Glass action
Drouthy Neebors
1-2 West Preston Street, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-662 9617
Edinburgh's Drouthy Neebors (Scots for "thirsty neighbours") is one of four themed pubs recently converted by Belhaven, Scotland's largest indigenous brewer. With its "belly-busting baked potatoes" and choice of house red or white, it's more student boozer than gastro-pub.
The barman tipped the dregs of a bottle of red into a slightly stained 175ml glass and charged me £1.85. The bottle was sealed with a rubber stopper and there had been no apparent attempt to preserve the contents. The result was all too predicable - mean, flat and desperately dull.
Asked what the house white was like, the barman replied: "It's dry. Well, medium-dry… nothing special." True enough, though at least it was fresher than its red brother.
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JD Wetherspoon
62 George Street, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-225 4460
The city's main Wetherspoon's is a massive building known as the Standing Order, on a prime city-centre site on George Street. There was a choice of eight wines by the glass, either 175ml or 250ml, starting at £2.20 for a small glass of "River Red" or "Coldwater Creek" from California. Curiously, both were on offer at £4.99 a bottle and had been for months, the barman told me.
The white was well chilled, balanced if not exciting, while the red (apparently not the usual house wine) was appalling, with no bouquet and a rather burnt, chemical taste in place of any fruit.
The red was sealed with a rubber Vacuvin stopper, though there was no tell-tale hiss on opening it.
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The Barony
81 Broughton Street, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-557 0546
In the more residential area of Edinburgh's New Town, the Barony offers six wines by the glass (175ml), prominently displayed behind the bar. There was no house wine as such and prices range from £2 to £2.50.
I tried a New Zealand white (£2.45) that came in a clean, if fairly standard, thick-rimmed pub glass. It slipped down nicely with its fresh, grassy Sauvignon flavour. The red was a big, warm-hearted Rioja, with plenty of character and well worth its £2.30 price tag.
A Verre de Vin preservation system was switched on, if not being used between pourings, yet both wines were perfectly fresh. The bar staff were more than confident making suggestions by style.
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Cumberland Bar
1-3 Cumberland Street, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-558 3134
The staff at the nearby Cumberland Bar seemed less interested in wine, though there was a choice of half-a-dozen opened bottles available by the 175ml glass.
Asked to describe the house white (£2.10), the barman would only say: "It's medium." It was more like off-dry, being a typical unoaked Australian Chardonnay. It was fresh, fruity and came in a tall wine glass built for elegance and not just durability. The red, an Australian Shiraz-Cabernet, came in more of a Paris goblet and was quite a bargain at £1.50.
There was no Winesaver, Vacuvin or other preservation system. "They keep fresh because they rotate fast," I was told.
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The George
Trafalgar Street, Brighton
Tel: 01273 681055
Situated in Brighton's Bohemian North Laine quarter, the George has been transformed from backstreet boozer into a wooden-floored, 21st century pub - child-friendly, with a 100% vegetarian/vegan menu.
The barman, asked to recommend a soft, lightly oaked red and a crisp dry white from the 18-strong wine list, ended up suggesting Lagunilla Crianza Rioja and Kamsberg Chenin Blanc. All the wines are available by the glass in either 175ml or 250ml glasses.
The Rioja (£3.60/250ml) was softly fruited and approachable, or it would have been if the Vacuvin stopper had been pumped. The Chenin (same price and size) was clean and properly chilled, with some ripe and not too flabby fruit.
DB
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The Cooper's Cask
Farm Road, Hove
Tel: 01273 737026
"Not your average pub wines, eh?" said the barman, giving me a detailed run-through of the five wines on offer. It's not your average pub, though. For a start, it offers table service even though you are never more than two paces away from the bar.
He knew what he was selling, recommending a Calvet Sauvignon Blanc over a Chardonnay (£2.20/175ml) when asked for a dry white. Sadly, the wine (chilled and fresh) showed no Sauvignon character - Whitbread's fault, not the barman's.
The Vistasur Chilean Merlot (same price and size) was medium weight, sweetly fruity but not too alcoholic. A good, fresh, drinkable red.
DB
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The Eagle
Farringdon Road, London EC1
Tel: 020-7837 1353
Clerkenwell's lofty reputation for eating and drinking should mean that its pubs are serving top-quality wines. The Eagle, with its open-plan kitchen taking up three-quarters of the bar area, had 14 wines on offer - all by the bottle and glass.
"To be honest, I'd go for the house wines," said the barmaid, after running through the list by varietal and style. The house it was: Casa Sangiovese and Casa Trebbiano (both £2.20/175ml).
The Sangiovese was a blend of an unpumped Vacuvin-sealed bottle and a fresh bottle. A good glugger, maybe a little soupy, but clean with earthy black fruits. The white (from a fresh bottle) was well-chilled but was blandly boring.
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The City Pride
Farringdon Lane, London EC1
Tel: 020-7608 0615
Fuller's reputation for having well-chosen, eclectic wines made this smoky bar a logical stopping-off point. The barmaid knew her way around the range, recommending Merlot above Cabernet for a soft red.
Of the six wines on offer, four were available by the glass. Bertinot Sauvignon Blanc Côtes de Duras (£2.50/175ml) was insufficiently chilled and seemed flabby and lacking in any varietal character. Why persevere with Sauvignons like this and Calvet (see above) when there are so many good alternatives?
