My Round: When it comes to wine, spend it like Beckham.

It won't break the bank - and you'll be surprised how good it is

I know one really rich person. No, I mean really rich. Rich enough to donate to his old school, in a single cheque, slightly less money than I am likely to earn in my whole lifetime. He is a good guy in spite of the dangers of growing up with vast wealth, and on the rare occasions when he throws a dinner party at his London home (he lives overseas), his family uses its wealth to serve wonderful wine. At the most memorable of these events, his 40th birthday party, the wines were a gorgeous Meursault and a distinguished vintage of Château La Lagune. When the wines appeared, the person sitting next to me, though herself not short of a bob or two, said: "I think this occasion calls for some serious drinking." Which we both proceeded to do.

I thought of my friend recently when a press release entitled "'HM' at Beckingham Palace" popped through the door. About a party that the Royal Celebnesses, the Beckhams, threw at their lovely home to raise money for the NSPCC, it included details on the wines served. The choices were surprising. They didn't strike me as the sort of stuff that the (how can I put this delicately?) newly rich would choose. It's not that they were cheapo rotgut. On the contrary, they showed more discernment than I would have expected. David Beckham may be a wiz in the penalty box but I never pegged him for a wine-savant. And Mrs Beckham... well, let's leave her out of this.

God only knows what the Becks serve when it's just themselves and a few close friends: maybe Meursault and classed-growth claret. Whatever the answer to that burning question, on this occasion they achieved vinous quality by procuring their supplies from a single importer. Hatch Mansfield by name, and I am sure it played a major role in deciding which wines would be served. I'd happily drink any of them. For the record, they were: Taittinger Brut Reserve NV (£24.99, widely available); Villa Maria Private Bin Riesling 2001 (£6.99, Thresher, Wine Rack, Bottoms Up, Majestic, Victoria Wine); Louis Jadot Bourgogne Chardonnay 1999 (£8.99, Wine Cellar, Threshers, Wine Rack, Bottoms Up, Victoria Wine); and Errázuriz Syrah 2000 (£7.99, Threshers, Wine Rack, Bottoms Ups, Safeway, Waitrose). They also auctioned off a bottle of Taittinger's prestige cuvée, Comtes de Champagne, in aid of the charity. The bottle was signed by both Mr and Mrs B, and will no doubt be worth millions in due course.

The Beckies' wine choice bears out a bedrock belief of this column: wines selling for between £5 and £10 – with the important exceptions of sweet stuff and Champagne – are generally all that anyone needs to buy. Going over that will often take you into wonderland, but it can also lower the price-value ratio to perilous levels. The first fiver buys you solid drinking pleasure; the second, pound by pound, buys increments of distinction. At £7.99, you're likely to find something like 50 per cent of the quality you would expect from all but the best of the more expensive offerings. At £9.99, the percentage rises to something between 60 and 80.

Obviously, these are back-of-an-envelope calculations. But if you want to see them in action, look at two southern-French stars on the virginwines.com website. Your £7.99 will buy you Château l'Euziere, Cuvée l'Alamandin 1999, Pic St Loup, with its lush core of succulent red fruit and brisk tannins. Add £2 to your buying power and you've got Château l'Euziere's powerful, generously oaked Cuvée l'Escarboucles 1999 (£9.99). You could add yet another fiver to get an outstanding South African, the carefully oaked De Toren Fusion 2000 (£14.99), but that's merely icing on the cake. You don't need to lay out more than a tenner to spend it like Beckham. *