The beautiful game - and the beautiful drink

Everyone knows that wine and football go together like, oh I don’t know, Posh Spice and a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Which is to say, not at all. Undeterred, I shall press on in my mission to tie together the fruit of the vine and the beautiful game.

Over the coming weeks, you can drink along-a-football with my handy guide to footballing nations and their vinous claims to fame. With apologies to Chris Evans, Vassos Alexander and Radio 2 (ie please don’t sue me), here’s my Top Tenuous of World Cup and wine. 

At Number 10 – England. I know we did win it once but the brutal truth is that we don’t look likely to do so again anytime soon. Our wine fortunes, however, have been looking up in recent years, so now you can be proud to toast the success (or, let’s face it, probably lack of it) with some top flight English fizz.

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Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2009: winner of a Gold medal and the English Sparkling Wine Trophy at this year’s International Wine Challenge. It shows that we do know how to be world beaters at something. £35.99, down to £30.58 a bottle if you buy two at Majestic; £27.50 from The Wine Society and £31.99 from Waitrose.

A surprise package at number 9 is Switzerland, notoriously the target of a barb from Orson Welles, playing Harry Lime in the film The Third Man: “In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love…500 years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

The comment is hardly fair or accurate: they produced Swiss Army knives too didn’t they? Unbeknownst to many of us they have also been making wine for quite some time, but tend to drink most of it themselves.

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Look out for weighty, complex whites made from Petite Arvine and reds from Humagne Rouge. Alpine Wines (formerly Nick Dobson Wines) is the UK Specialist.

France appears at number 8. After their World Cup win in 1998, there have been mixed fortunes for France, both as a footballing and wine producing nation: domestic wine consumption is falling and increasing competition in export markets has put the squeeze on French producers.

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There is no doubting the class of French wines, and any wine lover is spoilt for choice when it comes to wine styles. From bone dry whites, to full bodied reds via lipsmacking rosés and not forgetting Champagne, there really is something for everyone. But please, spend over £7 if you want to find something worthwhile.  

In at number 7, Portugal’s football fortunes are essentially dependent on whether Cristiano Ronaldo has his goal scoring boots on. Wine-wise, Portugal has a much broader team to draw on, with a vast array of unique native grape varieties. Winemaking techniques have caught up with the quality of the raw materials, making this one of the world’s most exciting wine producers.

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Thrilling, complex reds from the Douro Valley. Crasto Douro Red is £10.99, or £9.34 if you buy 2, at Majestic. Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Douro red is also made by the same producer and is £8.25.

Italy, at number 6, can never be ruled out of the running when it comes to football, and the same holds for its wines. Second only to France in the global wine production stakes, we have probably all had our fair share of disappointing reds and mind-numbingly dull whites from Italy in the past. The quality revolution has come here too though, so dip your toe in and you could find yourself charmed by an Italian all over again.

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Fiano makes juicy stonefruit-tinged whites. Look out for Tesco’s Finest Fiano, currently down from £7.99 to £5.99.

  

Number 5 brings us to the Netherlands. Consistent performers on the pitch, they are also, surprisingly, a wine nation, albeit a small one.

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You’re unlikely to find any Dutch wine here in the UK, so probably best to stick with beer.

A shudder goes through the English at the combination of football and the country at number 4 – Argentina. Hand of God and all that. Best leave it at that and concentrate on their wine-making abilities.

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It’s all about Malbec isn’t it? Bags of fruit, barbecue and meat friendly: perfect summer red. I have a fondness for the greater refinement and Messi-like silky skills of Pulenta Estate’s Gran Cabernet Franc - £25-28 at Berry Brothers and The Good Wine Shop.

For England there’s no getting past the country at number 3 – Germany. So often the team who lead to England’s footballing downfall, they seem full of confidence and technical ability. What of German wines though?

It’s time we overcame our prejudices and had another go at German wines – many more Trocken (dry) whites from Riesling are now available, which should help to convince us that German wine doesn’t have to taste like dolly mixture.

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Louis Guntrum Dry Riesling, £8.95 from The Wine Society

At number 2, Spain, the current cup holders, are sitting pretty. It seems unlikely that they could triumph again, but they are certainly easy on the eye on the pitch.

