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    WINE OF THE WEEK: La Scelta di Sofia Sangiovese di Toscana Bianco 2020, Italy
    • Dec 16, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: La Scelta di Sofia Sangiovese di Toscana Bianco 2020, Italy

    £11.99/£9.99, Laithwaites, Averys This is as appealing as it is unusual: a white wine made from Sangiovese, Tuscany's principal red grape variety (and Italy's most widely planted). It's off-dry, bright and breezy with a whisp of smoke floating over quince, pear and green-apple fruit and a hint of Sangiovese's signature red-cherry in the refreshing, tangy finish. I said off-dry, but really it's more like medium dry; it's just that the acidity neatly off-sets the sweetness. The
    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: Definition Viña Majestica Rioja Blanco 2020, Spain
    • Dec 2, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Definition Viña Majestica Rioja Blanco 2020, Spain

    £8.99, Majestic Getting the balance right between oak and fruit in barrel-fermented white Rioja has eluded many a bodega over the years, partly because Viura (aka Macabeo), the principal white grape variety of the Rioja region, can be a bit neutral and low in acidity. This blend of Viura with 20% Garnacha Blanca gets the balance just right. The inviting, softly nutty oak allows the fresh, sweet apple and pear fruit to shine. Three months on lees has given a polished, creamy t
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Riecine Chianti Classico 2019, Italy
    • Nov 25, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Riecine Chianti Classico 2019, Italy

    £21/£18, Tanners Wines Riecine in Gaiole has always been one of my favourite Chianti estates and its wines have only improved since I first encountered them more than three decades ago with the founders of contemporary Riecine, John and Palmina Dunkley. The Chianti Classico is a lovely expression of pure Sangiovese: fluent and mellifluous, generous but elegant, concentrated but not heavy, long rather than broad. The family-owned estate is now run by winemaker Alessandro Campa
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Château Bouissel Fronton Le Beau Vin 2016, Fronton, France
    • Nov 18, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Château Bouissel Fronton Le Beau Vin 2016, Fronton, France

    £8.95, The Wine Society I'm always delighted to find a red Fronton to recommend. We don't see many wines in the UK from this small appellation in southwest France (about 30km north of Toulouse), but they're always worth a look. The best are deliciously supple, round and fruity, and yet with their own distinctive flavours thanks to the Négrette grape, which has to be the principal variety in any Fronton wine, red or rosé (there's no white). It's a grape variety almost unknown
    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
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Roc Cuvée 2020, Bordeaux, France
    • Oct 14, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Roc Cuvée 2020, Bordeaux, France

    £13.99/£12./59, Laithwaites A red Bordeaux in a Burgundy bottle without a capsule and label graphics showing a love-you hand squeezing a bunch of grapes was never going to be a conventional Bordeaux. Stand by, then, for generous, bright fruit (sweet plums, blackberries and blackcurrants), fleeting whiffs of parma violets and spicy tobacco and a gentle undertow of refreshing leafiness. Tannin? There's not an elbow or an angle in sight, just glossy curves and mouth-filling, ve
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Menade Verdejo Ecológico 2020, Castilla y León, Spain
    • Oct 7, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Menade Verdejo Ecológico 2020, Castilla y León, Spain

    £12.50, The Daily Drinker When you taste a good dry white Verdejo like this, with its citrus-peel snap, streaks of herb and peach, textural, almond nuttiness and suggestion of orange blossom, it makes you wonder why more growers aren't trying it out around the world, especially as it's relatively drought-resistant (although admittedly very susceptible to powdery mildew). Perhaps the answer is simply that it's a white grape variety that is determinedly Spanish in its terroir a
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine Bousquet Finca Lalande Malbec 2020, Mendoza, Argentina
    • Sep 30, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine Bousquet Finca Lalande Malbec 2020, Mendoza, Argentina

    £7.49 on offer, Waitrose This is Malbec with the succulent, ripe fruit typical of the grape variety in Argentina (all black cherry, plum and cassis), but freshened with cooler, savoury black pepper and black olive flavours that recall Malbec in its original French homeland of Cahors. It's a winning combination and a beautifully tailored wine, too, with a lot of finesse for a wine at this price level (talking of which, it's very good value at its full price and a bargain at th
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Tanners Chilean Chardonnay 2020, Colchagua Valley
    • Sep 23, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Tanners Chilean Chardonnay 2020, Colchagua Valley

