Every so often, a supermarket takes pity on us and gives a generous wine discount. They play their cards close to their chest and details emerge only shortly beforehand with veiled threats to excommunicate any press who don't play ball. Some offers are more anticipated than others and Waitrose's 25 per cent off any six bottles or more (until this coming Tuesday) really is one not to be spurned. If you don't have a store near you, the discount also applies to any 12 bottles bought at waitrosewine.com.

I should have learnt by now that in any attempt to pacify the rain gods, the words to be avoided are barbecue, rosé and picnic. Despite sunshine at the time of writing, it's generally business as usual, ie grey skies, by the time of publication. At least when the sun comes out you can have a few bottles ready to suit the rare occasion.

Which wine country has the greatest capacity to confuse, irritate, reward, inspire and delight? Got it in one: Italy. It's not surprising for a country of 20 wine regions stretching from the Alps to the Mediterranean. Adding to the confusion, Wine Grapes (Allen Lane, £120) a scholarly new work co-authored by Jancis Robinson MW, tells us that Italy leads the world in the number of commercially produced native-grape varieties: 377 compared to France's 204 and Spain's 84.

I had high hopes for the Vin de France designation for table wine when it first burst on to the scene four years ago. A new rule letting producers blend wine from different regions and put the grape variety and vintage on the label gave French producers a chance to say goodbye to plonk and compete with New World brands.

After a topsy-turvy year in the vineyard, the question exercising the mind of Bordeaux and its customers is whether the 2012 vintage is a silk purse crafted from a sow's ear. On two counts. Firstly, was the weather good enough to make 2012 saleable en primeur, ie right now, before the wines are bottled in two years time? And if so, are prices attractive enough to have us reaching for our silk purses?

2011 Jacob's Creek Reserve Barossa Riesling, Barossa Valley, Australia

It's no surprise that the tasting of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's latest release at Corney & Barrow's Tower of London offices took place in hushed tones. Yes, there's the reverence accorded to what the wine exchange Liv-ex calls 'the new darling of the fine wine trade', recently awarded number-one spot in its Top 10 global fine wine brands.

If there's any truth in the notion that a wine merchant can't compete with the supermarkets on value, the idea has been knocked firmly on the head by The Wine Society.

The Morrisons' annual press tasting is normally a dreary affair with an insipid selection of brands that is nothing to write home about and an own-label range even less worth the second-class stamp. But the Leeds-based national supermarket chain, with its 479 stores, is up to something.

PX is a unique Spanish sweet wine that I discovered a while ago, so sweet in fact that it resulted in me having to make a trip to the dentist. PX, or Pedro, short for Pedro Ximénez, is one of the darkest, richest, stickiest wines in the world and by rights shouldn't exist as a wine at all. Oozing with viscous sucrosity, it's the perfect blending sweetener, in small doses, for cream sherry and sweet oloroso. Did someone dunk a finger in a cask of Pedro one day and think "I could get a pat on the back from the mouthwash industry for bottling this on its own"?