THE Oxford Times is teaming up with the award-winning wine writer John Stimpfig and the Oxford Wine Company, one of the UK's leading independent wine merchants, to present a weekly choice of superb and reasonably priced wines - all specially selected for The Oxford Times Wine Club.

Every week, readers will have the chance to buy a mixed case of wine, independently selected by John Stimpfig, The Oxford Times wine correspondent for five years, and winner of the first Louis Roederer International Wine Writer of the Year Award.

John will be making his selection from the Oxford Wine Company's list of more than 1,000 wines. Details of the first case will be in next week's edition of The Oxford Times and on our website www.theoxfordtimeswine club.net John will write a feature about wine each week in a column, appearing in the Weekend section of The Oxford Times and on the website. He will independently select wines relevant to the feature from the Oxford Wine Company list. Readers can then make their orders either by filling in the coupon appearing in the paper or via the website. The 12-bottle case will normally contain four different wines - with each bottle usually costing between £5 and £8.

Some weeks, John will feature more expensive wines, perhaps suitable for special occasions.

John, who returns to write for The Oxford Times after an eight-month absence, said: "For me this is an incredibly exciting new venture. It is a real local collaboration. I will in effect be cherry picking some of the many great wines, with real individuality, that are supplied by The Oxford Wine Company."

All cases will come with a discount on The Oxford Wine Company's standard bottle prices, with free delivery within a 30-mile radius of Oxford. There are no joining or membership fees or obligations to buy on a minimum or regular basis.

Cases will come with John's The Oxford Times articles on the wines. Cases will remain available for order from the website for about three months.

The website also includes a comprehensive guide to all aspects of wine written by John.

John said: "In my view, the really interesting wines with character are supplied by independent wine merchants. These will be wines that you are unlikely to find on supermarket shelves.

"Some weeks I will be featuring fine wines, perhaps for people planning a dinner party or for Christmas. Sometimes there will be themes, where I look at say Australian reds or Bordeaux. But they will all be wines that I think are extremely good, and offering good value for money."

The original Oxford Wine Company was founded in 1840 and traded from Oxford's High Street until 1914.

The name was revived by Ted Sandbach, a former teacher at Magdalen College School, who began his wine business in the garage of his home in Longworth in 1991.

His company was recently listed as one of the top five independent wine merchants in the UK by the Daily Telegraph, and was runner-up in the International Wine Challenge's Regional Wine Merchant of the Year Award. The company has a large warehouse at Standlake. Uniquely, beneath the building there are three "caves" which provide perfect conditions for wine storage.

Ted said: "The club will allow The Oxford Times readers to sit back and allow a real wine expert to take their wine-buying decisions out of their hands.

"People can read John's notes to find what he thinks about the different wines and see if they agree with him. It will be much more interesting than people buying wine in supermarkets, where some have very little real idea about the quality of what they are buying.

"Supermarkets have done a great job in getting people interested in wine but in a way this is about taking things to the next stage without having to spend a fortune."

Special The Oxford Times Wine Club tasting evenings may later be organised as part of special promotions.

Ted has recently expanded into wine production and is renting a vineyard between Carcassone and Beziers in the South of France. The first vintage from the Carignan grape recently went on sale.

The first case to be offered next week will feature a Rhone red, a great value Rioja, a benchmark Sauvignon from South West France and a delicious Italian white.

All wines come with the promise of a full refund if any bottle fails to meet expectations.

You can visit The Oxford Times Wine club website now. Just go to www.theoxfordtimeswineclub.net The site already contains a comprehensive guide to wine written by John Stimpfig.

There are features on grape types, wine regions, storing bottles, serving temperatures, glassware and much more.

John's features will be posted each week, starting next week, and the 12 most recent offers will be available.

Ordering a case could not be simpler. Just click on the relevant offer and it will take you to The Oxford Wine Company's secure server.

We will get your wine to you as quickly as we can but please allow up to ten working days for delivery.