    £8.95, Tanners Gratifying as it is to recommend exciting little-known wines, it can be equally satisfying to find really good, well-priced examples of popular styles. Get ready to charge your glasses with Tanners' new own-label Chilean Chardonnay, which navigates perfectly the narrow divide between being a bit too tutti frutti and a bit too skeletal. It's made by the family-owned Viña Sutil from their own vineyards in Peralillo, Colchagua (they also have holdings in Limarí an
    WINE OF THE WEEK: La Madone Gamay sur Volcan 2020, Côtes du Forez, France
    • Sep 16, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: La Madone Gamay sur Volcan 2020, Côtes du Forez, France

    £12.95–£16, The Wine Society, Haynes Hanson & Clark This is the kind of wine that gets pigeon-holed as a summer wine, usually as an alternative to Beaujolais, but it's absolutely delicious and deserves to be drunk all year, cool in winter, cooler still in summer. Like Beaujolais, it's made from Gamay, but in the small Côtes du Forez appellation in the Auvergne to the south west, near to the source of the river Loire. Gilles Bonnefoy, who started La Madone in the late 1990s a
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Freeman's Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2020, New Zealand
    • Sep 9, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Freeman's Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2020, New Zealand

    £6.49, Aldi After this year's biting spring frosts in Marlborough, there aren't going to be many New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs at this price for long – certainly not of this quality. It's dry, zingy and springy with textbook elderflower, gooseberry, passion-fruit, lime and currant-leaf flavours, none of them overpowering or out of kilter. Even if your thoughts were edging towards something more wintry, it's worth taking advantage of this while you can. It's part of Aldi's Spec
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Stellenrust Stellenbosch Manor Cinsault 2019, South Africa
    • Sep 2, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Stellenrust Stellenbosch Manor Cinsault 2019, South Africa

    £7.99 (on offer), Waitrose It hasn't come soon enough but Cinsault (or Cinsaut) has finally shed the label 'workhorse' that stalked it for so long and is being valued as a red grape variety in its own right, especially when the vines are old, as here. It's surprising in some ways that it should have been so under-appreciated. It claims status in Châteauneuf-du-Pape as one of the permitted varieties, it's a key component of many Provence rosés and it's one parent of the import
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Rui Madeira Beyra Rosé 2020, Beira Interior, Portugal
    • Aug 26, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Rui Madeira Beyra Rosé 2020, Beira Interior, Portugal

    £9.95, The Wine Society In the second of my two summer rosé roundups, I applauded the more interesting textures making rosés ever more versatile wines at the table. This Portuguese star is exactly the kind of wine I was talking about. It draws you in with lightly floral cherry and raspberry aromas, then delivers the same breezy fruit on the palate with almost chewable, textured roundness and dry, salty, mineral length. Really delicious. It's made from Tinta Roriz (aka Tempran
    Why the 2008 Rosé Marks A Mini Revolution at Champagne Charles Heidsieck
    • Aug 25, 2021

    Why the 2008 Rosé Marks A Mini Revolution at Champagne Charles Heidsieck

    It's not the ten years on lees – the 2005 rosé had 11 years – or the 2mm smaller diameter bottle neck "to tighten the ageing" that chef de caves Cyril Brun calls a mini revolution, it's the dosage of the Rosé Millésimé 2008. At 7g/l, it's the lowest ever at Charles Heidsieck, lower even than for the 2008 white. Is the Champagne house that has never been afraid of dosage finally bowing to the fashion for low-dosage? Apparently not. Explaining how he made the choice, Cyril Bru
    WINE OF THE WEEK: Lyme Bay Chardonnay 2017, England
    • Aug 19, 2021

    WINE OF THE WEEK: Lyme Bay Chardonnay 2017, England

    £17.99, Majestic I don't know where I would have thought this was from if I was tasting it blind, but you can be pretty certain I wouldn't have identified it as a vineyard in Essex vinified in Devon. And even if I'd hit upon England, I doubt I would have identified it as a product of the frost-devastated 2017 vintage. It goes to show how local and uneven frost can be: Martin's Lane Vineyard escaped most of the damage and the rest of the season was favourable enough for the ha
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    Header photo © Waitrose & Partners Drinks / Cat Garcia