#wineandfood

Nov 24

WINE OF THE WEEK: Ventisquero Kalfu Kuda Pinot Noir 2018, Leyda Valley, Chile

£12.99–£16.50, Hedley Wright, Frontier Fine Wines, Fintry Wines, The Wine Reserve, Beaucatcher Wines, Drinkfinder, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Harvey Nichols There was a clutch of inviting Pinot Noirs in the running for this week's wine, but Chile's Kalfu Kuda won out for its combination of carolling cool-climate fruit and barrel-matured mellowness – spot on for the Christmas table, whether it's set for a traditional turkey fest, or vegetarian, salmon or red meat alternatives.

Nov 22

So Much More than a Pretty Bottle: Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 2013

The seminal Belle Epoque bottle decorated with the Japanese anemone motif designed for Perrier-Jouët by Émile Gallé, one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau, in 1902 The text of this article was first published in The World of Fine Wine issue 72 (2021). Could being famous for having Champagne’s most eye-catchingly pretty and memorable bottle sometimes be a double-edged sword? Do some wine professionals, critics and collectors take it less seriously as a result – less seriously tha

Nov 17

WINE OF THE WEEK: Olivier Coste Rare Carignan Blanc 2021, Vin de France

£13, Vino Gusto, Wine and the Vine, Strictly Wine, Great Wines Direct, Corking Wines and other independents* I’ve been waiting to feature this wine and even now I’m going ahead before all the, necessarily small, number of stockists has moved on to the 2021 vintage. Necessarily small because Carignan Blanc is so rare. Olivier Coste, 9th generation of his family at Domaine Montrose in Languedoc, believes there are only 250 hectares of Carignan Blanc left in the world, but I’m r

Nov 10

WINE OF THE WEEK: Gérard Bertrand Orange Gold 2020, Vin de France

£15, Ocado; Vinatis UK, All About Wine It's only four weeks and three intervening red wines since this slot was last occupied by an orange wine, but I can't resist this, not least because it's a very different expression. from the fragrant, hazy pink Greek Moschofilero. It's an amber-gold organic wine produced by Gérard Bertrand, a former rugby international who has built up an empire of 16 biodynamically farmed estates in the South of France since taking over the family doma

Nov 3

WINE OF THE WEEK: Donnafugata La Bella Sedàra 2019, Sicilia, Italy

£14.99, Waitrose We've been hearing so much about the wines of Etna, not to mention Sicily's nimble, red-fruited Frappato, that it's easy to forget that the island's most widely planted red grape variety, and the one that dominates its only DOCG, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, is Nero d'Avola. Like Cerasuolo di Vittoria, La Bella Sedàra is a blend driven by Nero d'Avola, but instead of Frappato there are small amounts of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a few other varieties in

Oct 27

WINE OF THE WEEK: Big Beltie Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, Pays d'Oc, France

£9–£10.95, House of Townend, Lush Wines, The Grape & The Good, The Whalley Wine Shop, South Downs Cellars, Richardsons of Whitehaven I'll come to the name and the label in a moment but, in case you're jumping to conclusions, this isn't a big belter of a wine. It's medium-full and pulsing with Cabernet Sauvignon energy and rich, sunny fruit. Think plum and cassis lightly brushed with aromatic, woody herbs, supple tannins discreetly wrapped in oak, and a flourish of bay-leaf sp

Oct 20

WINE OF THE WEEK: Bodegas La Horra Corimbo I Reserva 2016, Ribera del Duero, Spain

£19–£23, London End Wines, Concept Fine Wines, The Drink Shop (UK), Noble Green Wines, Ellis Wharton Wines Even if you're not looking for a £20 bottle of wine at the moment, keep this in mind. It's an outstanding Ribera del Duero Reserva from a very good vintage – a year that produced wines with natural elegance and balance, compared to the hot, dry 2015 vintage that gave more power and concentration. I tasted the two together, then three days later the 2016 again and it's th

Oct 13

WINE OF THE WEEK: Troupis Winery Route Gris Moschofilero 2021, Mantinia, Greece

£13.99/£16.99, Naked Wines This is an orange wine made from a pink-skinned grape variety – and it’s superb. Even the hazy pink colour is lovely (and the label's great too) but the taste is something else. Fragrant, succulent and textured, it smells of rose petals and apricots with a wash of fresh ginger and Muscat grapes, and its mouth-filling presence shimmers with dried apricot and vibrant lime-peel acidity. The grape is Greece’s Moschofilero, which, despite the aromas, is

Oct 6

WINE OF THE WEEK: La Cendrillon Nuance 2020, Vin de France

£13.20, Tanners Wines Wines rarely feature in this slot twice, but the 2018 vintage of La Cendrillon Nuance was my Wine of the Week in August 2019. I’m making an exception because when I tasted this 2020 last month I was as bowled over by its originality and deliciousness as I was by the earlier vintage. It’s richly textural and has some weight, but it's streaked with zesty, chiselled acidity – the energy and richness playing against each other perfectly. Flavours range from

Sep 29

WINE OF THE WEEK: Ken Forrester The Misfits Cinsault 2021, Western Cape, South Africa

£9, Tesco A light, limber red that's as full of character as it is of joie de vivre – silky and supple with perfumed, sweet red-berry fruit, gentle spice, sun-baked earth and breezy freshness and purity. For years, South Africa kept most of its Cinsault grapes in the back room for blending, but now they're going solo to produce wines like this that fit a zeitgeist valuing lighter, less tannic reds as much as power and concentration. The grapes for The Misfits were hand-picke

