#supermarket

Jan 29, 2018

Sauvignon catch-up

My Festive White Wine Guide last month was light on Sauvignon Blanc, so I’m putting that right with 8 recommendations here, in a variety of styles and at a variety of prices, and with this week's Wine of the Week. Shaw & Smith Sauvignon Blanc 2017, Adelaide Hills, Australia Light and sprightly with lemon and pink-grapefruit flavours flecked with pear and white peach, delicate mid-palate texture and racy, refreshing acidity. Ideal for people who don’t like grassy green or pung

Jan 25, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2017, Durbanville, South Africa

£8.99, on offer until 20 February, Waitrose and Ocado The weather in London is looking a bit more Sauvignon Blanc-friendly than it has been recently, but this isn't a bracingly sharp, cold-shower kind of Sauvignon anyway. It's certainly not short on zing and vibrancy, but ageing the newly fermented wine on its lees (yeasty residues) has added a delicate creaminess to the juicy white peach, apricot and grassy pea-shoot flavours. It's only then that the palate dives headlong in

Dec 21, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: *finest Greco Beneventano 2016, Campania, Italy

£8 until 1 January, Tesco Since I included this southern Italian in my Festive White Wine Guide last week, I've discovered that it's on offer, down from £9, until January 1, making it an even better buy. It's also in a large number of stores (864), so it's a useful wine to have on your list in the frantic run-up to Christmas and the quiet days before New Year (and the Tesco *finest label can be peeled off). The wine itself is crisp, dry and unoaked and should pass muster with

Dec 20, 2017

The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Guide

Sweet and fortified wines come into their own at this time of year – for entertaining, sipping quietly and contemplatively, or giving as presents. With the exception of pale dry sherries and tawny ports, most can be kept several years (in cellar conditions). Fortifieds, in particular, are also often bargains. So here are my picks for this year, going from dry to sweet and/or fresher, lighter to richer, heavier (rather than in ascending order of price, as with my other Festiv

Dec 19, 2017

The Festive White Wine Guide 2017

Sixteen dry whites to cover the festivities and all eventualities at prices from £7 to £48 and from the supermarket giants to small independents. New Zealand Sauvignon is conspicuous by its absence, not for any lack of enthusiasm on my part, but because it was clear from my tasting notes and scores that with NZ Sauvignon you pretty well get what you pay for. If you want something more expressive, expect to pay £13-£20 and head for the likes of Greywacke, Dog Point, Churton,

Dec 15, 2017

The Festive Red Wine Guide 2017

Twenty red wines to take you through all manner of festivities and in some cases festivities for years to come. As, always, they’re listed in ascending order of price, give or take differences in retailers’ prices and special offers. There are three wines I highly recommend but have not included below because they, or a previous vintage, were in last year’s Festive Wine Guide: Les Hauts de Saint-Martin Saint-Chinian 2015 (great value at £6.99, Co-op), the exemplary CVNE Rioja

Dec 13, 2017

The Festive Champagne Guide 2017

So here they are: my Champagne picks for Christmas, New Year and every other kind of festivity, whittled down with difficulty to what I hope is a reasonable number. There's a spread of styles, producers and prices, kicking off below £20 and finishing around £150. I've largely steered clear of Champagnes featured in the last two years' round-ups, which means missing out some with particular regret. This year there's only one pink but, as it happens, without planning it, there

Dec 11, 2017

Festive fizz 2017: anything except Champagne

The first of the season's round-ups is sparkling wines – anything alcoholic and fizzy except Champagne (the Champagne round-up follows shortly). They're selected for quality, interest and value for money and it's ended up as five rosés, three whites and two reds from five different countries across both hemispheres. There's no Prosecco this year – I'm prepared for the brickbats – but if you're looking for one, Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Prosecco Conegliano 2016 is bette

Nov 30, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: *finest Viña del Cura Rioja Gran Reserva 2011, Rioja, Spain

£11, Tesco (25% off when you buy 6: £49.50) Wire-wrapped bottles divide Spanish red wine drinkers into those who run a mile and those for whom they beckon invitingly. If you’re one of the runners, I'm with you. Much as I try not to have preconceptions, I can't help associating wire-nets with old-fashioned, oak-dominated reds. How wrong can I be? This is an oaky Rioja – it's a Gran Reserva, matured in oak for two years – but it’s also a dark, plummy, full-bodied Rioja made by

Nov 16, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Taste the Difference Barbaresco 2014, Piedmont, Italy

£11, Sainsbury's Barbaresco and bargain aren't words that usually go together, but £11 is a very good price for a Barbaresco of this quality. It's even got a track record for reliability: two previous vintages were equally good. It’s classic, medium-bodied Nebbiolo, quietly assured, savoury and food-friendly. The perfume and flavours criss-cross from rose potpourri, dark plums and cherries, to autumnal undergrowth and forest floor, to tobacco, nutmeg, espresso and liquorice.

