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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

Apr 27, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Saint Mont 2015, Saint Mont, France

£9, Marks & Spencer Perfectly timed for the asparagus season, but equally tuned into seafood, chicken, salads and vegetable dishes, comes a vibrant, aromatic dry white from deep down in the southwest corner of Gascony, itself deep into southwest France. The mouthwatering flavours of pink grapefruit, quince and fresh herbs come from personality-packed local grape varieties, Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Arrufiac, whose future until quite recently was threatened by the global

Mar 30, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Val de Salis Saint-Chinian 2015, Languedoc, France

£7.99, Lidl This hits the shelves today with 39 other wines in Lidl's Easter Collection and is a red to zone in on if you like the Mediterranean French style of spicy, plummy black fruit with an aromatic whiff of herby garrigue. While the Saint-Chinian area can produce reds with a distinctive stony, mineral character and reds that are bigger and more rugged, the low-priced Val de Salis treads a middle line with spicy, fruity charm, some smoky, toasted notes and delicate miner

Mar 2, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Feudo di Santa Tresa Frappato 2015, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£8.99–£9.99, Adnams, Vintage Roots, Ocado It would be hard to come up with a red wine more full of the joys of spring than this juicy, jewel-bright, organic red made from Sicily’s Frappato grape. It’s the Frappato, grown barely 5 miles from the sea, that gives the wine its quintessential character: vibrancy, suppleness, an astonishing aroma and taste of strawberries and a suggestion of cherries and herbs. It’s light on its feet without being a real lightweight (a median 13% a

Feb 23, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Réserve des Tuguets Madiran 2014, France

£6, Tesco A bargain from Madiran in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south west France, one of my favourite parts of the world and one for which the description La France Profonde could have been coined. The wines hereabouts are rarely less than distinctive, whether red, white, dry or sweet. Madiran is red and is made from the muscular local Tannat grape which has given the wines a reputation for being big, robust, sometimes even a bit brutal. Réserve des Tuguets shows a gent

Feb 16, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Vasse Felix Filius Chardonnay 2016, Margaret River, Australia

£12.99, Waitrose I love a good Chardonnay – anything from taut, streamlined, mineral Chablis to fuller, richer, barrel-aged styles. But it has to be good. I draw the line at cheap, mass-produced Chardonnays that taste of tropical fruit, lemon-sherbet sweets and oak chips. I’m glad to have got that of my chest. Now to this week’s wine: a Chardonnay that edges discreetly towards the fuller style, but balances its rich lemony fruit, toasted wheat and cashew-nut flavours with a l

Jan 12, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Bellingham The Bernard Series Whole Bunch Roussanne 2015, Paarl, South Africa

£10, Sainsbury's Roussanne is a peach of a white grape variety from the northern Rhône, but it’s susceptible to all sorts of pests and diseases, so there aren’t many pure Roussanne wines anywhere in the world: if you have a tricky variety, the easiest thing to do is blend it, as in the Rhône where its main partner is Marsanne. In this rare South African example, a small proportion of the wine was matured briefly in oak barrels to give extra richness to the typical honeysuckle

Jan 9, 2017

Beaujolais: The Comeback Kid

The famous windmill that gave its name to Moulin-à-Vent, one of the ten crus of Beaujolais I was slightly wary of showing a Beaujolais to the people who’d signed up for one of my Wine Walks at The Wine Gang London Festival at the end of November. I’d told them as we set off, Schott Zwiesel wine glasses in hand, that the aim was to taste some wines I thought they might not try otherwise and maybe one or two others that were simply personal favourites. A Beaujolais-Villages 201

Jan 5, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Stepp Pinot Noir 'S' 2015, Pfalz, Germany

£15, selected Marks & Spencer Hands up if you didn’t know Germany made red wine. Quite a show of hands, I bet. In fact, Germany has never held back on red – nearly one third of its vineyards are red grapes – but until quite recently the wines were aimed squarely at the domestic market's traditional taste for very lightweight reds. Now there’s a generation of winemakers making a riper, fuller, contemporary style that's somewhere between red Burgundy and New Zealand Pinot Noir.

Dec 21, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2014, Rhône, France

£10.99, Co-op If you’re looking for a heartwarming, generous red for the festive feast this Châteauneuf-du-Pape is just the wine, whether you’re eating turkey, beef or goose. It could also be brought into service with a glazed ham joint and/or leftovers on Boxing Day: try popping it in the fridge for 20–30 minutes first – the rich, dark fruit, nutty, sweet earth and smoked paprika spice are just as appetising when served a little cooler than usual. The people behind it are th

Dec 16, 2016

The Festive White Wine Guide 2016

A round-up of white wines – dry first, then sweet – to cover the festive season, whether it's a quiet night in, basic crowd control, or the ultimate celebration. There's also one rosé, a rosé like no other. There's nothing at a really bargain-basement price, as there is in my Festive Reds selection, simply because I don't find the same quality in whites at the bottom of the price scale. Wines are listed in ascending order of price within the two categories of dry then sweet.

Dec 14, 2016

The Festive Red Wine Guide 2016

Updated 15 December to take in a Christmas offer price in the Co-op – £5 off its Chateauneuf-du-Pape A round-up of red wines of all persuasions, origins and prices to cover the festive season whether you're looking for something cheap to fuel a party or something top-end for a celebratory meal. Wines are listed in ascending order of price. For alternative stockists, including in other countries, try wine-searcher.com. Percheron Shiraz Mourvèdre 2015, Swartland, South Africa A

Dec 8, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Hommage du Rhône Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2015, France

£13.99, Waitrose White Châteauneuf-du-Pape comes into the same category as the white Rioja I recommended a couple of weeks ago: everyone knows the red version, but the white, a relative rarity, is pretty well below the radar. Hommage du Rhône is cheaper than many, even more so at the current offer price, but it's full of charm and very much a winter white (although don’t let that stop you buying some for the summer). It’s full-bodied and rounded with a spicy, leafy freshness

Dec 6, 2016

Christmas Fizz: anything but Champagne

The first of this year’s festive round-ups is sparkling wines – any kind of alcoholic fizz except Champagne (Champagne will follow). They’re in ascending order of price, give or take an occasional special offer, so it's a skip around the globe taking in white, pink and red en route. You can find other stockists in the UK and retailers in other countries at wine-searcher.com. V8+ Vineyards Prosecco Sior Sandro Extra Dry, Veneto, Italy Light, crisp, vibrant and drier tasting th