Join my mailing list for extra tips and offers. Hot tips and reports for industry professionals & keen amateurs.I know we’re all searching for good-value wine much of the time, but that hunt particularly steps up after the main annual holidays when, having splurged on partying and received the bills, most of us really want to bag a bargain. So now the Easter holidays are over, it’s a good moment to pick through the bunch of enticing wine offers on the high street. Of Tesco’s latest promotions, which last until Tuesday 21 April, the most appealing are on the rounded, ripe Ravenswood Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel 2011 from California, down from £9.99 to £7.99 and the fresh, pineappley Villa Maria Private Bin Chardonnay 2013, New Zealand, down from £10.49 to £8.49. SAINSBURY'S From its often impressive Taste the Difference range, Sainsbury’s has ripe, food-friendly but dry Languedoc White 2014 on an excellent deal, £8 or £12 for two until 28 April. It's a ripe but dry blend of white grenache, marsanne and vermentino to create peachy, nutty, herbal notes.

A wine for roast chicken. Also from Sainsbury's, temptingly, are half-bottles of Moet & Chandon’s Brut Imperial Champagne at £17.50 down from £20 until 28 April. ASDA Asda has the popular light white Torres Viña Sol, Spain, for a fiver (down from £6.75) until 6 May, also part of their buy-six-wines-for-£25 offer until 7 May. WAITROSE The full-flavoured, smooth, blackberryish Zalze red blend of shiraz, mourvedre and viognier from South Africa is a steal at £5.99 (down from £8.29) until 12 October 2015 at Telegraph Wine from Waitrose MAJESTIC Majestic’s runaway bargain red has to be the Finca Carelio Tempranillo 2011, from Castilla Y Leon, Spain (£9.99 or £6.66 each for two or more until 27 April). A terrific find – classic Spanish flavours of sweet strawberry tempranillo laced with leathery oak and a sturdy, firm finish built for red meat. Strong, though, at 14.5 per cent abv. Majestic’s other offers, on until 27 April, include decent deals on English sparklers, including Chapel Down Brut NV (£23.99 or £15.99 each when you buy two) and Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 2009 (£35.99 or £23.99 each when you buy two).

There's also an attractive £7.49 on Yalumba’s peachy Y Series viognier from Australia (down from £9.99, when you buy two). MARKS & SPENCER Do give Marks & Spencer’s unusual but beguiling blend from Slovenia a whirl this week, for a very different glass of white this spring. The Dveri Pax 1139 Furmint Pinot Traminer Riesling 2013 is £8 down from £10 until 27 April. This blend delivers a fragrant, crisp, refreshing aperitif with green apple, juicy melon and a twist of white pepper. ALDI Aldi doesn’t do “special offers” on wine but particularly good bargains this week include the light, lemony Vignobles Roussellet Sauvignon Blanc NV (£4.69). LIDL Likewise, Lidl only has limited special offiers, but check out their own-label Chablis AOC 2013, a buttery, rounded treat for £8.99. • View the latest wine offers and deals at Telegraph Wine from WaitroseThere's always that moment at a restaurant: should you order wine from the by-the-glass list, or spring for a bottle? Go for a few different glasses or commit?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether the wines available by the glass are a good or bad deal. Are they just cheap bottles marked up to the maximum? Are they wines that are going to go with the food you ordered?best wine coolers in the world We asked sommeliers from around the country for their advice: should you order wine by the glass? wine to drink during pregnancyHow are these wines selected and are they a good value or a bad deal?best red wines cooking Here's what they had to say.best non dry red wine "I rarely order wine by the glass in a restaurant. buy wine and milk

Even at good joints, the wines by the glass are often revenue centers, or afterthoughts. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to consult on a restaurant and tasted through the wines by the glass only to dump out half or more of them. best selling wine indiaMany restaurants don't encourage the staff to taste the wines they are serving and that's a huge mistake because wines don't last forever. where can i buy chinese wine in ukOne of the first places I worked even went so far as to switch the wine that was ordered with the cheapest wine they had insisting the guests wouldn't be able to taste the difference! best wine that's not dry(I am happy to say they have since closed.) best wine merchants in new york

