It seems that more and more people are sleep walking into the discount trap. The big brands spend obscene amounts of money to get us to believe that there really is a Jacobs Creek, a Blossom Hill, and that their purely generic blend that just happens to be made in South Africa is actually representative of the countries indigenous wines! 65% of wine sold in the UK is on discount. Some of the price-cutting is so deep that most of us must question whether quality can be maintained at such a level. Indeed to quote Oz Clarke in his 2007 wine buying guide. “ The big brands are doing too well out of bribing all of us to drink their wines with deep discounts and half price offers.” Yet despite that the quality has been ebbing away for years. Old world wines, France, Italy, and Spain struggle because they take a bit of effort to understand, most supermarkets admit that they are not in the education business. The truth is that many wines from these Countries offer endless fascination. A fascination that can be enjoyed alone in solitary bliss. Or with groups of friends. But I guess that it is endemic of today's Society that wine joins the endless list of products that deliver shallow gratification instantly at a rock bottom price. It's up to the individual to decide what they are really buying? But surely it can't be as simple as “How do you want your alcohol and at what cost? Kevin Griffin