STAR BUY 2007 Pencarrow Sauvignon Blanc, Martinborough, New Zealand,
Justerini & Brooks (020-7484 6400), £7.20. British drinkers cannot get
enough of the sauvignon blanc grape and frankly, having tasted this
sensational Kiwi edition, I can see why. I was bowled over by the quality of
this glorious, ripe, spritzy sauvignon, whose elegant, herby fruit leads on
to all manner of nettle, flowering currant, lemon zest and faint tropical
fruit flavours.
REDS
2007 Beaujolais-Lantignié Louis Jadot, France, Majestic, £8.69 or
buy two for £6.95 each until July 28. Jadot’s brilliant Beaujolais-Villages
is a firm summertime favourite of mine. This new offering, like the original
from the superior northern end of the region, is made from grapes grown in
and around Lantignié. Lots of ripe, vibrant, peppery, cherry and
bonbons-styled fruit – perfect served cool on hot days, should we get any,
otherwise at room temperature.
2006 Fleurie Bouchard Père et Fils, France, Waitrose, down £2 to
£7.99 until June 24. No red burgundy made the grade this week, apart from
these two beaujolais, which is a pity and perhaps evidence that demand has
pushed up prices and created a scarcity. Never mind, beaujolais is best
suited to summer swigging anyway, and this superior cru, or village,
beaujolais from low-yielding vines delivers all manner of fine, floral,
silky, yet fat, herby gamay fruit.
2005 Moueix Bordeaux Supérieur, Jean-Pierre Moueix, France,
Private Cellar (01353 721608), £8.89 down to £7.99 for Times
readers until June 27. 2005 was a great bordeaux vintage, good top to
bottom, so lesser wines like this impressive, smoky, plummy, raisiny,
faintly leathery claret produce a superb mouthful. The quality you would
expect from the house of J-P Moueix, responsible for one of the world’s most
celebrated clarets, Pétrus.
2005 Croix des Bardes Réserve Lalande de Pomerol, Bordeaux, Yvon Mau,
France, Tesco, £13.99, down to £6.99 until June 15. Ignore Tesco’s
inflated price for this lesser Pomerol, but at £6.99 it is a bargain. Not all
will enjoy this right bank claret’s sappy, plummy, oaky style, but served
with grilled lamb or steak, it’s a winner. Yvon Mau is one of my favourite
Bordeaux négociants, always delivering value for money and the right balance
between oak and fruit.
2006 Le Bosquet de la Dame, Côtes du Rhône, France, Marks &
Spencer, £6.99. 2006 was a good vintage in the Rhône valley, so I was not at
all suprised when a trio ended up here. What distinguishes this
grenache-dominant 2006 is not its organic status, but its bold, burly,
meaty, 14 per cent alcohol-laced oomph. A grand value-for-money red, with
oodles of fat, spicy, sweet, sandalwood-scented fruit that is almost
châteauneuf-esque in character.
2007 Vignes de Nicole Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot, Vin de Pays d’Oc, Domaines
Paul Mas, France, Majestic, £8.49 or buy two for £6.99 each until July
28. Paul Mas is one of the Languedoc’s heroes with lots of vineyards and
this superior plot, Vignes de N, is 22 hectares of hillside vines in the
Hérault. This red is aged in partly new oak for almost a year, creating a
delicious, fat, ripe, curranty cabernet with rustic, creosotey fruit on the
finish.
2006 Petite Ruche Crozes-Hermitage M. Chapoutier, France, Asda, £7.98.
Chapoutier, now the largest biodynamic vine growers in the world, is on a
roll in the Rhône. Crozes-Hermitage is one of the larger appellations, with
the syrah grape planted on less distinguished sites and soils than
Hermitage. Yet this delivers gentle, velvety, herby, savoury syrah spice,
making it a good, bold summer red to serve with kebabs or milder barbecue
fare.
2006 GSM, Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre, Côtes du Rhône, Pierre Perrin, France,
Marks & Spencer, £7.99. You need to read the small print on M&S wines, but
its new black back labels with tiny text are almost impossible to decipher
for myopic folk like me. It’s worth the struggle though, as you discover
this tasty GSM southern rhône, with fat, spicy, herby fruit, is made by the
Perrins, the family behind Château Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
2006 Domaine Montlobre La Chapelle, Cuvaison Longue, Vin de Pays d’Oc, France,
Berry Bros & Rudd (01256 340182), £7.95. “Cuvaison longue” shouts this
label, and indeed this Languedoc red spends an impressive five weeks
macerating on its predominantly merlot grape skins. Bristling with the fat,
ripe, spicy, smoky, herby, almost exotic fruit that’s just what’s needed
with everything from a picnic lunch to a more substantial plate of rare
roast beef salad.
2006 Le Petit Chapoton Rouge, Vin de Pays de Vaucluse, Domaine Chapoton,
France, Berry Bros & Rudd, £6.35. Rochegude, surrounded by vines in the
southern Rhône, is where I spent part of my honeymoon, and the heat here at
the height of summer helps explain why its reds are as chunky as they are.
Winemaker Serge Remusan alleviates this by sourcing grapes for this from
higher altitude vineyards and has created a lovely, herby, earthy, briary
red.
2007 Les Orris Rouge, Les Vignerons du Château de Calce, Vin de Pays des Côtes
Catalanes, France, Marks & Spencer, £7.99. Another impossible to
decipher back label, but concentrate instead on the classy carignan and
grenache blend, made in a traditional manner but at cooler temperatures so
less tannin is extracted, and rounded off with two or three years oak ageing
(but only for part of the blend). The result is softer than you’d think,
with velvety, juicy red fruits.
2006 Vat 4 Petit Verdot, de Bortoli, Australia, Sainsbury’s, £7.99.
Once upon a time the dark, perfumed, late-ripening, thick-skinned, tannic
petit verdot grape was an unsung old bordeaux variety that few of the
world’s winemakers had any time for. Not any more. This limited release
Aussie from the Riverina shows just how good this spicy grape can be off its
own turf, heaving with elegant oaky, seductive, violet-scented fruit. The
bottle to serve at barbecues.
STAR BUY 2005 Domaine Lafage Cuvée Authentique, Côtes du Roussillon, France,
Bibendum (020-7449 4120), £7.81. 2005 was a great vintage not just in
Bordeaux but elsewhere in France, and this gorgeous Roussillon red is a
typical Catalan blend of syrah, grenache and carignan. I was won over by its
seductive, spicy, syrah perfume and elegant, dusky, inky palate with lots of
peppery fruit to the fore. This is the summer red with which to dine indoors
and out.
PINK
2007 Gnarly Petit Verdot Shiraz Rosé, South Eastern Australia,
Waitrose, £6.69.Pink wines are as popular as ever, so it was a relief
to find this glorious 70 per cent petit verdot and 30 per cent shiraz in my
blind line-up. What I liked most about this off-dry, light, perfumed elegant
redcurrant and raspberry-charged pink was its full-on fruit and flavour that
will work as well with food as without. Bouquets to the winemaker, Stephen
Pannell.
