Unsurprisingly, Noble Rot’s co-founder Dan Keeling happily self-identifies as a “wine snob”. But crucially, he says, this doesn’t mean he’ll only drink expensive bottles. Yes, the wine list at Noble Rot features a £2,432 bottle of 1973 Krug champagne, but it also includes 75ml “taster glasses” of Chin Chin vinho verde (Noble Rot’s acclaimed house white, which went viral during the pandemic) at £3 a pop.

“Just because a wine is expensive, it doesn’t mean that it’s great – it just means that it’s got a reputation or it’s been marketed in a certain way,” Keeling says. His new book, Who’s Afraid Of Romanée-Conti? A Shortcut To Drinking Great Wines, features his advice on how to select a fabulous bottle, including ones at more affordable price points. (The book’s title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to one of the most sought-after and expensive wines in the world.) “Finding a good cheap wine is the holy grail,” he says.

In Keeling’s view, a wine is most likely to be tasty not because it’s got a hefty price tag, but because it’s genuinely been “made with love”. This may mean sourcing a bottle from a smaller producer, who Keeling says often pay “more attention and care to what they do” than larger wineries. Wine that’s been produced on an industrial scale is more likely to contain “a lot of additives” and to have been made using “processes which are good for stabilising wine and sending it around the world”, but don’t result in “something that really inspires you or is absolutely delicious”, he explains.

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