Spain’s wines are pretty easy on the palate too – who doesn’t love the mellow fruitiness and hint of shoe polish of a Rioja Reserva?

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Great value Rioja Navajas Crianza from The Wine Society – textbook smooth and sleek Rioja style for £7.75 a bottle. 

And at number 1 – home nation Brazil may be more known for rain forests, poverty, those buttock-revealing bikinis and (possibly related) frankly dodgy body grooming practices. But it is also a wine producer and the UK is now its biggest export market, which leads me to conclude that I wasn’t the first person to hit on this wine and football connection.

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Carnival Sparkling Moscato NV £9.99 or Coconova Sparkling Brut £8.99, both from Marks & Spencer for some frothy fun.

As they say in Brazil, tim tim! Which must be Portuguese for “Come on Tim!” – how nice of them, if a little out of date now.

What have the French got down the back of their sofas?

We are told that it’s a good idea to rootle around in our soft furnishings, with some sources estimating that between us we have around £40 million tucked away in loose change between the cushions of our sofas in Britain.

The French, too, are harbouring some hidden gems in their chaises longues. Vinous gems I mean; little-known, often rare grape varieties that can enrich the life of wine drinkers the world over.

France has famously given us grape varieties which have earned the soubriquet “classic” and which have gone on to conquer the world (the wine world at any rate). Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot – these are wines A listers, names that are instantly recognizable and which are grown the length and breadth of the wine producing world.

But France amounts to much more than these wine superstars. If you have a virtual rummage down the back of France’s vinous sofa, all sorts of surprises result: varieties you’ve never heard of, even some that were thought to be extinct.

How does this happen? As Kirsty and Phil would tell you: location, location, location. Many of France’s smaller wine-growing regions are in rural, sparsely populated, isolated areas, far from anything that might resemble the beaten track. In “la France profonde” such as this local customs – and very local grape varieties – can persist where elsewhere progress, development and fashion have swept them away in favour of more recognizable varieties.

Here I invite you to embark on a virtual tour of some of France’s hidden gems that are worth winkling out.

Domaine Bruno Lupin, Roussette de Savoie, Frangy 2012 - £12 Caves de Pyrène

 Savoie is France’s only true mountain vineyard and the surprise is not only that it harbours its own unique varieties, but that this snowy, alpine environment is capable of producing wine at all. Roussette is the local name for the variety Altesse and if you’ve been to Savoie to ski then you might have downed a glass of this to accompany your fondue.

The vast majority of Savoie’s wines, most made from the unremarkable Jacquère grape, are consumed locally, much of it by thirsty skiers; as wine writer Andrew Jefford put it, the region benefits from “buoyant and undiscerning local demand”.

Roussette/Altesse seems to originate in Savoie itself and makes mountain air fresh wines with a herbal flavour and rather soft, pear-y fruit.

Château d’Anglès La Clape Classique 2010 - £12.49 Hawkshead Wines, £13 The Cheese and Wine Co (Hampton)

This wine highlights a white variety that is normally found in the role of second fiddle elsewhere in France. Bourboulenc, for it is he (she?), is one of the 13 varieties permitted in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and is grown widely across much of southern France. Only here, in La Clape, however, is it the focus of the white wines.

La Clape is a former island which now forms a limestone massif between Narbonne and the Mediterranean. Legend has it that when it was still an island off the coast of the Roman city of Narbo, Julius Caesar gave Roman legionaries permission to plant the first grapes here.

Whatever the historical truth, La Clape today is a viticultural one-off, its limestone blinding in the strong southern sun, the vines and olive trees that manage to grow in its stony soils blasted by winds. Benign it is not.

And yet this is where Bourboulenc reaches its true potential as a variety. At Château d’Anglès, the situation is also helped by having Eric Fabre as its owner – a man who had previously spent 8 years as the winemaker at a certain Château Lafite Rothschild.

This Classique cuvée, a blend of 50% Bourboulenc with 30% Grenache blanc and a dash each of Roussanne and Marsanne, is made without the use of oak and really showcases the variety’s innate ability to produce wines with as much texture as flavour, combining fennel, a hint of honey and a mineral stoniness.

Domaine du Cros Marcillac “Lo Sang del Païs” 2012 - £7.95 The Wine Society

Marcillac really is in the middle of nowhere – technically it is in the Aveyron, north of Rodez, but middle of nowhere about covers it.

