#wine 8/31

Sep 15, 2022

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...

Sep 8, 2022

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 –...

Sep 1, 2022

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,...

Aug 25, 2022

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...

Aug 23, 2022

Rare, Unbearably Expensive and Unlike Anything Else: Royal Tokaji Essencia 2009

A five-centilitre sample may sound miserly but, when we’re talking about Tokaji Essencia, it’s lavish. To make the wine in this miniature...

Aug 18, 2022

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...

Aug 11, 2022

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...

Aug 10, 2022

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...

Aug 4, 2022

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...

Aug 3, 2022

Penfolds French-ish Launches, the New Grange, the Fabled Bin 60A and More

When Penfolds launches its 2022 collection tomorrow, Thursday 4 August, it will include two French, or French-ish, still wines for the...

Jul 28, 2022

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...

Jul 21, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Taste the Difference Coteaux du Giennois Sauvignon Blanc 2020, France

£11, Sainsbury's If you fancy an alternative to Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé that's close in both style and origin, this refreshing dry white...

Jul 19, 2022

Prime Time for Pink: Summer 2022 Rosé Round-up Part 1

Update, August 12 I've just added two more wines to this, so it's now 12 appetite-whetting rosés. The additions, Ramón Bilbao Rosado and...

Jul 14, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Quinta do Mouro Zagalos Reserva 2017, Alentejano, Portugal

£20, The Wine Society In view of the weather, I almost changed to a white wine this week, the intense, fragrant, beautifully chiselled...

Jul 7, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Petite Immortelle 2018, Côtes du Roussillon Villages, France

£10.90–£12, Gorey Wine Cellar, lovewhatyoueat, Bath Road Beers, Beckford Bottle Shop, Cork of the North, SW Bottle Shop, Red & White An...

Jun 30, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Gini Soave Classico 2020, Veneto, Italy

£15.88, Justerini & Brooks Good Soave, which usually means Classico, often doesn’t get the recognition it deserves as one of the most...

Jun 24, 2022

Celebrating English Wines

My picks for the second weekend of English Wine Week celebrations. Not that they're only for English Wine Week. English wines are for...

Jun 23, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Pierre Jaurant Saint-Chinian 2020, Languedoc, France

£5.99, Aldi Saint-Chinian is an appellation I look out for in restaurants. The wines – white and rosé as well as the more abundant reds –...

Jun 16, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Smith & Sheth Cru Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Wairau, New Zealand

£17, Tesco This cracking New Zealand Sauvignon is the product of the very low-cropping 2021 vintage and one of the country’s top...

Jun 9, 2022

WINE OF THE WEEK: Albert Road Pinot Noir by Savage & Louw, Western Cape

£9.49, Waitrose Finding inexpensive Pinot Noir isn’t the challenge it once was, but even so this is a spectacularly good-value example –...