• WINE

  • FOOD

  • ABOUT

    • PORTFOLIO
    • CONTACT
  • More...

    Use tab to navigate through the menu items.

    joanna simon

    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • All Posts
    • wine of the week
    • features
    • travel
    • recipes
    • restaurants
    • thewinegang.com
    • House & Garden
    • Sunday Times
    • The World of Fine Wine
    • Waitrose Drinks Magazine
    • Decanter
    Search
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Pierre Jaurant Saint-Chinian 2020, Languedoc, France
    • Jun 23

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Pierre Jaurant Saint-Chinian 2020, Languedoc, France

    £5.99, Aldi Saint-Chinian is an appellation I look out for in restaurants. The wines – white and rosé as well as the more abundant reds – are usually better value than more familiar names. More than that, it’s a region where quality-focused estates are doing interesting things and in both the appellation’s soil types, the higher altitude schists in the north and west and the limestone and clay in lower areas to the south. And it's one of the regions I look to in supermarkets
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Smith & Sheth Cru Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Wairau, New Zealand
    • Jun 16

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Smith & Sheth Cru Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Wairau, New Zealand

    £17, Tesco This cracking New Zealand Sauvignon is the product of the very low-cropping 2021 vintage and one of the country’s top winemakers, Steve Smith MW, in partnership with Texan investor and wildlife conservationist Brian Sheth. It may look expensive, but you get your money’s worth in the breadth of flavour and interest in every sip: in vivid aromas of fresh-cut grass, herbs, gooseberry, lime, green apple, crushed rocks and hints of woodsmoke and spice; and in the juicy
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Albert Road Pinot Noir by Savage & Louw, Western Cape
    • Jun 9

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Albert Road Pinot Noir by Savage & Louw, Western Cape

    £9.49, Waitrose Finding inexpensive Pinot Noir isn’t the challenge it once was, but even so this is a spectacularly good-value example – and it’s only £7.12 in any 6 or more bottles of wine or Champagne until June 14. Bargain. It has a lovely Pinot Noir fragrance of roses and fraises des bois and a palate that frames the fruit with dried herbs, gently smouldering oak and spice, a gossamer texture, lithe, medium-light structure and juicy freshness. And the medium-pale ruby-gar
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Château des Fougères La Raison 2012, Graves, France
    • Jun 2

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Château des Fougères La Raison 2012, Graves, France

    £16, Tesco I was planning to choose something that shouted summer more obviously this week, but along came a timely reminder that you don’t have to pay a fortune to get good, mature red Bordeaux. Where else do you get impeccable 10-year-old red wine at this sort of price? In fact, if you can get a delivery slot by June 6 and buy six on-line, you’ll get it at £10.50 a bottle, or £14 by the bottle for delivery by June 13. As far as summer goes, far from being a heavy red, La Ra
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Filos Estate Aspri Petra Assyrtiko 2021, Florina, Greece
    • May 6

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Filos Estate Aspri Petra Assyrtiko 2021, Florina, Greece

    £6.99, Aldi I know, I know, this week's wine is being posted late but, believe me, it's worth the wait for this terrific value, summery Assyrtiko. It's from a single vineyard, Aspri Petra, at a soaring 625 metres in the IGP of Florina in the Amyndeon region of north west Greece, and it's everything the country's flagship white grape, Assyrtiko, should be when it's grown on the mainland. I stress mainland because it's not trying to be Santorini. Instead, it's zesty and refresh
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Ringbolt Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, Margaret River, Western Australia
    • Mar 10

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Ringbolt Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, Margaret River, Western Australia

    £10, Tesco There aren't many areas that produce really distinctive regional Cabernet Sauvignon – pure Cabernet Sauvignon, rather than Bordeaux-style blends with Merlot and so on – but Australia has two of them, Coonwarra in South Australia and, thousands of kilometres to the west, the much more recently planted Margaret River in Western Australia, where the first vines went into the ground in 1967. I've written more about the differences between the two here, so let's go stra
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Colpasso Appassimento Nero d'Avola 2020 Sicilia, Italy
    • Feb 24

