#redwine

Jul 14, 2020

A Story of Redemption: Castello Banfi in Montalcino

The imposing medieval Castello Poggio alle Mura with just below (on the right of the picture) part of the luxury Castello Banfi Il Borgo hotel When John Mariani bought the Poggio alle Mura estate just south of Montalcino in 1978, it had had only two previous owners, the Sicilian family living in Venezuela that he bought it from and a Sienese family. In itself, it’s not necessarily remarkable, but the Castello dates from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, so it was a big c

Sep 6, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Taste the Difference Saint-Chinian Syrah Grenache 2016, Saint-Chinian, France

£9 (or £8 on offer), Sainsbury's This is the new vintage of a generous, warm-hearted red blend that's one of the best wines in Sainsbury's range in terms of quality-price ratio (especially on offer at £8 online and in most stores). Syrah and Grenache provide the blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, peppery spice and aromatic herbal notes of the garrigue, while partial ageing in French oak barrels rounds it out with subtle toasty notes. It's a winner with lamb – braised shanks,

Aug 23, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Tanners Super Douro Reserva 2015, Douro, Portugal

£14.50, Tanners Wines It was a hard choice: Tanners Côtes du Rhône, an absolute charmer from the very good 2016 vintage, or this Douro red. In the end I settled on the dark, full-bodied, oak-matured Reserva, partly because it went irresistibly well with a magret de canard and Pyrenees sheep's cheese that I was eating. It's made by Duorum Vinhos with input from Tanners, using classic port grapes led by Touriga Nacional, and is aged in French oak, which gives depth and toasty e

Aug 22, 2018

Inspiring island wines: reds from Sicily and Sardinia

Update, September 4, 2018: the Etna Rosso and Barbazzale are now out of stock, so the mixed case is no longer available, but the rest of the wines are, as is the Etna Bianco that was my wine of the week. The offer runs until Sunday September 9. I've added a food note to the Frappato. This week's Wine of the Week is an Etna Bianco, made from indigenous grape varieties grown in the mineral-laden volcanic soils of Mount Etna at 700–750m. It's on The Wine Society's main list but

Aug 9, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Zalze Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier 2016, Western Cape, South Africa

£6 on offer, Morrisons and Asda A richly fruity, spicy red that's a good buy even when not on offer but is a bargain at the offer prices (scroll to the bottom for more offers and stockists). It's a wine that really shows off the virtues of blending. The Shiraz at its heart drenches it in aromas and flavours of sun-warmed blackberries, ripe red fruits and spice, Mourvèdre (15%) adds complexity with darker, more savoury flavours of Mediterranean herbs, spice, wet earth, roast g

Jul 19, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Rioja Reserva 2009, Rioja, Spain

£25–£29, Laithwaites, Swig, Armit Vina Ardanza is one of the true classics of Rioja. It's been around for 76 years and each vintage has the same overarching style – generous, inviting, elegantly oaky and spicy – but varying according to the growing season. 2009 was a hot, dry year, which isn't necessarily a good thing, but in this case September rains came at the right time to slow the pace of ripening and give succulent, sweet, spicy red fruit, nutty roundness and polished t

Jul 5, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Maison Dominique Piron Fleurie 2017, France

£14.49/£12.99, Laithwaites There are other summer reds, but few hit the spot as well as a good Beaujolais and I'm especially pleased to see a beautifully aromatic 2017 Fleurie. Last year was a cruel one for Fleurie's vignerons (and neighbouring Moulin-à-Vent's): for the second year running, hail tore through the vineyards, last year compounded by an accompanying mini tornado (there's more in my Beaujolais blog written after I visited last July). This wine, from vines that esc

Jun 21, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Cambria Benchbreak Pinot Noir 2013, Santa Maria Valley, California

£21.99–£23.99, Ministry of Drinks, Mitchells Wines, Noel Young Wines California wines don't feature here as often as I would like, or as often as perhaps they should. There are any number of wines I'd like to recommend, but the problem is usually price – expensive compared to wines from elsewhere. But that's just the way it is: land is expensive, there's a ready domestic market, etcetera. That said, the price of this single-vineyard Pinot Noir from the cool, coastal Santa Mar

May 30, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Paolo Leo Primitivo di Manduria 2016, Puglia, Italy

£8.24 on offer, Waitrose and Ocado I originally chose a new Argentine Malbec for this week, Tabu 2016 made by Luigi Bosca (fragrant, briary, lightly oaked, £11.99, Waitrose), but this Primitivo, a perennial favourite and a great barbecue wine, is temptingly on offer, down from £10.99 until 12 June when you buy any 6 bottles. Genetically, Primitivo, which originated in Croatia, is the same as California's Zinfandel, but at home in Puglia in southern Italy, way down in the heel

May 17, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Campo di Sasso Insoglio del Cinghiale 2016, Toscana, Italy

£21.50, Corney & Barrow I’ve drunk earlier vintages of this opulent, satin-smooth red at the estate with wild boar (the local cinghiale of the label) and it’s a seamless pairing, but it’s such a supple, ample and well–tuned wine it’s a match for all sorts of food – darker meat, lighter meat, vegetable dishes, cheese... Campo di Sasso is a 46-hectare estate near Bibbona in coastal southwest Tuscany that was established by, and belongs to, Lodovico Antinori, one of the famous F

