I HAVE just been listening to a rather daft wine feature on the radio. It was irritating on several counts.

Firstly, there was a rather outrageous suggestion that at the £5 price bracket consumers should only buy their wines from the supermarkets, as the independents simply can't compete. What nonsense!

I rarely buy my wines from the supermarket, and yet I have a plentiful supply of wines at around that price on my wine rack from a host of independents.

The second rather irritating suggestion was that we should be looking to the 'new world' for quality, better-value wines because of their clean, modern wineries'. What twaddle! Are all New World wineries producing super-clean, great value wines? No. Are the Old World producers still pressing their grapes with their feet and scraping grime from the wall? That'll be another no. I really do wish people would stop making such sweeping generalisations. They're fantastically unhelpful, and do nothing to help the happy wine-buying punter, like you and me.

So, here I am this week doing my bit to support one of the world's oldest and most hotly debated wine regions of them all - Bordeaux. For far too long, there's been an onslaught of criticism regarding the region's apparent inability to deliver at the cheaper end of the market. I don't deny that consistency has been a bit of a thorn in the side for everyday Bordeaux wines, and they have had to shake off some old-school ideas to move forward. But I truly believe the majority of winemakers have taken stock and are well placed to take advantage of the increased interest in French wines.

Alongside Rioja, Bordeaux is very much on the tip of our tongues when it comes to being able to identify a wine-producing region. This has held true over the years, despite our love affair with all that comes from the southern hemisphere. Happily, the old adage that what goes around, comes around, is coming true for the Bordelais.

There's a resurgence of interest in wines from the region, and wine-makers are seizing the opportunity. They're smart enough to know that when interest's up, they must prove they can deliver quality wines at sensible prices. By sensible, I'm talking in the region of £5 to £10 a bottle.

Winemakers are less focused on making wines for the longer term, and have grasped the idea of delivering wines that can be enjoyed right here, right now'. To do that, they're adopting techniques that they've seen working well in other countries around the world.

Cold maceration is one such technique. By macerating the grape skins with the juice at a cool temperature only the best flavour compounds are extracted, giving the wines the best possible flavour. Producers have also embraced the comparatively new (developed in 1990) and ultra-hip process known as micro-oxygenation. It might sound like something out of the emergency room, but it is in fact a nifty way to create softer, more supple wines.

In easy-speak, micro-oxygenation is all about controlling the amount of oxygen that the wine is exposed to during its life in the winery. The right levels of oxygen ensure a healthy fermentation, and for many, its greatest asset is its ability to mirror the effects of barrel ageing. When a wine is aged in barrel, it is exposed to a gentle and continuous supply of oxygen. Tank-stored wines are only likely to have hits of oxygen when the wines are being racked-off. Micro-oxygenation is more delicate, gives rounded wines, and without necessarily incurring the cost of barrel ageing.

It would be unbelievably silly to suggest that every bottle of Bordeaux wine at £5 is delightful. Almost as crazy, in fact, as suggesting that every New World wine is faultless because of the clean wineries and the abundance of screw caps. No region or country is without its duff, lazy producers. I do, however, commend the good folk of Bordeaux for not giving up, and for being proud of their centuries-old wine-making tradition. They're moving with the times, and I salute them.

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