#wineandfood

Mar 31, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaines Lupier El Terroir 2015, Navarra, Spain

£19.99, Marlo Wine The old Garnacha vines that produce this fragrant, concentrated red date back to 1903 and come from up to 27 individual small plots of Garnacha that Elise and Enrique of Domaines Lupier bought parcel by parcel. From the 27 –certified organic and farmed biodynamically – they make just two red wines, El Terroir and La Dama. In the 2015 vintage, they made 26,315 bottles of El Terroir. It's not a lot. All the vineyards are at altitudes of 400 to 750m and it’s t

Mar 17, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: The Society's Exhibition Santorini Assyrtiko 2020, Greece

£14.95, The Wine Society Just the sight of the words Santorini and Assyrtiko on the label will be enough for some people to reach straight for their credit cards – and the price of this bottle is even more of an incentive. There's no white wine quite like Assyrtiko from the Aegean island of Santorini. The Assyrtiko grape is now widely grown in Greece, but it produces its highest quality and most distinctive wines in Santorini's exceptional, hot, dry, sunny and windy condition

Mar 10, 2022

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

Mar 3, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Adnams Grüner Veltliner 2019, Kamptal, Niederösterreich, Austria

£16.99, Adnams I wouldn't expect anything less than excellence from Weingut Bründlmayer, and 2019 is a great vintage for Austrian wine, but even knowing that I was bowled over by this dry white Grüner Veltliner produced for Adnams. Aromatic, intense, finely etched and perfectly balanced, it greets you with orchard fruit and elegant spritz, then takes you on a tour of vivacious lime, juicy peach, mouthwatering minerals and a dash of spice. I can't imagine any wine lover not fa

Feb 24, 2022

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

Feb 17, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Nautilus Chardonnay 2019, Marlborough, New Zealand

£17.99 (in any 6-bottle mix), Majestic stores New Zealand Chardonnay is still overshadowed by the country's Sauvignon Blanc, as is every other grape variety and wine style, but the current shortage of Sauvignon after last year's devastating frosts is a perfect opportunity to give the Chardonnays some love. And they deserve it, believe me. The barrel-fermented Nautilus from Marlborough is typically expressive and stylish, capturing the freshness of a salty sea breeze and the s

Feb 10, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: The Blind Spot Pinot Meunier 2021, Yarra Valley, Australia

£12.95, The Wine Society It's no exaggeration to say I've never had a wine quite like this. Usually I can say a wine reminds me of so-and-so, or it's a bit like something else, but this Pinot Meunier, which hardly knows whether it's red or pink, is entirely itself – low in alcohol, big on personality and absolutely delicious. The Wine Society lists it as a red wine, but it's deep pink and makes an excellent aperitif, served lightly chilled, if not colder. Mind you, it also go

Feb 3, 2022

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

Jan 28, 2022

New Year, New Wines, New approach: the Blind Spot Australian range gets a makeover

Wines made by Mac Forbes with grapes paid for upfront by The Wine Society. The one-off exception is the Dolcetto, which was made with a purchased parcel of wine, as all the range used to be The Wine Society's Blind Spot Australian range has been a fixture for about a decade, but the latest arrivals mark a change in direction. And we're not just talking about labels here, dramatically different though they are. Instead of being parcels of wine that winemaker Mac Forbes picked

Jan 27, 2022

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

Jan 20, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Angeline Vineyards Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2018, California, US

£15.99–£18.50, Flagship Wines, Stroud Wine, Shaftesbury Wines, St Andrews Wine Company This is astonishingly good value for a smart Russian River Pinot Noir and I'm happy to be able to update this post with the news that the importer, Daniel Lambert Wines, still has plenty of stock. Even so, I would move fast if you want some (and why wouldn't you?), because who knows what the price of the follow-on vintage will be in the current volatile situation? I first tasted the 2018 in

Jan 13, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Didebuli Orange Kisi 2020, Kakheti, Georgia

£9.95, The Wine Society If you like the idea of orange wines but have found the flavours a bit challenging, or have been waiting to dip a toe in the orange/amber water, try this. It's an authentic example, made from the obscure white Kisi grape variety fermented with the grape skins in qvevri (pointed-bottom clay jars buried in the ground), but it doesn't have the astringent shock of some Georgian orange wines. I loved its inviting dried-flower, apples-in-the-attic, orange pe

Jan 6, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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