May 3, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Taste the Difference CVNE Rioja Gran Reserva 2011, Rioja, Spain

£12 (on offer), Sainsbury's Textbook Gran Reserva from CVNE, one of Rioja's most admired bodegas. Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España (you can see why it's known as CVNE, pronounced 'coonay') has long since perfected a style that blends modernity with the best of classical approaches: in this case, combining ripe, dark fruit with two years' ageing in French and American oak barrels followed by three years in bottle. The result is a balance of sweet, velvety fruit with cream

Apr 19, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Chemin de la Pinède Merlot 2016, Pays d’Oc, France

£7.95/£7.25, Lea & Sandeman There were lots of excellent wines and new finds at Lea & Sandeman’s spring tasting (brilliant Condrieu and Côte Rôtie from Domaine Benjamin et David Duclaux among them), but this new Languedoc Merlot, the cheapest red on show, stands out at the price, and even more so at £7.25 in any mix of 12 bottles. You won't get better. It packs in a lot of flavour – velvety, ripe black fruit, a dusting of spice and a liquorice base-note – but does it with fin

Apr 5, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Eschaffins Cairanne Côtes du Rhône Villages 2015, Rhône, France

£13.50, Yapp Bros I haven’t seen the label of the follow-on vintage of this generous, warm-hearted southern Rhône, but for the first time it won't have to carry the words Côtes du Rhône Villages. Like Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Rasteau before it, Cairanne has been elevated to full AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) status. Houpla! What difference will it make? Well, prices aren’t going to go down, for sure, but in recognition of its new position in the hierarchy Cairanne's p

Mar 23, 2018

12 of the best from Aldi

Aldi's wines are cheap, as you would expect, but they're bought with care. These are a dozen that stood out at a recent press tasting. Overall, the whites were better than the reds, or at least I preferred them. There's a tendency for the reds to be a bit sweet and/or oaky. Generally, I reckon it's harder to buy whites of any interest at the bottom end than it is to get reds, so buyers Mike James and David Elliott are bucking the trend. The two sparkling wines are both very g

Mar 22, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Lot Series Te Haupapa Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017, New Zealand

£8.99, Aldi The Lot Series wines are smaller parcels of more expensive bottles – more expensive by Aldi's standards, but not by Central Otago or Pinot Noir standards. Cheap or not, it's smooth, light-bodied and lively and brimming with fragrant, cherry and plum fruit, sappy orange-peel freshness and a dash of spicy oak. You can drink it without food, but it goes with fish such as salmon or red mullet, simply roast quail or chicken, charcuterie, savoury tarts or other light me

Mar 8, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Fabre Montmayou Reservado Cabernet Franc 2015, Mendoza, Argentina

£15.99, or £12.49 in a mix of 12 or more, Laithwaites Argentina nailed its red wine colours to the Malbec mast years ago, but it’s also turning out in much smaller quantities some very smart Cabernet Francs. Exhibit number one: Fabre Montmayou Reservado, made by Bordeaux ex-pat Hervé Fabre who has recently added three estates in Cahors, Malbec's French motherland, to his Mendoza and Patagonia portfolio. His 2015 Reservado Cabernet Franc combines depth and complexity with typi

Mar 6, 2018

Expanding wine drinkers' horizons: The Daily Drinker

As it was so hard choosing between the five Daily Drinker wines for my Wine of the Week, I'm writing up the other four here (and looking forward to tasting more). The Daily Drinker is an online wine shop and club with a mission to get wine drinkers to go off-piste and try some of the myriad affordable, but little-encountered wines from around the world. They (Caspar and Victoria Bowes who also own Bowes Wine – wine-portfolio management for private clients) introduce two new w

Feb 1, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Trinity Hill Hawkes Bay Syrah 2016, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

£13.50, The Wine Society According to John Hancock of Trinity Hill winery, the world isn't beating a path to Hawkes Bay Syrah's. door. High time it did in my view. The style overall owes much to northern Rhône styles, but with prettier, more supple fruit, especially in the entry-level wines. This one, which includes a small amount of Viognier, is made to show off the perfumed purity, juicy plum and blueberry fruit and savoury, peppery spice of the Syrah grape. I love the way

Jan 18, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Weingut Ardinger Fellbacher Trollinger Alte Reben 2015, Württemberg, Germany

£14.95, The Wine Society I had a white lined up for this week, but it's been so chilly I’m feeling the need for some red wine comfort, although not necessarily something too big and strapping. In the hope that you too need a bit of red wrap-around and that you're also doing #tryjanuary rather than Dry January, I've chosen a medium-bodied German red made from the offbeat Trollinger grape in Fellbach, north-east of Stuttgart. It's pale, perfumed and spicy with rounded red-berry

Sep 18, 2017

Age shall not wither them: 150-year-old Aglianico vines and a vertical tasting

Antonio Capaldi, president of Feudi di San Gregorio (left) with agronomist and CEO Pierpaolo Sirch; I wasn't the only one to photograph the 17-vintage line-up (right) I was in Campania recently for a vertical and horizontal tasting of Aglianico, “the Barolo of the south”, but no less fascinating than the tasting were some of the vines I encountered. The wines were from the Capaldo family’s Feudi di San Gregorio estate and the tasting was held in the winery designed for them b