Restaurants

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Wines from world-famous regions - such as Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Pouilly-Fuissé and Chablis - may cost less, but they can also represent bad value because sommeliers get bored with people ordering the same old wines. Therefore they deliberately price them high, to encourage people to be more adventurous - which could be seen as a laudable approach, in a fashion. Kate Thal - now owner of wine shop-cum-bar Green & Blue - used to be a buyer for various London restaurants, and still devises lists for the Athenaeum Hotel in Mayfair. 'I put a lower mark-up on something more obscure in order to sell more of it, and make that up with a higher price for a well-known name such as Sancerre,' she says. Thal contrasts this with 'the large hotel groups, who just don't price intelligently. They'll mark up wines that sell and wines that don't sell by over four times, regardless.'

So it's better go for wines and grapes that are not particularly fashionable, but which nonetheless taste delicious. See below Good-value picks for suggestions. And ask the advice of the sommelier. Sommeliers tend to have a bad name because people think they only exist to increase diners' spend on wine. Partly that's the case, but a good sommelier should be helpful rather than aggressive. According to Julee Resendez, who buys wine for Aquavit restaurant in New York, 'A lot of people dismiss us when we offer help, but a good sommelier will give a customer three options. One wine at the price they've pointed to, one that's cheaper and one that's more expensive'. Bill Baker of Reid Wines agrees. 'Sommeliers can be very dangerous,' he says, 'but use them well and you won't overspend. People should be more imaginative; tell them that you want a wine to go with your lamb, and that you don't want it to cost more than £25. What can they do then?'

Why are costs so high?
The house edge
Wine lists that shine
Good-value picks