As a wine writer, it’s part of my stock in trade to shatter
other people’s misconceptions about wine.
These are the kind of bombshells I like to throw at you, you know the
kind of thing: sherry doesn’t have to be
sweet and is perfectly safe for the under 65s to drink! White wine is often better than red with
cheese! Riesling is a top quality grape
variety and shouldn’t be ignored! It
really is OK to drink Beaujolais, a lot of it is very good!
You’re probably reeling from that lot for starters, so take
a moment to compose yourselves while I press on. Yes, it’s all very well when I’m the one
dishing out the home truths – but what about when I’m faced with my own
“No!...Really?” moments?
To wit, a mixed case of wines from Aldi arrived on my
doorstep recently. I’d never considered
buying wine from them, thinking it unlikely that a discount supermarket would
be investing much effort into its own-label wine range. Well readers, I must say I was pleasantly
surprised in some cases. I also took the
opportunity of a residents’ meeting to try them out on a group of unsuspecting
neighbours – without at first revealing where the wines had come from. Far be it from me to suggest that Surrey
drinkers know not to look a vinous gift horse in the mouth, so to speak. However, they seemed happy enough to drink
them and were suitably surprised at the quality for the price.
I especially enjoyed these bottles from the selection:
The Exquisite
Collection Côtes de Provence Rosé 2012
- £5.99
A pale pink blend of Grenache, Cinsault and
Syrah that delivers gently fruity, rose-petal scented flavours and bags of
refreshment.
The
Exquisite Collection Rias Baixas Albariño 2011 - £5.99
Albariño is a classy white grape that makes crisp whites
with an alluring blend of freshness combined with a hint of stone fruit – peach
in this case. It may not be the best
Albariño on the market, but at this price, well-chilled and served with
something fishy, you can’t go wrong.
The Exquisite
Collection South Eastern Australia Shiraz 2012 - £5.99
I normally avoid wines labelled South Eastern Australia like
the plague – this denomination is a catch-all that covers a geographical area
roughly equivalent in size to western Europe.
Would you buy a wine that was “produce of various members of the
European Community”? Only to slosh into
sangria or to mull, or to play a cruel trick on a wine snob, I imagine. I hope I haven’t given you ideas there. In any case this has a tasty mix of dark
berry fruits, blackcurrant, bitter chocolate and something savoury, even
slightly wild about it, thanks to the inclusion of Cabernet Sauvignon, Durif
and a sprinkling of Petit Verdot in the blend.
At 14.5% alcohol it packs a punch, but would stand up admirably to smoky
barbecue fare.
Crémant du Jura 2010
- £6.99
This 100% sparkling Chardonnay from the tiny Jura region in
eastern France delivers sensational quality for this price. I recently served this at a wine dinner and,
very gratifyingly, it drew gasps of disbelief (and appreciation) when its
identity (and price) was revealed.
I often puzzle over the worth of tasting notes for
wines. Is there really any point in
trying to convey to other people how a wine tastes to me? Who’s to say whether a wine smells of
strawberry rather than raspberry or cherry – are such things not in the eye (or
nose) of the beholder? Nevertheless I
soldier on, reassuring myself that I’ve been at this for a few years now and have
honed my skills to such a degree that I am able to communicate something useful
to distinguish one wine from another.
Yet again, however, my high falutin’ thoughts on my own
worth were brought crashing down to earth by my son the other day. I was tasting a rather classy Italian
Sauvignon Blanc – Vie di Romans “Piere” Sauvignon Blanc 2009 to be precise,
available from independent merchants, including Laithwaite’s, at around £26 a
bottle. My son asked to try the wine and
of course I obliged. After a second of
reflection he said, “Mmm it’s really fruity, but not sweet and kind of tangy. I
love this kind of wine – yum.” Here he
is again, this time describing the Portuguese red wine, Marco de Pegoes Terras
do Sado 2010 (£7.99, or £6.49 if you buy two bottles from Majestic), “It smells
soft, musky. Mmm is tastes so nice it
makes you want to have another sip.” He’s ten years old.
I should stress that I only ever let him have a sip of wine, before you think of grassing me up to social services,
but he’s obviously been paying close attention to those sips over the course of
his brief tasting life and I am now seriously considering letting him do all my
tasting notes in future.