The Las Palmas Merlot, Chile (same price and size), was another bottle with a Vacuvin stopper in its neck that hadn't been pumped. The wine was richly fruited and good, but its high alcohol level made it a red you wouldn't want to drink more than one glass of.
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The White Hart
Stockport Road, Lydgate, Oldham
Tel: 01457 872566
The White Hart, home of the Saddleworth Sausage Company, offers different wines by the glass in its bar than in the award-winning restaurant upstairs. A bad omen, perhaps? Dry, medium and sweet whites were available by the glass on my visit, a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon and something called "Rheinhausen", all at £1.95 per 125ml glass.
Who made the Sauvignon, I asked? They had to bring the bottle. It wasn't actually a Sauvignon but a pleasantly fresh and zippy 1998 Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne, Les Vignes d'Hauressat.
The house red (also £1.95) was the inoffensive, oaky and strawberry-ish 1997 Barrel-Aged Elegido, Vino de la Tierra de Manchuela. Both of these easy drinking wines were served at the correct temperatures in good glasses.
SW
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The Ram's Head
Ripponden Road, Denshaw, Oldham
Tel: 01457 874802
Be careful when ordering wine at this past winner of the Lancashire Life Pub Food of the Year Award. Those who ask for a glass of wine get a 250ml serving. If you want a normal measure, you have to ask for half a glass, which is rather naughty.
The house dry white and red are both Cuvée de Seigneur Vin de Table Franáais at £1.60 per (half) glass, or £3.10 for a large glass. My wife described the medium-bodied, rather stale and sickly white as a "university wine" - you'd only drink it if you were broke - while the red was coarse, tiring and slightly volatile, a disappointment in a place where the food (and, indeed, other wines) can be so good.
SW
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Yates's Wine Lodge
18 Yorkshire Street, Oldham
Tel: 0161-620 7824
"Moderation is true temperance," says the sign on the bar at the Oldham branch of this eclectic chain, which has been serving Australian wine, usually sweet and fortified, to Northerners for decades.
The normal house red and white were out of stock on my visit, so the house wines at £1.45 per 125ml glass were a couple of wines which were about to be delisted.
The 1997 Framingham Marlborough Sauvignon was beginning to tire, but still had deliciously rich gooseberry fruit in abundance. The red was the Castellani 1995 Teseo from Tuscany, a smooth warm and really quite classy wine with raisin and cherry flavours. Both were a very pleasant surprise.
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The Bear Hotel
Crickhowell, Powys
Tel: 01873 810408
The Bear hotel is an independent free house in the centre of the market town of Crickhowell and is regularly in the running for Welsh Pub of the Year. Evidently, its reputation is not based on its wine selection.
The Bear offers a choice of dry or medium white wines. The dry is a Vin de Pays de Cotes de Gascogne from Pierre Javert. The wine is well kept and fresh, but unfortunately it is totally unremarkable. Fresh and light, but with no character, it at least had the merit of being cheap, at £1.60 per 125ml glass.
The house red wine also comes from Pierre Javert. This is a Vin de Pays d'Oc, and while it is at the lighter end of the spectrum, it has some good fruit character and is reasonably gluggable, costing £1.60 per 125ml glass.
AW
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The Crown Inn
Usk Road, Raglan, Monmouthshire
Tel: 01291 690232
The Crown Inn is a friendly, independent pub in the village of Raglan. Unfortunately, its wine-buying policy seems to based entirely on price.
The Crown offers a Liebfraumilch or a Chardonnay for white-wine drinkers. Both are anonymous, bulk wines, priced at £1.60. The Chardonnay is clean and fresh, but exhibits absolutely no varietal character. The house red is a Chilean Merlot of uncertain parentage. It is a thin, insipid wine, low in tannin and fruit character.
The bar staff are evidently not particularly interested in wine sales and couldn't name the producer of any of the wines on offer.
AW
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The Clytha Arms
Near Abergavenny, Gwent
Tel: 01873 840206
At last, a pub that gives some thought to its wine selection. The Clytha Arms is a charming country pub, on a country lane, five miles from Abergavenny. It offers a choice of four whites and four reds by the glass.
The Oakwood Dry White is an Australian Chardonnay-based blend, with a good weight of peachy fruit and a long finish. Also on offer are Long Mountain Sauvignon Blanc and a pair of French Chardonnays. The Oakwood is excellent value for money at £1.60 per 125ml glass.
The house red is a Merlot, vin de Pays d'Oc, from Mommessin. This is medium- to full-bodied, with a good tannic structure and plenty of plummy fruit.
The bar staff are friendly and helpful and only too happy to discuss their wines with customers.
AW
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The Nantyffin Cider Mill
Brecon Road, Near Crickhowell, Powys
Tel: 01873 810775
This is an oasis for serious wine drinkers in Wales. The Nantyffin offers 12 wines by the glass, and the emphasis here is on quality, not price.
Currently, the two house whites are Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc and a Danie de Wet Chardonnay. The Casablanca is copybook Sauvignon Blanc, with green, herbaceous aromas coupled with rich tropical fruit. Even at £2.30 for a 125ml glass, this is excellent value.
House reds are Casa Lapostelle Merlot and Glenloth Shiraz. The Glenloth is everything Australian Shiraz should be, big and rich, with velvet-smooth fruit and a well-balanced backbone of tannins. It also costs £2.30.
The strength of the wine list here is evidently a reflection of the enthusiasm for wine among the staff, who are well-informed and keen to talk about their list.
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