Is selling wine a business or a passion? I ask because judging this year’s Decanter Retailer Awards laid bare the yawning chasm between wine merchants for whom wine is a labour of love and those going through the motions to keep the shareholders happy. Broadly speaking, convenience and price are the driving forces behind the 8 in 10 bottles of wine sold by the supermarkets, while the two in 10 coming from independent wine merchants are defined by a passion to deliver quality and character.

It’s a shame for anyone without a local Waitrose that, Marks & Spencer apart perhaps, there’s no-one currently within a country mile of Waitrose for the value, breadth and quality of its range. With its en primeur offer of Bordeaux and select parcels of fine wines sold through Waitrose Direct, Waitrose is the exception that proves the rule and the closest we have to a wine merchant with attitude. It won the Supermarket of the Year award with ease.

Some might say with a degree of justification that thanks to supermarket own-label wine, pioneered at Sainsbury’s as it happens by one of our judges, Allan Cheesman, independent wine merchants should be grateful to Cheesman and his ilk for broadening the customer base. They may have a point, but as a healthy antidote to questionable supermarket price promotions and dreary own-brand wines, Waitrose is proof positive that not all supermarket wine has to be a commodity.

Majestic Wine Warehouses with its ever-changing range might have realistically challenged Waitrose, but it had to take its place alongside Berry Bros & Rudd and Laithwaites in the keenly contested battle for National Wine Merchant. If it comes as a surprise that the winner was The Wine Society, the fact is that the non-profit-making Society has evolved from a staid 19th century duckling into a beautiful 21st century swan of a wine retailing phenomenon.

By backing its own taste, the buying team creates faith in its quality judgments. This is one of the main factors singling out the exceptional from the run-of-the-mill. We found this in all the merchants shortlisted for the London award: Harrods, Jeroboams, Lea and Sandeman, Philglas & Swiggot, Roberson and The Sampler. By a nose, literally, The Sampler clinched it for its exceptional try-before-you-buy range based on the Enomatic, the wine sampling dispenser.

Choosing the Regional Wine Merchant is the toughest job of all because the regions are so crammed with hardcore enthusiasts. Any wine lover lucky enough to live close to a D. Byrne, Noel Young, Secret Cellar, Stone, Vine & Sun or WoodWinters is probably well aware of their virtues already, but the category was won in the end by the peerless Tanners of Shrewsbury, the ultimate country wine merchant. Guildford-based Les Caves de Pyrène , taking crusading zeal for wine to new levels, took the Specialist Award for its remarkable range of natural and organic wines.

This year’s innovation award singled out independents offering customers the chance to try wines with food. It was won by hangingditch in Manchester, a modern, city centre interpretation of the Enoteca concept which encourages customers to try wines of different regions, varieties and price points by the glass or to share a bottle with snacks. Battersea’s Artisan & Vine, a friendly neighbourhood wine bar specialising in English and natural wines, was runner-up for its owner, Kathryn O’Mara’s, energetic commitment to helping customers explore and understand new wines.

Something for the weekend

Something For the Weekend 17 September

Under £6

2010 Picpoul de Pinet

From close to the oyster beds of the Mediterranean comes this refreshing, apple and pear-crisp, example of the picpoul grape, whose citrusy twist is made for oysters and mussels. Alive, alive-o! £5.99, down from £7.99, Marks & Spencer, until 2 October.

Under a Tenner

2009 Calicanto 2009, Viña el Principal, Maipo

With typical Chilean blackcurrant pastille sweetness of aroma and flavour, there's plenty to get your chops into in this powerfully spicy, rich cassis-centred, Chilean blend of cabernet sauvignon and carmenère. Speaking of chops… £12.49 , buy 2=£9.99, Majestic.

Splash Out

2008 Steam Wharf Road Syrah

Pungent Worcester sauce in the aroma of this northern Rhône-esque Kiwi syrah and an equally fine spice and pepper flavour with a juicy, savoury damson fruit quality make this crisp and refreshingly juicy. £85.44 / 6 bottles = £14.24, Tesco.