I'll have whatever she's having...

One of my favourite wine stories was told to me by an American sommelier. Working in a posh restaurant in Las Vegas, he was called to the table of a pimply teenage couple on Prom Night. 'Are you the samurai?' asked the male half of the duo, his reedy voice betraying his unease. The sommelier's response was both brilliant and kind: 'Some people call me that, Sir, but you can call me the wine waiter.'

I was reminded of this tale at a recent debate about women's attitudes to wine. Jancis Robinson, the grande dame of British wine writers, said, 'I feel sorry for men in their relationship with wine. There's more angst involved, more baggage.'

Ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant is a major rite of passage for blokes. Like sex, decoding wine lists is something we're expected to be naturally good at. That's why we tie ourselves up in knots over the precise difference between 'a Bordeaux and a claret', as Basil Fawlty once put it.

The debate was a launch pad for some new research about the way women buy wine. It has long been accepted that women are generally better tasters than men (something to do with number of tastebuds), but evidence of their buying habits has been anecdotal in the main. I've always enjoyed the yarn about the supermarket executive who asked a female shopper if she always bought the same bottle of wine. 'Yes, without fail,' she said, pointing to a bottle of Frascati in her trolley. And the reason? 'It doesn't taste of anything.'

Do women buy wine in a different way to men? The answer, if you believe Mintel, is yes. They are more likely to purchase white wine for a start (Bridget Jones isn't the only person who drinks Chardonnay). They are also more likely to buy branded wines, and to stick to wines they know and enjoy. Over two thirds of women belong to one of three categories: 'contented', 'blinkered' or 'price watchers'. Apparently, men are more likely to experiment, but then women always knew we were a fickle bunch.

I'm not sure what we're supposed to deduce from all this. Are women wine buyers more conservative than men or are they just less interested in the minutiae of vintage, soil type and malolactic fermentation? I've always considered it significant that very few women own wine cellars, in the same way that women don't tend to be stamp collectors or trainspotters. 'If you're out with the girls, you don't really care what you drink,' was a fairly typical comment. Naturally, female Observer readers are the rule-proving exceptions.

One thing women don't appear to suffer from these days is a lack of confidence in restaurants. They know what they like and they're very happy to order it, thank you. This is good news for men who are terrified of looking silly when they ask for a Sauternes instead of a Sancerre. In future, let the women have the wine list. We can relax and they can deal with the sommelier. Or the samurai, if they'd prefer.

Best cellars Five whites that will appeal to both the sexes

1993 Urziger Würzgarten Spätlese, Cristoffel Berres (£4.99, Majestic).
This mature, light-bodied German Riesling has to be the best-value sub-£5 white at the moment. An off-dry delight with notes of apples and that characteristic whiff of the garage forecourt.

2000 Villa Bianchi Verdicchio Classico dei Castelli (£4.99, Sainsbury's).
This is an intense, unoaked Verdicchio with oodles of spice on the nose and palate. A full-bodied, weighty wine with aromas of straw and ginger and flavours of nut and buttered toast.

2000 Toho Sauvignon Blanc (£7.99, Wine Rack, Bottoms Up).
The only wine in New Zealand (as far as I know) that's made entirely by Maoris. If you've grown tired of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc, this gooseberry and passion fruit white, with its fresh acidity and real weight, should rekindle your interest.

2000 Alkoomi Riesling, Frankland River (£7.99, Safeway).
Produced by one of Australia's most under-rated wineries, this is Aussie Riesling at its most thrilling, lemon and lime-like best. An elegant, tightly defined white with remarkable length of flavour.

1998 Baron de la Charrière, Saint Romain, Sous le Château (£12.99, Oddbins).
Saint Romain is one of the less fancied of the Côte de Beaune's communes, but in ripe years, it produces good-value white Burgundies. This is great stuff: taut and minerally with undertones of cream, honey and vanilla oak.