Sep 22

WINE OF THE WEEK: Royal Tokaji Nyulászó Dry Furmint 2018, Tokaj, Hungary

£18, The Wine Society If ever there was a wine that shouted terroir, it's this single-vineyard dry white Furmint from Nyulászó, one of Tokaji's First Growths in the enduring formal classification that dates from the late 18th century. Actually, shout is not the word: rather, it sings of its hillside volcanic bedrock and rich clay soils. How does that show itself in the wine? To me, in the arresting, tangy smoke aroma and mouthwatering tang on the palate that I think of as a v

Sep 15

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine Garrigue Grande 2020, Coteaux de la Cabrerisse, Languedoc, France

£7.99, in any 12 bottle mix Laithwaites I think this is a first for me – and likely to be for most wine drinkers – a Coteaux de la Cabrerisse. It’s the only wine sold in the UK from this tiny IGP (formerly Vin de Pays) and Domaine Garrigue Grande is one of only two producers using the designation (Château de Caraguilhes is the other). The producers are Anne and Xavier Volontat, the seventh generation to run their family wine estate, Château Les Palais, based in a 12th-century

Sep 8

WINE OF THE WEEK: Loved & Found Frappato 2021, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£7.99, Waitrose Everything about this nimble, light-bodied Sicilian red wine is cheery and crowd-pleasing, from the juicy fresh fruit – cherry vying with raspberry vying with strawberry – to the lick of pepper and herbs, the barely-there tannins, the refreshing freedom from oak and the soft, dry finish. Because it should be served lightly chilled, it’s the kind of red wine that seems perfect for uncomplicated summer drinking, but really it works at any time of the year. I can

Sep 1

WINE OF THE WEEK: Bellingham The Bernard Series Chenin Blanc 2021, South Africa

£11–£14.39, Tesco, The General Wine Co Chenin Blanc comes in all shapes and sizes: dry, medium, sweet, still, sparkling, oaked, unoaked, mass-market, limited-production (but rarely overpriced), early drinking, long-lived, young vines, old vines and more. There's something for everyone and yet as a grape variety it's never captured hearts in the way that whites like Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay have. It's not as if it's difficult to pronounce, but maybe the sheer diversity o

Aug 25

WINE OF THE WEEK: Malbado Malbec 2019, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

£12/£14, Asda You might not expect it from the name Malbado, a take on ‘malvado’, the Spanish for ‘the evil one’, but this is a silky and elegant Malbec with a captivating perfume of violets, pure, precise fruit (especially blueberry and plum), a mineral inflection, a touch of spice and fine tannins. It comes from Ugarteche, a small sub-region lying on the southern fringes of the Lujan de Cuyo region at an altitude of around 900m, which is high by global standards but about a

Aug 18

WINE OF THE WEEK: Ramón Bilbao Límite Sur Garnacha 2017, Rioja, Spain

£19.95, The Great Wine Co This is a wonderful new take on red Rioja: all energy, intensity, airiness and silky texture carried in an arresting floral aroma of violets and in mouthwatering, fresh dark fruit (damson, cherries, a hint of blackcurrants) woven with Mediterranean herbs, black peppery spice, shimmering wet rocks and fine-sand tannins. Wonderful, but not Rioja as we usually know it. It's a wine that goes to the edge. Literally. And there’s a white companion called Lí

Aug 11

WINE OF THE WEEK: Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato d’Asti 2021, Italy

£16.17 (75cl), Great Wines Direct; £9.90–£11.50 (37.5cl), Vinvm, Oddbins, Noble Green Wines, The Whalley Wine Shop, Great Wines Direct Here’s a candidate for the title of perfect anytime wine for a heatwave. It's gently effervescent, feather-light, delicately sweet, as refreshing as summer rain and tastes of rose petals, fresh Muscat grapes and juicy apricots with a drizzle of stem ginger syrup. To cap it all, it’s only 5% alcohol and now comes in a full-size 75cl bottle, as

Aug 10

Prime Time for Pink: Summer Rosé Round-up 2022 Part 2: Provence and the South

This second rosé round-up of the summer is devoted to Provence, plus five wines from the south of France. Why hive off Provence from the rest of the world’s rosés? In a large part it’s to make the two articles more digestible: there are 17 pinks reviewed below (a selection of the wines I tasted). But it’s also because Provence is in a league of its own, commercially as well as in the way it has set standards, benchmarks and a model for rosé worldwide. The vineyards, which str

Aug 4

WINE OF THE WEEK: Running With Bulls Tempranillo 2020, South Australia

£8–£9, Tesco, Co-op, This Australian Tempranillo has to be one of the best value reds around. Check: best value wines of any hue and style. The 2014 was my Wine of the Week in September 2017. Five years on, the current vintage, the 2020, more than deserves the Wine of the Week slot. And can you believe it, you can still buy it at the same price? I’ve got another question: why aren’t more Australians growing Tempranillo? Plantings are rising, but they were still only 0.5% of t

Jul 28

WINE OF THE WEEK: Forza della Natura Orange Catarratto 2021, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£9.99, Waitrose If you've yet to fall for an orange wine, try this hazy gold, unfined and unfiltered organic example from Sicily. It's very much at the gentler end of the orange wine spectrum, with aromas of chamomile, fresh and dried apricot, orange peel and green tea and a textured palate with a refreshing, orangey, softly spicy flavour. It's very good value too. The vines grow high up in the Alcamo hills in northwest Sicily and the wine is made in a winery down in Marsala,