Loyd Grossman doesn't mind admitting it, even in a national newspaper. He likes rosé wines and, horror of all possible vinous horrors, has been known to drink a glass of 'white' Zinfandel. The Boston-born sauce guru, foodie and TV presenter is unrepentant. 'Wine connoisseurship is so bloody proscriptive at times. I've never had any time for the sort of people who describe themselves as "wine enthusiasts" and wear velvet smoking jackets at home on Friday evenings.' So, if Grossman wants to drink a blush wine from California, he will, thank you.

It has to be said that it doesn't happen very often. The London-based Grossman is keen to take advantage of the 'extraordinary resource' that this country offers to wine lovers. He can find plenty of bottles from California when he visits the States, so when he's at home he tends to concentrate on France and Italy. 'I like what Francis Ford Coppola makes at Niebaum-Coppola in the Napa Valley, but those are the only American wines I drink here on a regular basis.'

Appreciating food was an important part of Grossman's upbringing. His mother's family ran a hotdog business in the 1930s and, perhaps as an antidote, his parents were eager restaurant-goers. Grossman was introduced to ethnic food as an adolescent: Afghan, Italian, Chinese, Arabic and even Greek. 'I'm sure that that's part of the reason I like retsina. I know that Alec Waugh once described it as an acquired taste that isn't worth acquiring, but I love the stuff.'

Grossman's parents were more interested in food than wine. They had a bottle of French wine on the fourth of July and at Thanksgiving, but that was about it. One particular Thanksgiving bottle, a Clos de Vougeot Burgundy, stimulated Grossman's interest in wine. He started to learn more about the subject as a student in Boston and New York and when someone gave him Alexis Lichine's Encyclopedia of Wines and Spirits he was enthralled. 'I trained as a historian, so I find the history of wine fascinating. I also love maps, which is why Hugh Johnson's Wine Atlas was so compelling.'

Grossman came to the London School of Economics as a post-graduate in 1975. The LSE was beginning to swing from Left to Right politically, so Grossman decided that the wine society would be fun to join. He started to frequent Italian restaurants around Holborn which stimulated an interest in Italian wines. 'I started with wine in those funny wicker baskets, called fiaschi, and moved on from there.' Even today, Italian wines are a passion.

Red Bordeaux is Grossman's favourite wine style, however. 'I may be a masochist, but there's something in me that adores the austerity of claret. "Soft" and "fruity" are some of the most frightening words in the English language, unless you're talking about a ripe peach.' The only drawback, he says, is the price of the top châteaux. 'As a total claret nut, one's life is spent searching for a great £20 bottle.' You could also spend a lifetime learning about red Burgundy in Grossman's opinion, and while he likes Pinot Noir, it doesn't have the 'tannic shudder' of claret.

For all that, Grossman drinks more white wine than red, partly because he eats a lot of fish and vegetarian food. He likes white Burgundy and Italian bianchi from Tuscany, the Alto Adige and Campania (especially Greco di Tufo). He's planning to get to grips with Germany next: 'Desperately unfashionable, I know, but I want to see what they're up to.' He likes a bit of permafrost austerity in his whites, too. 'I serve them so cold that they're almost frozen. I can't stand this French thing of serving white wines at room temperature.'

Grossman buys his wine from four main sources: Lea & Sandeman (020 7244 0522), Jeroboams (020 7629 7916), Corney & Barrow (020 7539 3200) and Oddbins. He tends to buy wine for immediate consumption rather than to lay down. He's got a few cases under the stairs and 'in the cupboard where we keep the suitcases', but doesn't have much space in his London house. 'I keep some wines, particularly clarets, for as long as I can resist opening them.'

His six chosen wines reflect his love of French and Italian wines, although one New World red, the 1998 Los Vascos Grande Réserve, produced by the Rothschilds in Chile ('like a traditional claret with a New World inflection'), makes the final selection. His other two reds are bona fide clarets, both of them from the Left Bank. The 1995 La Tour St Bonnet is 'a very respectable, solidly made Cru Bourgeois', while the 1997 Léoville-Barton is there to remind Grossman of a lunch he had at the château (including a mammoth tasting back to the Second World War) with owner Anthony Barton. Along with Cos d'Estournel, it is his favourite claret.

The whites are French-dominated, too. There's a 1999 Ladoix from Pierre André that Grossman first discovered at Wilton's restaurant in London and now buys from Jeroboams ('It needs time, but it's just my sort of white Burgundy'). Then Grossman has selected a brace of Sauvignon Blancs: a 1999 Château de Tracy, Pouilly-Fumé ('I just love the name; it sounds like something produced by an Essex girl, but it has a certain casual elegance') and, from Italy, the 1999 Con Vento imported by Lea & Sandeman. 'I like the character of Sauvignon Blanc,' says Grossman, 'but I don't want to feel that I'm sucking on a gooseberry. This is as beautiful to look at as it is to drink.' Which is more than you can say for white Zinfandel, in your critic's opinion.