Sainsbury's turn for 25% off

From today for a week Sainsbury's will be attempting to lure shoppers into their stores with the promise of 25% off all purchases of six or more 75cl bottles of wine.

Most of the big UK retailers use this or a similar tactic on a regular basis. The clever move on the part of consumers is to shop tactically. This particular offer, which lasts until Monday 2 July, applies to all still, sparkling and fortified wines and all champagne. (The discount applies to their standard range; it's not a case of those £7.99 wines magically reduced to the proper price of £3.99 just so they can boast 'half price'.)

Waitrose had a similar offer recently, as discussed on our Members' forum, but unfortunately we have not yet published our complete set of tasting notes on Waitrose's current selection (we will soon, along with a similar report on Tesco's more interesting bottles).

Fortunately we published reviews of 78 of the more interesting Sainsbury's current wines only last Friday, so you may like to check there for guidance on what to head for – although with the UK supermarkets it is always a challenge to establish which store stocks what. With that caveat, there definitely are some bargains to be had – not least the Ch Cambon La Pelouse 2009 Haut-Médoc I praised in Pounce on those cheaper '09s recently. This is now available in 189 of Sainbury's larger stores, I am assured, with the regular price of £18.99, so just £14.25 provided you buy at least another five bottles of wine.

Alas, you do have to rely on bricks and mortar shopping with Sainsbury's, who are way behind their rivals in terms of what they offer online (practically nothing to wine buyers). Those with long memories may remember that at one stage Sainsbury's seemed ahead of the pack with their much-trumpeted plan to launch an online operation in conjunction with Oddbins. Or did I just dream that?