High Street Wine Challenge: Co-op "Truly Irresistible" Sauvignon Blanc

I have heard very good things about The Co-operative's wine selection so I popped into my local branch today. The choice on offer was pretty limited, especially in the white wine chiller where I was looking. I was faced with the choice between a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand or Chile, both at £6.99, so I decided to go with Chile as you tend to get a lot more "bang for your buck" with Chilean wines.

More specifically this is from Leyda, which is a beautifully cool valley just west of Santiago, producing very good quality wines. On the nose, I got intense passion fruit aromas. This tastes of everything you would expect from Sauvignon Blanc: citrus fruit, green peppers, passion fruit and asparagus. In fact, if I'd tasted this blind, I'd have guessed this to be a good quality New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I now want to go back and check out their £6.99 kiwi savvy as I'd put money on it being nowhere near as tasty.

Happy Swigging!

Priorat: Spain's greatest wine region

Last week I had the great pleasure of meeting one of Priorat's top winemakers, Sara Perez from Mas Martinet (http://masmartinet.com/). Talking to her and tasting her wines reminded me why I love Priorat, and so I thought I'd write a bit more about it so that maybe you might go try it yourself.

 

What's so amazing about Priorat?

For me, Priorat is all about perfect balance. This region gets a lot of sunshine and very little rain, which can result in wines with very high alcohol content. But instead of being massive fruit bombs, the best Priorats have a beautiful acidity and minerality which lift them to be wines of great depth and complexity. Granted they are still big wines, the dark fruits are still ripe, but the acidity and minerality make them much more pleasurable.

 

How come they're so great?

The key defining characteristic of this region is its soil. Known locally as "llicorella", this dark sparkly slate soil reflects the light, conserves the heat, and also gives the wines their mineral zing. The best vineyards are those on slopes which face northeast in order not to get too much sun but instead to bask fully in the refreshing sea breezes. The main grape used is Garnacha (aka Grenache), often blended with Carinena and a selection of international varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. 

Photo of Priorat vineyard, courtesy of http://myemail.constantcontact.com

 

Will I like them too?

If you're a fan of powerful Rhone Valley reds (such as Cornas or Cote Rotie), Australian Shiraz, South African Pinotage or Argentinian Malbec, chances are you will enjoy exploring what this region has to offer. And if you like these wines but can't stretch to a bottle of Priorat, check out the wines of Montsant which is just next door.

 

It is also worth noting that Priorat is only a very short drive from Barcelona - mini break, anyone?

 

Happy Swigging!

High Street Wine Challenge: Cotes du Rhone Rosé, Sainsburys

Following on from my last blog post, I thought this week's high street pick should be a bottle of the pink stuff. So on today's Sainsburys shop I ventured to the Rosé aisle and (unsurprisingly) was pretty disappointed by the selection on offer. I nearly picked their Taste The Difference Provence Rosé which is currently on offer at £7 instead of the usual £8, but decided to venture a little off-piste and picked this little number from the Rhône at £6.

The reason for my choice is that the Rhône valley is just north of Provence (where my favourite rosé comes from) and the grape varieties used are similar - Grenache, Cinsault, & Syrah. On the nose, I get aromas of pink grapefruit and peach. On drinking, the wine is dry but balanced by lots of ripe fruit flavours such as watermelon, raspberries and cranberries. Very easy drinking, it was perfect with our chicken & chorizo traybake but would also be just as delicious sipped on its own in the sunshine.

Happy Swigging!

Think Pink

The sun is shining which can only mean one thing: it’s Rosé o’clock!

Rosé (aka “Lady Petrol” amongst some of my classy friends) is a really evocative wine. One sip will transport even the most serious wine critic to the Cote d’Azur. A lot of this is to do with the fact that we only really drink rosé in the Summer, so us sun-deprived Brits associate it with happier, sunnier times. No surprise then that its popularity is going up, up, up!
 

Most rosé wines are made from black grapes, and the usual method of production is by crushing the grapes and leaving the juice in contact with the skins for just enough time to extract the desired colour. Then the wine is fermented, like a white wine, off the skins (whereas red wine is fermented on the skins to extract full colour).