Nov 2, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Seresin Rachel Pinot Noir 2012/2013, Marlborough, New Zealand

£22–£23, The Wine Society, Booths supermarkets I don’t normally do split vintages – i.e. recommend two at the same time – but 2012 and 2013 are both available and, although they're different in character, they're equally delicious. The 2012 is from a cooler year, but with an extra year’s age there’s a lovely suppleness and silkiness to the spicy, red cherry-perfumed purity and cherry cake and nutmeg elegance. The 2013 shows its youth with a more savoury, structured backbone,

Sep 28, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Villa Blanche Terret Blanc 2016, Pays d'Oc, France

£8.49, Waitrose Terret Blanc is an ancient grape variety that has languished, unloved, in Languedoc for decades. It gets lobbed into blends now and then, but rarely gets its own show. Winemakers Laurent Calmel and Jerome Joseph, the dynamic duo behind both the Villa Blanche and Calmel & Joseph labels, are changing that with a minerally, zesty, dry white that has elements to appeal to Chablis drinkers on one side and Sauvignon Blanc drinkers on the other. There’ll be defectors

Sep 7, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Running With Bulls South Australia Tempranillo 2014, Australia

£7.99, Co-op Running With Bulls is one of the new breed (excuse the pun) of Australian wines made from non-traditional grape varieties. Across Australia, winemakers have been trying to get out of the Shiraz-Cabernet-Chardonnay straightjacket for a decade and more – not least because of climate change – but planting new vineyards or replanting existing ones takes time wherever you are – and money. The added obstacle in Australia is that imported cuttings have to go through yea

Aug 31, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Caves d'Esclans Whispering Angel 2016, Côtes de Provence, France

£16.99, Waitrose and independents I’m not letting summer go without another classic, pale rosé from Provence. This, appropriately, is from the producer that has done most to change the global face of rosé over the last decade by making rosés that can stand their ground alongside fine reds and whites. Serious wines, but wines that you can have fun with in much the same way as Champagne. Château d'Esclans' most expensive wine, Garrus, is made from Grenache vines planted more th

Jul 27, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Zorzal Eggo Malbec 2015, Guantallary, Mendoza, Argentina

£16, Marks & Spencer Eggs are quite a thing in wine nowadays. Not egg whites for fining red wines but large cement or concrete eggs for fermenting both reds and whites. The idea is that the ovoid shape keeps the wine gently moving, keeping the lees in suspension, which creates better texture – both fuller in the mouth and smoother – and keeps the wine fresh. The shape, size and material also maintain the wine at an even temperature, which is also to the good. It’s hard to arg

Jun 22, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: The Fire Tree Vermentino 2016, Terre Siciliane, Italy

Aldi, £4.69 I'm as stunned by the price of this wine as you are. It's my cheapest Wine of the Week so far, and at a time when prices of European wines are rising inexorably in the UK thanks to the weakness of sterling. Never mind the price: feel the quality – or at least feel the value for money. We're not looking at depth and complexity here, we're looking at a refreshing, soft, dry white with a jasmine and spice perfume, and lemon peel and almond on the palate. Drink it as

Jun 15, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine Cady Cheninsolite 2015, Anjou, France

£14.99, Waitrose I’ve chosen this full, dry, honeyed Loire Valley white in honour of Drink Chenin Day on Saturday. I could have picked any number of delicious South African Chenin Blancs – and am looking forward to tasting a fair few at The Wine Gang’s summer festival – but I’ve gone instead for a Chenin from its birthplace in the Anjou region. A classic region, but an atypical wine. Against the Anjou norm, Alexandre Cady ferments and ages his Cheninsolite in French oak barre

Jun 1, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Sancerre Rouge Les Champs Clos 2015, France

£13, Sainsbury's Sancerre Rouge is the archetypal summer red wine – not that that should stop you drinking it at any other time, but it’s Pinot Noir at its most refreshing and elegant. This one, made at La Cave des Vins de Sancerre, has a raspberry, strawberry and pomegranate fruit quality and oodles of gentle charm. Serve it cool, but not so heavily chilled that you silence it. It’s one of the best reds to drink with fish, especially salmon, red mullet and cod or monkfish wr

May 25, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Jackson Estate Stich Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Marlborough, New Zealand

£11.99 in a 6-bottle mix, Majestic Some of the previous vintages of Jackson’s Stich Sauvignon have tasted more pungently green and tangy. The 2016 is slightly softer and lighter, although we’re talking relatively here: it’s still a classic Marlborough Sauvignon – jaunty, vivacious and aromatic, with elderflower, gooseberry and zesty lime flavours, a dazzling, fresh finish and a texture that’s been fattened slightly by a few months’ ageing on the lees (keeping the wine on the

May 11, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Morrisons The Best Priorat 2014, Spain

£10, Morrisons A textbook red from the rugged, once remote but now famed, Catalonian region of Priorat that lies inland from Tarragona. There is white Priorat but most of the wines are powerful, concentrated reds that come with a side order of mineral freshness. Morrisons’ oak-matured 2014 (made by Cellers Unio) combines intense cherry and black fruit, dark chocolate, spice and liquorice with chewy but velvety tannins and the hallmark stony freshness. Like Châteauneuf-du-Pape