The key is to shop around. On average, the British spend just £3.95 a bottle, which, when you take into account the VAT, tax, duty, costs of the bottle itself, the labels, the cork and the shipping costs, means that the wine inside ain’t worth very much.
I reckon that an RRP of £5.99 is the magic price. At this level you can find wines of real quality, typical of their region, style and grape variety. And, thanks to the myriad of so-called ‘Twofer’ (Two Bottles for the Price of One) or BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) deals in the high street, this figure is often halved. Split the cost with your flatmate and get a bottle each.