The Daily Telegraph

'I came late to wine, after years of vodka and cocaine,' novelist and part-time wine columnist Jay McInerney tells JONATHAN RAY. Sitting in Greenwich Village, New York, McInerney says he used to despise California wines but now 'loves this stuff', referring to a glass of 2003 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay. In his book, A Hedonist in the Cellar, a collection of his wine columns, he describes Blue Nun and Black Tower as 'the vinous equivalent of Dunkin' Donuts', and Pinotage as smelling 'like nail polish remover au poivre'. Ray's wines of the week are: 2004 Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Alsace Gewurztraminer (6.99); 2006 Stormhoek 'The Siren' Sauvignon Blanc (7.99; Define Food & Wine, Harrogate Fine Wines), 2005 Honeywood Tempranillo (5.99; Somerfield) and 2004 Climbing Merlot (8.99; Majestic).