It's a depressing fact that much of the recent growth in wine sales in the UK has been driven by just a handful of brands.
Indeed, over half of the incredible 1.5 billion bottles that we bought last year were accounted for by a few usually massively discounted, always heavily advertised, big names.
To be fair, though, there are positive aspects to the rise of these super wineries. They did us all a favour in the '80s by making huge investments in technology and production techniques, causing, in the process, much of the rest of the wine world to change.
Most importantly, through the use of clear labelling that focuses on grape varieties, they've made wine buying much simpler for consumers put off by old world wine terminology. It's just that by concentrating so much of our vinous interest on this style of wine, which is, as befits all mass market brands, homogenous and guaranteed to offend no-one, we're missing out on a whole world of drinking pleasure.
Terroir, for example, the concept that local circumstances such as soil, climate and altitude are all important, and the reason why the same grape grown hundreds of miles apart can produce two different tasting wines, is completely absent in the branded world.
Vintage, too, becomes an irrelevance when the aim is to produce wine that tastes exactly the same from one year to the next. Variation is key when it comes to understanding wine and the reason why the subject can be so fascinating. The following three examples taste as they do precisely because of where they were made.
Chablis Eugene Brocard 2002, Oddbins £8.49 The chalky Kimmeridgian soil and relatively cool climate of Chablis in Burgundy lend their wines a unique 'flinty' edge that you just don't get with Chardonnay made elsewhere.
This example, from the renowned La Chablisienne co-operative, is crisp and refreshing, with a wonderful peach aroma. Perfect with shellfish. Gaston Chiquet, www.bbr.co.uk £14.95 The cold, northern climate of Champagne, where grapes fight a constant struggle to ripen fully, is an unforgiving environment in which to produce fine wine. Yet it's these very conditions that are responsible for the drink's crisp, elegant style and the reason why sparkling wine made elsewhere just isn't the same.
This Champagne from Gaston Chiquet, based in the brilliantly named region of Dizy, is made, unusually, from mainly Pinot Meunier (with Pinot Noir making up only 20 per cent of the blend). The result is a wonderfully soft, toasty wine at a brilliant price. Chateau Martin Graves 2002, Tesco £7.49 Bordeaux produces a staggering 66 million cases of wine a year, and is home to some of the world's best. There may be no shortage of imitators, (California, Australia and Chile in particular), but near perfect conditions for viniculture continue to give this large South West region of France the edge.
This wine from Graves, a village noted for its gravely topsoil, is typical of the region's style, packed with vivid red fruit flavour and with a wonderful spiciness. Philip Parkin, 34, is passionate about wine and is selflessly dedicated to tasting and reviewing on your behalf. He can be contacted at freelancewine@hotmail.com | 