 

Obviously there are a lot of different styles of rosé, from the palest salmon to the deepest fuschia pink, from bone dry to sickly sweet. So how do you know which one to pick?? Generally speaking the darker the hue, the closer to red wine in structure and taste it will be. Old World versions tend to be dry, but for New World styles make sure you ask the sales assistant just to be sure. A good indicator of sweetness is the alcohol level: lower than 12% ABV is likely to be off-dry.

Everyone’s palate is different, personally I’m a fan of the lighter, drier styles. So if you have similar taste here are the wines that I regularly buy for BBQs at home.

 

Provence Rosé

Recently made even more popular by “Brangelina” who now own Chateau Miraval estate (available at multiple retailers including M&S for around £18). The classic Provence style is a lovely pale pink colour (think onion skin through to poached salmon), dry and refreshing, full of redcurrant and wild strawberry flavours with a hint of citrus. Perfect with salads and grilled veggies, tuna steak, or simply on its own.

 

If you’re looking for a bargain, the rosés of the Languedoc region just next door are normally very similar in style but considerably cheaper as they don’t have to abide by the rules and regulations of the Cotes de Provence appellation.

Sancerre Rosé

We all know white Sancerre, that deliciously crisp and mineral white wine made from Sauvignon Blanc. The same appellation can also produce reds and rosés from Pinot Noir and Gamay grapes. The reds I will talk about another time (yes, another personal favourite) but the rosés are definitely worth searching for as they are similarly pale and dry but with more minerality and a silky smooth finish. The perfect, sophisticated picnic accompaniment.

If you like this style it’s also worth searching for rosé from Burgundy, a little harder to come by but they’re made from the same grapes, still dry and a touch fruitier in style.

 

Rioja Rosado

Yes, Rioja comes in rosé and white forms too. Their rosés are predominantly Tempranillo and Garnacha blends, dry in style and fabulously fruity. Absolutely perfect served with paella (funny that) and BBQ-ed meat.

 

Rosé Champagne

Ok, ok, I’m an expensive date – I absolutely adore pink Champagne. Unlike still rosé, the Champagne version is made by blending red and white wines together before secondary fermentation (when the bubbles are made). The UK’s most popular brand of this is Laurent Perrier Rosé but I personally think it’s massively overrated (too much style, not enough substance). Instead look out for Ruinart Rosé, Billecart-Salmon Rosé, or even the great value Oeil de Perdrix Rosé which Majestic is currently selling at £19.99 per bottle (normally £30!)

Happy Swigging!

Prosecco Pinch

According to the news this week, we are facing a global shortage of Prosecco this summer. But before you all dash out to the supermarkets to bulk buy, I thought I’d reassure you that there are other options out there.

 One of the reasons for Prosecco’s huge success is its moreishness. It isn’t a copycat Champagne (the method of production used is far cheaper and less time-consuming than Champagne), but instead it is a soft, fruity and fresh sparkling wine – a great deal tastier than most cheap Champagnes. I will admit that it can be a struggle to find similarly budget wines that are as easy-to-drink but if you’re prepared to stretch up to £10 per bottle I can definitely find you something.

 

Spain

Probably the second-most famous budget fizz is Cava, which is actually much more like Champagne in style than Prosecco because the method of production is very similar. The quality of top-end Cava has improved dramatically in the last decade and brands such as Codorniu are producing sparkling wines that are really rather delicious. Add to this the fact that the most expensive examples in our shops rarely reach above £12, this is really rather an attractive option. One word of warning though: if you go lower than £7 a bottle, you really do get the most tasteless, acidic, headache-inducing fizz, so just don’t.

 

Italy

They may be most famous for their Prosecco, but if you’re looking for something even more easy-drinking, try hunting down a Moscato d’Asti or Asti Spumante sparkling wine. This is made from the Muscat grape and fermentation is stopped early to produce a sparkling wine which is deliciously sweet and low in alcohol (typically 7%). This is what I would class as breakfast wine!

 

France

Crémant wine is a close cousin to Champagne. It is made with the exact same method but in other regions around the country. One of my personal favourites Crémant de Limoux, which is made from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir grapes grown in the Pyrenean foothills and it is fresh, fruity vibrant and normally available for around £10 a bottle. Also worth looking out for is Blanquette de Limoux, from the same region but made with local grape Mauzac and often even cheaper.

