Every now and then somebody somewhere does an analysis of consumer spending habits. It's useful research, if you know how people go about buying the various necessities of life you can tweak or fine-tune your efforts to sell those things to them. Wine buying gets as much attention and analysis as anything else. What we do know is that increasingly wine is bought in supermarkets and off-licenses. Set this off against what we know about the relentless increase in wine consumption in Ireland, then it becomes clear that supermarkets and off-licenses are where the bulk of new wine buying is taking place.

Sometimes market research simply confirms what you already suspected. In this case there are figures to back up the contention that more and more people are putting a bottle or two of wine into their supermarket trolley as they navigate the various aisles. This has an effect on the wines that are on offer in supermarkets. Since they're most often bought for immediate consumption, most of the wines on the shelves are young wines that are best drunk young. Wines for ageing, or laying down, are best bought from wine merchants who can advise on this minefield.

Restaurants are also doing what they can to exploit the growing market in wine. Some of the more far-seeing have begun to sell their wine at retail prices, rather than at two, three of even four times the wholesale cost. It's a trend that I hope will catch on, as the result is that we the consumers get to drink better quality wine without spending any more money while we dine.

But there's a sector of the wine-buying market that is not well served, and that's the sector that isn't served by off-licenses or supermarkets. There are many people around the country in rural areas that have no major supermarket outlet within reach and no dedicated off-license either. Choices for these people become limited indeed. But there is a slowly growing mail order business ready to supply them. There are various wine clubs, often in conjunction with newspapers and there is Wines Direct of Mullingar. They have a well-chosen list and you can pick and choose from it, as long as you buy at least six bottles in total. There is a charge for post and packaging, €6.75, but there's some pleasure in knowing that it's the postman who'll have to bring your wines to your door, rather than you having to make a long journey to get them yourself.

Wine of the Week

Chateau La Baronne, 2000, Corbieres.

From the wild, hilly slopes of Corbieres, almost abutting the Pyrenees on the Franco-Spanish border. Like many wines of Corbieres it's a big, beefy, robust wine. The label gives no indication of what grapes it contains, but it has a full, mouth-filling solidity that suggests Grenache and the pepperiness of Syrah. This is definitely a wine to accompany a rich game roast or something fatty like mutton.

Available from Wines Direct, €10.25, or you can order online at www.winesdirect.ie