Calorie count goes out the window when women choose their favourite wine
Drink up: Womens' preference for white wine stemmed, in part, from the fact that there were slightly fewer calories than in the darker variety
Bridget Jones may have single-handedly turned women off drinking chardonnay in the Noughties, but her grip on our wine preferences seems to be loosening.
After turning the crisp white wine into a symbol of singledom, it appears all has been forgotten.
Women now love chardonnay even more than sauvignon blanc. And - contrary to popular legend - we love red wine just as much as white varieties.
Bridget Jones' preference for a huge glass of white wine stemmed from the fact that there were slightly fewercalories than in the darker variety. But that doesn't seem to bother usany more.
A blind-tasting survey of 3,000 shoppers showed that men and women valued the red and white wines equally, said Emma Nichols, head of buying at wine merchantOddbins.
The survey also found that, when askedwhat they wanted to pay for a bottle, consumers said they would be prepared to part with between 8 and 8.50.
Despitebeing given the chance to name their price, those polled said they would voluntarily stump up an average of 7.93 for sauvignon blanc, 8.52 for chardonnay and 8.48 for garnacha.
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The figures came in just under the bottles recommended retail prices of between 9 and 9.50.
Oddbins, which carried out the research, was bought out in April after going into administration and closing all but 37 of its 128 stores.
The high street retailer will sell the three varieties at the average prices chosen by consumers to coincide with its relaunch.
Managing director Ayo Akintola hopes that as British consumers have become more interested in the provenance of the food in recent years, they might feel the same about wine.
'You are not talking about Coca Cola or Pepsi here, we are talking about an agricultural product,' he said.
BRIDGET JONES' CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH... WINE
Wine expert Oz Clarke blamed Bridget Jones for dragging sales of her favourite wine down in 2008.
'Chardonnay has made some of the worlds greatest wines, everyone appreciated it - until Bridget Jones,' he said.
'BridgetJones goes out on the pull, fails, goes back to her miserable bedsit, sits down, pours herself an enormous glass of Chardonnay, sits there with mascara running down her cheeks saying, "Dear diary, Ive failed again, Ive poured an enormous glass of Chardonnay and Im going to put my head in the oven."
'Great marketing aid.'
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