You will also spot Crémant d’Alsace, Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de Loire… you get the idea. All of these are worth exploring if you want the Champagne quality without paying Champagne prices.

 

New World

A lot of the New World is far too warm to be able to produce good quality sparkling wine, but where there are high altitude vineyards (Chile, Argentina) or cooling sea breezes (New Zealand, Tasmania) you can find some excellent alternatives.

 

pic courtesy of http://chicvintagebrides.com

Happy Swigging!

 

 

 

High Street Wine Challenge: Freeman's Bay Pinot Gris, ALDI

Another ALDI bargain this week, £5.69 for a New Zealand Pinot Gris!

Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio) is a far more exciting variety than Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand's most famous white grape. Unlike the Italian Pinot Grigio you may be more used to drinking, the Kiwi version (and indeed those from the USA) is much richer in style. So rather than citrus and apple fruit, these wines show ripe tropical fruit eg mango and papaya.

This ALDI version shows all the typical tropical fruit with a hint of ginger spice. However, as is to be expected at this price point, there's not much else going on. That's not an enormous criticism, in fact if you're normally an Italian Pinot Grigio drinker you'll probably enjoy this! Either way, it went down very well with tonight's sticky honey & soy chicken.

Happy Swigging!

Home Grown

23^rd to 31^st May marks English Wine Week, and numerous supermarkets, wine merchants and restaurants across the UK will be running promotions on this country’s fine wine produce. This is the perfect opportunity for me to write a bit about these wonderful wines and hopefully encourage you to explore them further.

 

Last week Waitrose announced that sales of its English wines almost doubled in 2014. This really got me thinking. I definitely don’t drink enough English wine, despite thinking of myself as pretty patriotic, and I’m sure I’m not alone. The truth is that English wines are not cheap (thanks to low production and high labour and land costs) so you can expect to be forking out at least £10 for a decent bottle of still wine and £20 for a bottle of English fizz.

 

Most of our vineyards are down South, where they are planted on south-facing, chalky hills. It’s this very same stretch of chalky soil that extends down to the Champagne region of France, which is one of the reasons why our sparkling wines are making such waves around the World. If you haven’t yet tried an English sparkling wine, you’re missing out – the best can easily compete against Champagne in a taste test. They aren’t cheap (the method of production is the same as in Champagne, which is an intricate, expensive method). In fact, the Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee with a few glasses of Nyetimber sparkling wine – a Sussex vineyard whose standards are so high that they scrapped their 2012 vintage of around 400,000 bottles because of the poor quality of the grapes.

 

Away from our top notch sparklers, English white wines have a distinctively crisp and aromatic character: think gooseberries, elderflower, grass and asparagus. Whereas for sparkling wines the main grapes planted are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, for our white wines Germanic grapes dominate, especially crossings (eg Muller Thurgau) which were designed to beat the cold. One of the most widely seen grape varieties is Bacchus, which is England’s answer to Sancerre.

 

I have to admit here that I haven’t yet tasted an English red wine that I have enjoyed. The most promising grapes are Pinot Noir and Dornfelder but they are all very dependent on the English weather being warm enough to ripen properly (and let’s face it, that’s not often!)

 

If you would like to try English wine, Waitrose definitely has the best supermarket selection. The Wine Pantry in Borough market in London sells only English wines so their range is by far the best I’ve found, and if you can’t get to London they sell all their wines online (www.winepantry.co.uk).  

 

Of course the best idea is for you to take a trip to see where the magic happens, so here is a list of some of our top English vineyards which cater well for visitors:

 

Camel Valley, Cornwall http://www.camelvalley.com/

An idyllic location with a climate warm enough to produce really exciting wines.

Ridgeview, East Sussex http://www.ridgeview.co.uk/

A great opportunity to see first hand how top quality sparkling wines are made (it’s not easy!)

Denbies, Surrey http://www.denbies.co.uk/

If you’re feeling energetic, they host marathons with wine stations en route!

Chapel Down, Kent http://www.chapeldown.com/

Delicious wines, and they have a fabulous restaurant on site too

 

PS: don’t make the mistake of buying “British Wine” as this is NOT the same thing. "British wine" is made using cheap imported grapes and can be found in some supermarkets for around £3…

 

Happy Swigging!