There is good news and bad in terms of the latest research on the UK wine market. The bad news is that the market continues to be dominated by the same big brands as a year ago. In fact, according to AC Nielsen, the top six remained exactly where they were with Hardy's in pole position followed by Blossom Hill, Gallo, Jacob's Creek, Kumala and Stowells.

Why does this depress me? Well, simply because it shows how much of a stranglehold these monolithic, bland brands have on the market at the expense of better and more interesting wines. Gallo and Blossom Hill, for instance, were up 23 per cent and 31 per cent respectively, which means that more and more punters are opting for the safe, easy and unadventurous option when it comes to buying wine.

Of course, you could argue that there's nothing wrong with these wines and that it's all down to consumer choice. For many people, they clearly do meet a basic quality criteria by being technically correct and inoffensive to drink.

But for me though, that's exactly the problem with these commercial, commoditised products.

For the fact is that they are simply churned out in industrial quantities to an unchanging formula rather like baked beans, ketchup and cola. As Jancis Robinson recently pointed out, we don't have bad wine any more at the lower end of the market, we just have boring wine.

Call me a wine snob but, in my view, proper wine should not be like that. As an agricultural product, it should be subject to vintage variation, to differences in 'terroir', and to the skill of the winemaker. It should have a real sense of place and personality. Or, in a word, it should have soul.

But how much do you have to pay for a wine with soul? The answer is a lot less than you might think. For instance, this week's offer serves up four very soulful and stylish wines at an average price of just £6.50 - which I think is the price point where you begin to get the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to buying good wine.

So what's the good news? Well, more and more people appear to be agreeing with me about spending a bit more to get better value wines with a bit of soul and character.

In fact, recent AC Nielsen figures also show that the fastest growing wine category in the UK is in the £6-7 price band.

Sales in this category grew last year by 27 per cent. Perhaps there's hope for the UK wine market after all.

Meanwhile, here are my fab four for this this week, all of which are the antithesis of the over-hyped, under-performing mega brands. Hugel, for instance, have been making wine in the Alsace region of France since 1639 and are rightly regarded as one of the region's greatest names. Their Fleur d'Alsace, which is a blend of several traditional grape varieties, is one of my all-time favourite value wines from this benchmark producer.

The Val de Clara red comes from the highly rated Port shipper, Quinta de la Rosa, which celebrated its centenary this summer.

Clearly though, Quinta de la Rosa does not just produce Port.

Over the last few years, it has been fashioning some fabulous table wines from the Douro's indigenous varieties such as Touriga Nacional and Touriga Cao (You won't see either of those on a Gallo label).

This exciting red also has a strong local connection in that Sophia Bergqvist, whose family owns the estate, lives near Abingdon.

The Inurrieta Sur comes from the eponymous Bodegas Inurrieta in the Navarra region bordering Rioja.

Although this spectacular, all-mod-cons winery is relatively new, you can taste its passion and commitment to quality in this exciting blend of Garnacha, Merlot and Syrah.

The same goes for my last wine, which is a quite dazzling 2005 Pinot Grigio from Cantina di Custoza, just south of Lake Garda in Italy's Veneto region. Blossom Hill eat your heart out.

For more details on the wines and to order this week's offer, click here.