The grape that locals here know as Mansois changes its name in other parts of France’s southwest variously to Braucol, Fer or Fer Servadou and finally Pinenc. You don’t need to know all this to enjoy this delightful little wine though. Its bright, slightly twiggy fruit is a perfect foil to a bit of bread and pâté – and could even be chilled in the summer.

Domaine d’Alzipratu Cuvée Pumonte, Corse Calvi 2011 - £18 The Wine Society

Corsica’s history of being ruled by both Pisa and Genoa before becoming part of France has resulted in an intermingling of French and Italian influences, and this is reflected in its wines.

Nielluciu (the Corsicans seem to be fond of adding a “u” to an obviously Italian word to make it more “Corsican”) is widely grown on the island – but is in fact none other than the classic Tuscan variety, Sangiovese. Here it appears in a supporting role to a variety that can be claimed as one of Corsica’s own: Sciacarella.

Sciacarella, meaning crunch in Corsican dialect, does in fact originate in Tuscany as well, but is all but extinct there. This wine has dark, brooding fruit aplenty with a wild, herbal streak and a structure that demands food.

La Magendia de Laypeyre, Jurançon 2009 - £19.75 Caves de Pyrène

Where better to finish our tour than with a most delicious dessert wine, made on steeply sloping vineyards tucked into the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The variety here is Petit Manseng, whose thick skins permit it to remain on the vine long into Autumn (sometimes even into Winter) without being affected by rot. The grapes shrivel in a process known as “passerillage” and are then fermented and aged in oak. The result is an intense experience combining the flavours of honey, quince, mandarin and grapefruit marmalade, shot through with piercing acidity that gives it a characteristic clean finish. Try it with a tangy blue cheese and die happy.   

Vive la différence!

How does rhubarb and mint grab you?  No, not as something to drink, but something to wash your dishes with.

At a time when globalisation and international mega brands are making foreign places feel ever less foreign, it’s comforting to know that, just a short hop across the Channel, some things are still refreshingly different.  Viz, France’s fondness for whacky washing up liquid flavours and a big trend this year:  metallic brown cars. 

And for a country which has something of a reputation for being stuck in a rut when it comes to wine, there has been a mass invasion of French supermarkets by “boissons aromatisées à base de vin” – wine-based drinks with flavourings.

This was not a trend that I could ignore, so I sacrificed my tastebuds in the name of research and plumped for a bottle of Very Pamp’ – a rosé wine combined with pink grapefruit flavour (pamplemousse being the French for grapefruit, hence the name).  The bottle advised me to serve it very cold – but, dear reader, I don’t think I could ever make this stuff cold enough to be palatable.  The smell was fairly pleasant, with a nice fresh and zesty pink grapefruit whiff.  The palate was incredibly sweet, like drinking sugar syrup, with a more generic fruitiness and then a kick of alcohol to round off the experience (it’s 10% alcohol).  The biggest added ingredient after wine is clearly sugar.

I thought that rosé and pink grapefruit was a relatively safe choice – there are plenty of more scary concoctions on offer:  lemon sounds OK, but what about mandarin, white peach, wild strawberry and cranberry, raspberry?  Especially when you know that those flavours are coming not from the fruits in question, but in the form of flavourings – accompanied by lashings of sugar.  Add to that brand names like “Sucette” (lollipop) and it all adds up to a sickly combination that would surely fall foul of UK licensing laws which forbid branding which might appeal to minors.

I sincerely hope this wine trend doesn’t cross the Channel, but at least I have provided an early warning, so you can be prepared and make suitable preparations for avoidance.

Thankfully, there are still some things that you can count on France to deliver – and wine is, of course top of my list.  This summer I had the chance to re-visit one of my favourite areas, the Loire Valley.