In a well curated program, the wines by the glass should be selected for the menu and for the guests. That is to say, pour wines by the glass that will taste great with the food your chef is serving. If through experience you find that your guests love fruity Pinot Noir for example, make sure there is always a wine that will make them happy. A huge pet peeve is when there is nothing affordable to drink either by the bottle or by the glass. It's easy for a wine director to think about making more money, or even about high quality, without remembering that a $20 glass of wine is a huge monetary commitment. I really want my guests to be able to eat at my places as often as possible, and not only on special occasions."—Paul Einbund (Frances and Seam Wines) "I suppose that wines by the glass can be a good deal, or a bad deal, depending on the restaurant. In my experience, a lot of restaurants in the Northwest charge the equivalent of the wholesale price of the bottle for one glass of wine, so a $12 wholesale bottle goes for $12 a glass.

But I don't want to make any blanket statements, or suggest that everyone does it that way. Our list at Ava Gene's, for example, works a bit differently. I try to have pours at different price points, so I may pour a $9 bottle for $9 a glass, but I'll also pour an $18 bottle for $14 a glass. So, a good deal if you're getting an $18 wine by the glass at an affordable price, and a bad deal if you're getting a $9 wine for $9 a glass. I like rewarding adventurous decisions with a great price on a glass, and I like offering wines that you wouldn't ordinarily pour if you're working strictly on the 1:1 scale. I select glass pours as a group, so I look at different price points, different regions, and different styles when choosing new glass pours. I think it's important to have variation, in price and style of wine."—Dana Frank (Ava Gene's and Bow & Arrow) "Very few places put the number of ounces you'll be receiving on the wine list (and I applaud those who do, but it's usually only so you can select between a 'taste' or a 'glass'), and even I get irritated by tiny pours priced like proper glasses.

At The Dutch, a glass of wine is 6 ounces, almost exactly one quarter of the bottle. Give or take, if you order four glasses of one wine it will cost you the same as ordering the bottle, and that's the way I think it should be. There are definitely spots that I love, though, where I eschew the glass program all together, and only order bottles. There's no harm in asking your server or bartender how much wine is going to be in your glass, and you can do the math yourself."—Chad Walsh (The Dutch) "On one hand, typically the mark-up for wines by the glass is a touch higher than wines ordered by the bottle (4x versus 3x, respectively). But when you order one bottle of something, you are essentially ordering 4 glasses of the same wine. When you order 4 different glasses, you get more variety and potentially get more value out of your dining experience. Is there a higher cost associated with this? But that's the market for buying in smaller quantities. No one would ever say that the travel size tooth paste is a good value ounce for ounce, but you can carry that tiny $3 tube on the airplane whereas you have to check the much larger $5 version.

No one ever accused Colgate of being greedy. Wines by the glass are selected for many reasons, first and foremost they should enhance the dining experience while pairing with a wider range of dishes from the menu. For each wine by the glass there should be at least one or two dishes that complement it perfectly, and vice versa. If a wine is available by the glass, one thing that it says to a guest is that there is a lot of this wine made. These wines usually have good availability and can be easily reordered for stability in the program."—Caleb Ganzer (Eleven Madison Park) "I like to think of our By the Glass list as a microcosm of our larger list. Because so many people drink wine by the glass, this is where we work most diligently to ensure the wines poured represent tremendous quality for the price."—Mia Van De Water (North End Grill) "By the glass wine is a good deal if you are indeed drinking it by the glass. If you are plan to order a bottle, I would highly recommend choosing from the full wine list, as bottle price for BTG wines tend to be slightly more inflated (we are not trying to rip anyone off, it is just the nature of cost).

Protip: ask your sommelier or bartender if you can enjoy the wines by the half-glass. It will be cheaper if you want to try a few wines throughout the meal without getting drunk."—Cara Patricia (Saison / Bright Wine Fund) "I would say wines by the glass are a good deal if you plan to only go for 1 or 2 glasses max."—Adrien Falcon (Bouley and Brushstroke) "Wines by the glass are a great deal for the guests who want to get a taste of what the house style and direction is all about. Being able to taste many different wines that pair with the chef's culinary creations is where the magic-making happens. If a wine is available by the glass, it tells you where the wine director is going with pairings. These wines allow guests to try something they might not know about—and might pique interest for future drinking!" "I think wines by the glass are a good deal for the guest because they offer such diversity. For example, at Coi, we offer 15 still wines and another 10 or so dessert & fortified wines.