Older and less ardent lovers will already be well used to doing so - credit crunch or not. Price can be expected to be a key consideration for most wine-buyers in 2009, in the midst of the financial gloom which has engulfed us.

To make matters worse, a weak pound means the cost of goods from abroad will be shooting up - and let's face it, the vast majority of our wine is imported.

But price alone is not the most important criterion - value for money is the crucial factor. And a good value wine may or may not be cheap.

It's not much good a chap making a selection on the basis of the rock-bottom bargain basement price if it turns out to be so poor that the object of his affections spits her first mouthful in his eye. Hardly a scenario for romantic success.

It was interesting to see more than a third of the 300 wines on show at a Waitrose press tasting were under £7.50 - and 60 of them under a fiver.

The company's wine buying manager, Julian Howard-Sneyd, said all the wines there might not necessarily be cheap. "But nonetheless we expect them to exhibit value," he added.

I tasted a small selection of Waitrose wines, including a couple which romantics may find particularly appropriate for Valentine's Day - lighthearted and sparkling, one white, one pink. And with Valentine value today's theme, both have 25 per cent off their price until February 24.

My highest rating of the pair goes to the white, Cremant de Limoux Brut (12.5 per cent, down from £8.49 to £6.36). This bone-dry but fruity bubbly is made up of 70 per cent chardonnay, 20 per cent chenin blanc and ten per cent pinot noir, and has an appealing, slightly nutty flavour.

It comes from an area of France where monks first started producing sparkling wine around five centuries ago. Easy drinking and easy on the pocket - about a quarter the price of a brand-name champagne.

Freixenet Cava Rosado (12 per cent, down from £8.99 to £6.74) is a zesty Spanish sparkling rose, with the accent on strawberries and hints of oaky vanilla. Tiny bubbles, and a gleaming rose-pink colour.

The rest of the tasting selection included a couple of particularly fine red wines - a nice Burgundy, and a powerful Spanish offering.

Bouchard Aine Red Burgundy 2007 (12.5 per cent, £7.49) has an elegant, supple style, with ripe raspberries and a touch of wood. The 60 per cent pinot noir contributes softness and smoothness to the 40 per cent gamay, the classic Beaujolais grape. A wine to lift the spirits on a wet February evening, or to adorn a dinner table.

The Spanish wine is Monasterio de Santa Ana Monastrell 2006 (14 per cent, £5.99). This rounded, strong, red, which has full-blooded fruit tastes and a powerful alcoholic kick, was aged in oak for three months.

Its strength and richness make it a good match for winter casseroles and stews.

Domaine La Croix Martelle 2007 (14 per cent, £4.99) is a soft southern French blend from the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The dominant grape is grenache, and the wine offers juicy blackcurrants, with a slight dusting of pepper, as you would expect in a wine from this part of France. Organically-grown grapes.

Jean-Luc Baldes Malbec du Clos Triguedina 2006 (12.5 per cent, £6.99) is produced by a noted malbec specialist - the grape with which South American countries have enjoyed enormous success. An intense, smooth, inky red, with damsons and blackberries, from the Cahors region, in south west France, produced from 20-year-old wines.

Cahors is famous for its duck cuisine - they seem to be all over the place there - and this would certainly go well with such a bird, but otherwise drink it with a traditional English roast or a good steak and kidney pie.

Italia Primitivo 2007 (14 per cent, £5.79) is a robust, rustic red providing a perfect partner for strong cheese. The accent is on dark and spicy. I bought a bottle, and relished a glass with a few cubes of Parmesan.

If crisp, dry white is the order of the day, then The Naked Grape Sauvignon Blanc (12.5 per cent, £6.49) is worth considering.



Freshly-picked taste

Non-alcoholic beverages rarely find their way onto the wine page. But a range of cordials containing more than 60 per cent pure juice - some three times the amount in most - caught my eye.

My reasons included the fact that one of them, Pixley Berries Blackcurrant (£2.99, Waitrose) is an absolutely acceptable, and in some ways superior, substitute for the blackcurrant liqueur used in kir, the classic French aperitif featuring dry white wine.

I say superior because the fresh, bright shot of fruit tastes as though the fruit has just been picked off a bush. And as someone with blackcurrants growing at the end of the garden, I know what I'm talking about.

Of course, the cordials are really meant to drink with chilled water by all the family.

Other versions including blackcurrants and Scottish raspberries and blackcurrants and Cox's apples are also available at the same price.




What do you think? Click here to send a letter or leave a comment below.

Click here to go back to Chichester news
Click here to go back to Bognor Regis news
Click here to go back to Midhurst and Petworth news

To tell us where in the world you are reading this story click on the link below to add yourself to our readers' map.

MAP