The Loire as a region is hard to pin down.  Unlike the classic regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy, it doesn’t  produce a single, predominating style of white or red wine, based on a single grape variety or consistent blend.  This is hardly surprising given the geographical and climatic differences that intervene on the river’s journey from the vineyards of Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, almost bang in the centre of the country, to the intensely maritime Muscadet area around Nantes, with many a twist and turn in between.  Across the entire region, every conceivable style of wine is made, from bone dry whites, to off-dry rosés and sappy, juicy reds, via sparkling  wines of every hue and taking in luscious, lip-smacking and long-lived dessert wines.  Grape varieties are many and yes, varied, including the all-conquering Sauvignon Blanc, the underrated and mighty Chenin Blanc and the Melon de Bourgogne of Muscadet for whites.  Reds can be made from, amongst others,  the high-quality Cabernet Franc  grape (which also fills in on rosé duty) or sometimes Gamay or even Cot (aka Malbec).

Here in Britain we have developed an increasing fondness for fizz in recent years, with the chief beneficiaries Italy’s light, fruity Prosecco and Spain’s “Champagne-lite” style Cava – in addition to Champagne itself.  The Loire has been making good quality sparkling wines for many years and they offer an alternative with something of the fruitiness of Prosecco, but more depth of flavour and without the cloying sweetness; and more finesse than many a Cava.

The UK’s three most-readily available Loire sparkling wine makers also happen to have (or have had) links to Champagne houses, whose expertise at making fine quality fizz must surely have a role in their success.   Central to the style of these wines is the use of the region’s Chenin Blanc grape, which has naturally high acidity, even when ripe, making for sparklers which retain their zip and freshness, even when combined with baked apple fruit.  The wines are made using what we are obliged to call traditional method (which then requires further explanation to specify that this is the same method used to make Champagne), instead of the more readily understandable “méthode Champenoise”. 

Gratien & Meyer – The Wine Society has a long-standing relationship with this producer, producers of The Society’s Saumur Brut (£9.50 a bottle).  Majestic also list the (surely overwhelmingly similar) Gratien & Meyer Saumur Brut NV for £13.49, down to £11.99 if you buy two.

Langlois-Château – Champagne Bollinger is the more famous Champagne name in the background at this high quality producer.  Around £11-13 from independent merchants.

Bouvet-Ladubay – once owned by Taittinger, this family-run house makes an elegant fizz which is available currently from Majestic at £8.99 a bottle.

If you get the chance to venture to the Loire in person, some of the most characterful, high-quality and good value sparkling wines will be made by small family producers, especially in areas like Vouvray, which specialises in sparkling wine production.  Often these artisan wines are either difficult or impossible to find here – but it’s always worth checking out independent merchants, who can deal with the smaller producers.

So, of all the things that could possibly make the leap across the Channel, here’s my verdict:  wine-based drinks – no; brown cars – hmm; grower-produced sparkling Vouvray – yes please.

Modern day booze cruise - a day trip to France with a difference

Banish from your thoughts memories of booze-sodden day trips to France in the good old days of duty free.  Back then it was all double gin and tonics on the ferry over, feverish stacking of hypermarket trollies with litre bottles of vin very ordinaire, before a dash back to the ferry terminal and the last chance to down some cut price booze on the way home.

Gone is the era when Calais resembled a British retail park, with Tesco and Sainsbury’s superstores rubbing shoulders with French hypermarkets at Cité Europe and discount booze stores such as Eastenders piling ‘em high and selling ‘em cheap.  The demise of super-cheap cross channel ferry tickets, the lack of Euro-buying power of the pound and the plentiful supply of discounted wines and beers in supermarkets back home have all conspired to make selling wines to Brits abroad less commercially rewarding.

However, for those who would like to sample a little morsel of life in la belle France – and pick up some bargain-priced wines at the same time – then a quick trip across the Channel could be just the ticket.

Majestic Wine still has two outlets in Calais and they offer £2 a bottle saving versus the UK price on wines (£3 a bottle on sparkling wines).  You may not be able to cross the channel for £1 anymore, but there are still good discounts available, especially if you can travel off peak. 

Calais old town, close to the port, has its charms, especially if the sun comes out.  Restaurant Le Channel, round the corner from the main square, Place d’Armes, is a good place to head for a civilised blow-out cum leisurely lunch.  If it takes a dose of moules marinières for you to know you’ve trodden on French soil, then Brasserie de la Mer, on rue de la Mer, is as good a place as any to head for.  Do not, however, be tempted, as I was, by their long list of alternative ways to prepare mussels.  Moules à la flammande are, apparently, supposed to be sweet – a weird and unwelcome surprise.

