Steve Pryer's Wine Box

Do the bottles we crave divulge personality traits? Possibly more than we realise. Research by a London wine seller suggests that if, for example, you are a moderate wine drinker, single, early thirties, home-owning, working in advertising/PR/media and living in West London, you will buy two or three bottles a week. In a year, more than 60 per cent of those wines will hail from the New World - Australia and Latin America taking the lion's share. This 'pinpoint' purchase pattern alters across professional/social groups in other London districts, but not dramatically. Hefty shelf space for New World wines is commonplace. We want these wines. Do London wine lovers secretly yearn to live the beach-and-barbie, southern-hemisphere life? Pick the wine, or style of wine, you have drunk most over the past year. Does it say anything about you? Let me know, I'm intrigued. Meanwhile, here are a few worthwhile wines loosely linked to a character. The portraits are part guesswork (but we know who they are).

Classic Selection Rioja Reserva, 1994, La Rioja Alta (Sainsbury's, £8.79). Once so sophisticated, Rioja now has all the sex appeal of a toothless crone. Why? Like most fads, bucking a trend before its 'sell-by' date is hip. Street-cred aside, revisit Rioja's treasures - like this aromatic, oak-and-fruit-driven vintage red. This bottle would delight the one-time North London wideboy who, 15 years ago, drank Rioja but spurned it as outmoded before the decade's end. Then: body of a gladiator, office wolf, prattled endlessly about value of his flat. Now: even-wider boy, reluctantly celibate, watches cartoons and late-evening Channel 5, less brash since his honed six-pack turned into a keg.

Myall Station Marsanne, 1999, New South Wales (Bordeaux Direct, £5.99). The Cranswick team that brought us big-selling Barramundi has created this youthful, bright, zippy brew with hefty flavours of ripe apples and pears. Logically, this has to be ideal for any Cockney fruit-and-veg man who knows more than his onions.

Gold Label Pinot Noir, Domaine Virginie 1998, Languedoc (right, M&S, £4.99). Burgundy's staple red grape, Pinot Noir, is a rarity in Languedoc-Roussillon. But several inspired producers are growing more. This long, peppery red lacks concentration but is vibrant and well-balanced. Cognoscenti of any suburban wine-lovers guild could stumble when tasting this blind. I would. This should please tweed-jacketed, long-serving Mr Chairman. After all, he bought it.