Large-scale, high-volume grape growing, fuelled and fertilised by agro-chemicals and finally turned into wine in vast, juicing factories, is as scary as battery farming and growth hormone-tainted meat. If provenance and practice are all — and I see no reason why grapes should not have a birth certificate and passport, too — then it is high time that drinkers sought out the smaller producers’ wines. These are the folk whose families have farmed the same handful of vineyards for generations and made wine in the same small, ancient cellar every year. Unlike commercial, mass-produced wine ventures, these hands-on, personally involved wine producers tend their vines throughout the year.Some formal wine training does not go amiss, either, with infinitely better wines being made by the younger generation of small producers who have gone to oenology school.

Small is not always beautiful in the wine world though. I can think of lots of rural cellars even in France where mucky conditions produce some equally mucky wines. And falling for those “vente directe” signs driving back from your holiday in France and elsewhere on the Continent are almost always a mistake. And supporting your local vineyard and producer is a noble idea, but British summers are inconsistent and the wines are expensive for what they are.

WINE MERCHANTS

Given that smaller producers’ production is necessarily limited, the wines that they make do not end up on supermarket shelves but in the hands of fine wine merchants who should handle both them and their wines with the tender loving care they deserve. Do not be shy of buying from specialist merchants — they are not just for big-spending connoisseurs, although you should be aware that most will expect you to buy at least a dozen bottles to begin with and delivery to your door will cost around £8-£15 per drop on top. For that initial outlay you can then expect all manner of tempting wine offers, with vintage wine releases, seasonal selections, tasting cases, sale wines, free advice and good service all part of the fine-wine mail-order merchant package (see box for details).

SUPERMARKET WINE

It is no surprise that supermarkets win hands down on sales of cheaper, everyday wine — they provide us with over three-quarters of all wine we choose to drink at home. But to give them their due, the big four of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are all making an effort to produce more expensive, supposedly top-drawer ranges. Short-sighted wine lovers like me will find Tesco’s minuscule Finest label hard to spot and 50 or so Premium range has erratic distribution. Yet there is plenty to enjoy and if you are lucky you should be able to bag the bold, ripe, steely, herbaceous l999 Chablis ler Cru Côte de Léchet (Tesco, £17.99).

Over at Asda the wine buyers are in the middle of a review but the own-label Extra Special gold disc bottles are the best of a mediocre bunch. Sainsbury’s laboriously titled Taste the Difference range has greatly expanded, with 40 wines expected to be on the shelf by Christmas. Around a quarter of these are worth buying, including the floral, green tomato and gooseberry-charged 2006 Taste the Difference Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, a £6.49 Kiwi snip.

So far Morrisons has only a trio of The Best wines but more are on the way, so the jury is still out.

Waitrose is the star of the supermarket show with a terrific run of Fine Wines and an excellent Inner Cellar selection, almost all of which get my vote, especially the elegant nutty 2004 Meursault Le Limozin from Vincent Girardin at £20.99.

WHAT TO SPEND

Spending just £1 more than the pathetic national average of £3.86 will bring you a much better wine. No point in spending £4.99 on Sainsbury’s evil jammy, 1.5 plastic litre of Vin Rouge, a 1970s-styled monstrosity, when the same money at the same place can bring you the seductive, gentle, plummy spice of the Mont Tauch co-operative’s delicious 2005 Fitou.

ORGANIC WINE

Organic wine continues to be another convoluted issue. Organic wine diehards are adamant that their route is the only way to go. However, what these green-is-best folk don’t bother to tell their customers is that while these producers try to avoid the use of chemical herbicides, pesticides et al, in practice sulphur, the wine trade’s all-purpose cleaner, disinfectant and preservative is used regularly, as is copper sulphate, an anti-mildew spray.

As any gardener knows, good natural plant health can be acheived without overdosing on chemicals by being vigilant and giving daily doses of prevention rather than cure. It is the same with vines.

Try the splendid violet, plum and blackberry-charged 2005 Domaine de la Grande Bellane Organic Côtes du Rhône, a delectable 14.5 per cent alcohol charmer and a bargain too at just £5.99 from Sainsbury’s.

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