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Colpasso Appassimento Nero d'Avola 2020 Sicilia, Italy

    £7 on offer (normally £9), Morrisons This Sicilian red is new to the UK and a snip at the introductory price of £7 until 15 March. Even at £9 it's good value – dark, ripe and super-smooth with a tumble of black cherry, plum, kirsch and toasted vanilla flavours, gentle grip and a streak of Italianate agrodolce. It's made from hand-picked Nero d'Avola grapes, a proportion of which are dried, some of them left on the vines to dry, others dried on racks for about 15 days to lose
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Gaia Organic Malbec 2019, Gualtallary, Mendoza, Argentina
    • Feb 3

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Gaia Organic Malbec 2019, Gualtallary, Mendoza, Argentina

    £11.99 on offer (normally £16.99), Waitrose Named after the Greek earth goddess Gaia, Domaine Bousquet's stylish Malbec is rich and succulent with polished tannins and seamless structure. Woodsmoke, rosemary and a hint of liquorice add layers to the glossy, dark, plum and elderberry fruit and long mineral-edged finish. I've written about this pioneering French-founded estate before here, but, briefly, it was established in remote virgin territory in Alta Gualtallary in the la
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Viña Leyda Single Vineyard Garuma Sauvignon Blanc 2020, Leyda, Chile
    • Jan 27

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Viña Leyda Single Vineyard Garuma Sauvignon Blanc 2020, Leyda, Chile

    £12, Tesco Having seen sunshine for the first time in what seems ages, I've pulled this white wine forward and pushed back the red I'd planned for another week. It's a Sauvignon Blanc with a real spring in its step from Chile's coastal Leyda region and from a vineyard that, just 4km from the Pacific Ocean, almost has its toes (or roots) in the cooling waters. The aromas come in a mouthwatering burst of fresh pea pod, salt-crusted peaches, lime zest and flint. The palate foll
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Santa Tresa Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2018, Sicily, Italy
    • Jan 6

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Santa Tresa Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2018, Sicily, Italy

    £10.99–£14.89, Costco, The Wine Society, Ocado, Vintage Roots, Cheers, Amazon A delicious, distinctive and original red wine seems a positive way to start the new year. That Santa Tresa's organic Cerasuolo di Vittoria is outstandingly good value and a magician when it comes to matching food only adds to its lustre. Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicily's only DOCG (the top tier in Italy's wine classification system), is a small but varied region – topographically, geologically and cl
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Vergelegen Premium Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2018, Stellenbosch, South Africa
    • Dec 23, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Vergelegen Premium Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2018, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    £10, Tesco For those people who still need a red wine for the Christmas Day feast, I've picked this Cape Cabernet Merlot because it's versatile enough to go with most of the main Christmas options and should appeal to a wide audience. It's a full-bodied, poised and balanced blend of just over 60% Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and a smidgen of Malbec, bringing together cassis fruitiness, currant-leaf freshness, smooth dark chocolate and savoury black tapenade
    The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Wine Guide 2021
    • Dec 21, 2021

    The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Wine Guide 2021

    As ever, my annual sweet and fortified wine guide is the place to rummage for many of the wine world's greatest bargains. More than that, it’s a source of aperitifs and of restorative and comforting wines for long dark evenings (dry, medium and sweet); it's a place to research accompaniments or alternatives to puddings and cheese; and it’s a provider of inspiration for gifts. It’s divided into three: sweet wines, then sherries, where you’ll find dry wines for aperitifs as wel
    The Festive White, Orange and Rosé Wine Guide 2021
    • Dec 16, 2021

    The Festive White, Orange and Rosé Wine Guide 2021

    Welcome to my annual roundup of white, orange and rosé wines for the festive season. Ranging freely through styles, regions and grape varieties, it's designed to cover all occasions and eventualities throughout Christmas, new year and other festivals and celebrations of the season. There are wines for the towering occasions, lots of inspiration for gifts and, no less important, wines for the times when absolutely nothing is happening. All are ready for drinking, but some will
    The Festive Champagne Guide 2021
    • Dec 9, 2021

