Every Saturday the Financial Times  publishes a feature called “Lunch with the FT” where a correspondent takes a newsworthy person to lunch and reports on both the conversation and the meal itself.

Don’t tell anyone, but I am sometimes as interested in the details of the food and wine as I am in the serious conversations that they facilitate. The Financial Times insists on paying and over the years I have seen a wild variation in bills.

One blustery British billionaire ordered as if he were paying himself, including a bottle of Chateau Palmer 1983 for £580 (about $900). The total tab was over £750 for lunch for two. At other times the bill is zero — the person being interviewed insists on tea at home, for example, or lunch at the company dining room.

One of my favorite interviews involved Tyler Cowen author of An Economist Gets Lunch and expert on both globalization and the Washington D.C. ethnic dining scene. His goal was to have a wonderful lunch while spending as little as possible, just to demonstrate that the opportunity usually exists if you aren’t afraid to try new cuisines (African or Ethiopian in this case).

Here, for the record, is the bill for the meal for two. I think he succeeded pretty well, don’t you?

Kebericho, Deli Market, 3811c South George Mason Drive, Virginia

Kwanta firfir

Awaze tibs

Minchet abish

Kidfo $15.99

Double espresso $2.00

Total (incl service) $22.99

Incredibly, since the Financial Times picks up the tab whether it is big or small, many subjects pass on wine. I suppose it is about making a statement — my subject is too serious to let wine get in the way — but this seems just wrong in terms of both dining pleasure and the economic incentive that the FT is purposefully providing.

Which brings me to this week’s Lunch with the FT, which is now my favorite in the series. The interview subject is economist Mariana Mazzucato, author of The Entrepreneurial State and the discussion of the role of government in economic innovation is very interesting.

So is the meal. The restaurant is The Gilbert Scott, Euston Road, London and the cost is moderate by London standards with one exception that caught the FT host by surprise when the bill came. Can you pick out the unexpected charge?

Yes, you can imagine the shock of seeing this charge “2 Glasses of Pouilly-Fumé £80.00” (about $120) and having to explain it to the accountants back at the office. We only had two little glasses of white wine … honest!

Explanation? Well it seems that the wine was a 2006 Pouilly-Fumé Blanc de Fume by Didier Dagueneau — one of the world’s great white wines and something that any wine lover would want to try. Two glasses cost almost as much as the rest of the meal including service, but many would say it was money well spent! It might be a great bargain in the grand scheme of things, although that’s a matter of taste.

It seems that The Gilbert Scott always has a couple of stunning wines available by the glass along with a well-chosen and  fairly priced wine list in general. Single glasses of the house selection are as low as £5. But if you are willing to splurge …

I am now in awe of Mariana Mazzucato — well done, Professor! You really know your wine and you know how to take advantage of an opportunity in the best possible way. I wonder if I would have been bold enough to make that choice? Brava! I think I want to have lunch with you sometime (if we can just get someone else to pay).

Thus inspired, I sit here by the phone waiting for a call from the Financial Times …. Hello? Rats. Wrong number.

Here is a link to the Mariana Mazzucato interview. Warning: you may need a FT subscription to access the page. Do you have a good wine-by-the-glass story? If so, please use the Comments section below to tell me about it.