Choosing a good bottle of wine for a dinner out, a present or an evening in with a takeaway and a video can be a worrying and time-consuming process.

Three-quarters of Britons now drink wine, compared to only four per cent 50 years ago, and the choice is overwhelming.

Wine writer Malcolm Gluck has made it his mission to highlight the availability of good and cheap wines on the supermarket shelves.

With no formal wine qualifications, his enthusiasm for good wine and food shines through. When he was offered the chance to write a weekly wine column for the Guardian newspaper in 1989, he agreed - but only if he could write about supermarket wines.

The Superplonk column was born, and Malcolm's latest books, Superplonk 1999 and Streetplonk 1999, give points out of 20 to a wide range of wines from supermarkets and off-licences.

He led a tasting and book-signing session at Waterstone's book shop in Bradford, his first trip to the city, and one which will feature in next year's books.

He is meticulous in his research for the books. So, does he drink an awful lot of wine?

"Yes. I do drink a lot of wine and it's still a pleasure and it never ceases to be. It sometimes gets a bit trying, spending three, four, five hours tasting 150 wines. I get tired of trying to describe each wine accurately and thinking what food would go with it. But at the end of the day, I open a bottle and have a little drink with a meal. I like cooking. Rarely does a day go by when I don't have a glass of wine."

He is extremely well-organised, working from an office in his London home to write the books as well as his weekly column.

Malcolm, who is 56, had little interest in school and left without qualifications but with a desire to write, becoming a copywriter for some years for adverts and also for the Anti-Apartheid Campaign in the early 1970s.

He had an interest in cooking, eating and drinking, and spent some time living in Spain. "Then I went to France and fell in love with the food and wine," says Malcolm.

He has turned down many trips to wine-growing regions of the world this year in favour of spending time with his family and friends, including his three children who are aged 15, 12 and nine.

For anyone looking for wines for the festive season, Malcolm's first advice is to use one of his books, which cover all the major supermarkets and off-licence chains.

He has particular praise for Bradford firm Morrison's, which offers great value-for-money wines.

It was Sainsbury's which led the way for supermarkets offering a decent choice and variety of wines, he says, but many other stores now offer the same quality for their shoppers.

Superplonk 1999 and Streetplonk 1999 are published by Hodder and Stoughton, priced £5.99 each.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.