (around a fiver) Spanish reds – one a crianza and the other an older reserva. Eventually, its balanced oak and nice black cherry acidity won the day for 2007 Castillo Albai Rioja Crianza (£5, Asda) but both were decent bottles and the victory margin was narrow.

Although an exercise of this scale can never be conclusive, useful trading up pointers did emerge. Despite the odd victory for a maverick, supermarket premium brands can be a good buy, especially when they are on offer. So look out for the Finest, Taste the Difference, The Best and Extra Special gang, particularly when recommended in the media. Conversely, branded wines on promotion seem to be less promising territory.

Learn, as well, to spot good-value countries (South Africa, Portugal and Spain are promising at the moment) but remember that places like California can be expensive. Finally, there seems to be no relationship between the depth of the apparent cut and the quality of the wine. Judge by the offer price and not by the ‘normally’ price. A pound off a good wine is invariably better value than a half-price nonentity can ever provide.

2010 Maison du Languedoc Grenache Merlot France, 13 per cent A well-made, chewy blend with morello cherry and red plum flavours, soft tannins and a pleasing chocolate finish. £6.99, Morrisons

2010 La Grille Sauvignon Blanc Touraine, France, 12 per cent Fresh and intense with sherbet lemon-centred acidity and a soft jaffa orange finish. £6.49 (as part of a mixed case), Majestic

2009 Kiwi House Pinot Noir Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, 13 per cent Smooth and rich with cherry and blackcurrant fruit. £11.99, Lockett Bros, North Berwick