    

Wednesday and Saturday are market days, held, of course, on Place d’Armes.  On other days a quick trip to La Maison du Fromage et du Vin may have to suffice.  And, frankly, what more could you want?

If you have more time or are prepared to do a little driving, then you could venture further than Calais and call in on the Wine Society.

The Wine Society is a wine retailer with a difference:  a mutual society which exists to benefit its customers, who must all purchase a share in order to join (currently £40).  There is a showroom cum shop at their headquarters in Stevenage, but most customers buy over the phone or online. 

The Society’s French outlet is located away from the coast at the genteel town of Montreuil-sur-mer which, despite its name, has not been “sur mer” since the 1300s.  A forty minute drive from the Channel tunnel at Sangatte (count on an hour from the ferry port at Calais), Montreuil is a picturesque town with intact ramparts around the old town in this surprisingly hilly part of the Pas de Calais.  The ramparts play host to an annual “son et lumière” performance of Les Misérables in the summer – Victor Hugo set much of the action of his novel there, following a brief visit years before with his mistress (don’t let me give you ideas).

Walking the ramparts

The Wine Society guarantees a saving of £18 per 12 bottles:  the actual amount can vary with the sterling to Euro exchange rate.  Because of this fixed price discount, you stand to gain more at the lower end of the price range.  If you are paying £1.50 less for a bottle that would cost you £7 back in the UK, that looks like a healthy discount.  £1.50 off a bottle of £50 claret is not going to set the pulse racing.  Therefore, the core range of 200 wines stocked in Montreuil concentrates on sub-£10 bottles.

Members can also use the Montreuil shop to pick up wines that they have pre-ordered in the UK, in which case they are free to choose from the Society’s full list of over 500 wines.

Having got the wine buying business out of the way, the rest of the day is free to explore the dining options of the town.  Choose from the rustic bench seats and rotisserie meat fest at Froggy’s Tavern (nowhere near as cheesy a place as that sounds), to the Michelin-starred refinement of Le Château de Montreuil – and lots more in between. 

Or, of course, you could make a night of it and stay overnight in Montreuil, fitting in a sortie to the well-stocked cheese shop, window shopping at one of the appealing but eye-wateringly expensive chocolate shops – and of course a bracing walk around the ramparts to make up for any over-indulgence the night before.

Names and addresses

Calais

Majestic outlets – 1 rue de Judée, Zone Industrielle Marcel Doret, Calais; and Unit 3A, avenue Général Charles de Gaulle, Zone la Française, Coquelles

Restaurant Le Channel – 5, boulevard de la Résistance, Calais

Brasserie de la Mer – 30, rue de la Mer, Calais

La Maison du Fromage et du Vin – 1, rue André Gerschell, Calais

Montreuil-sur-Mer

The Wine Society in France - rue de Tripot, 62170 Montreuil-sur-Mer (behind the Hôtel Hermitage on Place Gambetta).  Detailed directions and lots more information are available on The Wine Society’s website:  http://www.thewinesociety.com

Froggy’s Tavern – 51 bis, place du Général de Gaulle

Le Château de Montreuil – 4, chaussée des Capucins

Fromagerie Caseus – 28, place du Général de Gaulle

Les Chocolats de Beussent – 10, place Darnétal

Chocolaterie les Misérables –9, rue Pierre Ledent

Sauvignon de St Bris - a hidden gem?

Anyone who claims to know all of France’s wine appellations (or PDOs as we should now learn to call them) is either a liar or has an extraordinary capacity for memorising lists.  There are literally hundreds of them, ranging from the world-famous (Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Chablis) to the vanishingly obscure.  Wines labelled Irancy, to name but one, are hardly household names, even in their own neighbourhoods.

Others, while obscure, stick in the mind.  Sauvignon de St Bris is one such.  The area of production is titchy, yet it’s a micro-region that I’ve known about ever since cramming for my Wine Diploma years back, learning that this is the only part of Burgundy where Sauvignon Blanc is grown.  I memorised that single fact as a way to avoid a trick question in an exam, then promptly moved on, content never to know more about this renegade Chardonnay-shunning corner of Burgundy, let alone know what the wines might actually taste like.

