The Wine Wally: A shelf-hacking guide to buying better bottles

Liam D'Arcy has spent an unhealthy amount of time over the past few years doing things most of us don't: standing in the supermarket aisle like a weirdo trying to decipher wine labels, filming himself doing wine-tasting experiments and infiltrating the wine industry to pick the brains of experts, slowly building his confidence to figure out what a good wine should actually taste like. He posts his experiences on social media as The Wine Wally.

Liam has no wine qualifications, and wanted to write a book for fellow wine wallies like himself who are sick of buying the same bottles in the supermarket every week. Each chapter is based on a real-life 'wine wobble': a common wine dilemma - from how to actually read a wine label, to pairing wine to food - that Liam attempts to answer in fun, relatable language we can all (finally) understand. The intention of this book is to give everyday readers clear, entry-level knowledge about wine so they can feel confident to purchase better bottles in the wine aisle. The book ends by synthesising everything the reader has learned into helpful Cheat Code Cards that provide a snapshot of key information the reader can take with them to the supermarket to help them buy better wine.

Chapters include:

The Wine Warm-Up: How to Taste Wine and Meet the Grapes That Matter
Place: Why Geography Changes the Fight
Person: How Winemakers' Choices Shape the Wine
Price: What You're Really Paying For
Play (Part 1): If You Like This, Try That (Taking the Guesswork Out of Finding Your New Favourite Wines)
Play (Part 2): Will It Pair? Plate vs. Glass (Food and Wine Pairings That Actually Win)
Cheat Code Cards

• Publication date: 8 October 2026
• Page count: 208
• Dimensions: Height 147 mm; Width 187 mm; Thickness 25 mm
• Publisher: Murdoch Books
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781761501562