    The Festive Champagne Guide 2021

    It goes without saying that it's always a pleasure to publish my annual round-up of Champagnes to meet the varied needs of the festive season. This year the bottles start at an undiscounted £13.99 and end with an indulgent magnum at £260 and the styles range from from Blanc de Blancs to Blanc de Noirs to rosé and from vintage to non-vintage to multi-vintage (the new buzzword). If you're looking for ultimate bottles, you should also consider three that I reviewed here during t
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Finca Moncloa 2017, Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain
    • Dec 9, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Finca Moncloa 2017, Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain

    £16.99, Ocado This fascinating red wine is a Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz. In other words, it's from sherry country, where there was an old tradition of making red wines that had largely lapsed. A small-scale revival has got underway this century, helped along by the granting of the Vino de la Tierra designation in 2005. Moncloa is produced by the González family of González Byass and Tio Pepe sherry fame from their own vineyards and is a blend that includes what they say is an
    The Festive Red Wine Guide 2021
    • Dec 3, 2021

    The Festive Red Wine Guide 2021

    Welcome to my annual roundup of red wines. Ranging freely across styles, regions and grape varieties, it's designed to cover all occasions and eventualities through the festive season. There are wines to suit the absolutely-nothing-is-happening evenings, wines for the 'this deserves something special' dinners and lots of inspiration for gifts. All these wines are ready for drinking, but some will also continue to develop. They're listed in ascending order of price, going from
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Calmel & Joseph Saint Chinian Blanc 2018, Languedoc, France
    • Nov 11, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Calmel & Joseph Saint Chinian Blanc 2018, Languedoc, France

    £11.99 on offer, waitrosecellar The rocky, arid Saint Chinian appellation in Languedoc is much better known for its red wines, but its whites – just 5% of production – are always worth trying. Witness this captivating example with its late-summer orchard fruit, dried flower and hay aromas and full, yet elegantly mineral, spice-edged palate – a wine bound by energy, texture, structure and freshness. The grape varieties are Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Vermentino and Viognier (40
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Musar Jeune Red 2019, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
    • Nov 4, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Musar Jeune Red 2019, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

    £11, Booths supermarkets; £12.50–£14.95, many independents* This is Chateau Musar's third red wine, a fruity, unoaked blend of Cinsault, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon (50:35:15 in the 2019 vintage) designed to be drunk young and to be an introduction to the more serious, long-lived, oak-aged Musar reds, Chateau Musar itself and Hochar Père et Fils (which you can also find labelled Aana, the village where the grapes are grown). Musar Jeune Red doesn't need decanting or ageing –
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Planeta l'Amistanza Fiano Grecanico 2020, DOC Sicilia, Italy
    • Oct 28, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Planeta l'Amistanza Fiano Grecanico 2020, DOC Sicilia, Italy

    £10, Tesco A crowd-pleasing and pleasingly characterful unoaked dry white from deservedly fashionable Sicily, with peach, pear, herb and citrus flavours, a smooth, rounded texture and preserved-lemon and grapefruit-peel grip. Neither of the two grape varieties is native to Sicily – Fiano is from Campania and Grecanico is better known in the north as Garganega, the principal variety of Soave – but both are at home on the island and they make a good partnership, Fiano giving we
    WINE OF THE WEEK: The Best Toscana 2019, Tuscany, Italy
    • Oct 21, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: The Best Toscana 2019, Tuscany, Italy

    £8.50/£10, Morrisons I had scheduled this Tuscan red for next week, but it's on offer at £8.50 until 2 November, so I've pulled it forward to allow more time for everyone to buy it at the lower price, although it's good value at the full (£10) price, should you miss out. Morrisons wine buyers are understandably proud of the wine, which they make in collaboration with, I quote, "one of the oldest and most highly regarded wine estates in Tuscany". They're tight-lipped about who
    1
    2345
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • Black LinkedIn Icon

    Website © 2019 Joanna Simon

    Header photo © Waitrose & Partners Drinks / Cat Garcia