This summer, however, I finally set foot in St-Bris-le-Vineux, an attractive and typically deserted village in the valley of the Yonne river in a northern corner of Burgundy, which is the centre of production, such as it is.  St Bris is much closer to Chablis than to the Côte d’Or, so while yes, technically it is part of Burgundy, it is a long way from the heartland of the region.

When you ignore the administrative boundaries and just look at a map of France, it becomes clear that while St Bris may be next door to Chablis, it is also only a short drive from the Loire Valley and those twin powerhouses of Sauvignon Blanc:  Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre.  Why they grow Sauvignon and not Chardonnay here begins to make more sense.

St Bris shares the same Kimmeridgian and Portlandian soils as those found in Chablis, thereby giving a tantalising hint of what Chablis might taste like, if it was made with Sauvignon Blanc instead of Chardonnay.  You've never wondered this?  Oh, just me then.

What I hadn’t learned as part of my Diploma studies, was that this area also makes red wines from Pinot Noir, in line with Burgundian orthodoxy.  These are pleasant oddities, light and lacy versions of an already light style of wine – the kind of thing to chill and sip in the garden on a sunny day. 

And, to my surprise they also make wines from Chardonnay here (so much for my Diploma studies), though these Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays are entitled only to the generic label of “Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre”, a designation used to mop up various little vineyards around the town of Auxerre and which fall outside the Chablis area.  Sauvignon de St-Bris can only be used for, well, Sauvignon.

In St-Bris-le-Vineux (the clue is in the name) I hopped out of the campervan and decided to try some wine.  British tourists abroad often cite the difficulties involved in visiting wineries in France.  It is true that the willingness to knock on the doors of places which look resolutely closed and the ability to speak at least some French are pre-requisites.  I took the sign “cave ouverte” on a wine press outside one producer’s house as an encouragement.

Despite the “ouverte” claim, all looked deserted.  Having managed to disturb the lunchtime semi-siesta of an elderly lady, I was pointed in the direction of a bell to be rung.  In the manner of the shopkeeper in Mister Benn, a man emerged, as if by magic, from an ivy-camouflaged door that I had not noticed and I was welcomed into a cool tasting cellar.

Alert, perhaps, to my intention of tasting the Sauvignon de St Bris and then scarpering, having ticked it off my mental list of wines to taste before I die, Monsieur Goisot of Domaine Goisot Anne et Arnaud insisted that I start by tasting his Chardonnay.

Chardonnay-shmardonnay.  Was it really possible that this lowly Côtes d’Auxerre Blanc could have something to contribute to our understanding of that noble variety that its illustrious neighbours in Chablis and the mighty Côte de Beaune had not already done more emphatically, elegantly and eloquently? 

In a word, no.  Dear reader, Côtes d’Auxerre Blanc is no undiscovered gem.  M Goisot’s Chardonnay was perfectly decent with some peachy, floral aromas and a nutty, savoury palate.  But no scales dropped from my eyes; I was not moved to forsake Grand Cru Chablis or Chassagne-Montrachet forever more.  I moved on to the main attraction.

And what is it like?  St Bris Sauvignon may not have the depth and concentration of the best wines from Sancerre and Pouilly, but it does have distinct fragrance and a gentle, stony persistence in the mouth.  There is a softness, allied to the characteristic crisp acidity of the variety, that makes for pleasant holiday drinking. 

I bought some of M Goisot’s wines, along with another Sauvignon from a neighbouring domaine, Philippe de France, on my travels, so I will be able to find out if this is one of those wines that tastes perfect as part of a carefree sunny holiday, but that loses something in the move to a greyer, cooler UK, with work and family concerns to contend with.

I think you are more likely to trip over a black cat while on your way to redeem a winning National Lottery ticket than you are to stumble across any Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Rouge or Blanc, in mainstream wine outlets in this country - or in France for that matter.  However, you do stand more chance of happening on a bottle of Sauvignon de St-Bris.  The two domaines I visited do not seem to be imported into the UK, but there are a number of others that you can search out – so you can tick this wine off your list too.

French specialist merchants Nicolas list a Sauvignon de St Bris from the excellent Chablis-based co-operative, La Chablisienne, Les Vaux Sereins at £9.99.  Waitrose has Simonnet-Febvre’s version for £9.99.  Highly regarded organic producer Domaine Goisot’s Sauvignon de St Bris 2009 is available from slurp.co.uk at £10.49 a bottle.