Wine Without The Snobbery
THE festive season is expensive, but your wine can still deliver deliciousness without curtailing your Christmas spirit – it is simply a case of knowing where to look to find those affordable gems. Celebration means sparkling, but buying Champagne can be a little like paying for a Tiffany’s diamond, there is a cost tied up in the name. You can find some brilliant fizz from all over the world, using different grapes but with the traditional champagne method to provide those decadent yeasty, brioche notes.
Even better when you bulk buy for a cheeky discount. The Bouvet Ladubay Tresor Saumur Brut (£20 Majestic, £15 Majestic mix-six case) is a glass of refined fun striking the balance between delicate flavours and creamy effervescence. South Africa’s Villiera makes terrific, complex Cap Classique. When I was judging there for the International Wine and Spirits Competition, the Villiera Monro Brut 2017 was one of the top scoring wines at 97 points. That cuvee is not exported but thankfully their Villiera Cap Classique Brut (£16 Majestic, £14 mix-six case) is readily available.
Let us not forget guests who are choosing to moderate their alcoholic intake. To continue proving there is nothing she cannot do, Kylie Minogue’s non-alcoholic wines have single handedly driven more than half the growth of the category. Her alcohol-free sparkling rosé (£5.49 Tesco) is a pretty, strawberry pink, fruity and fresh with vibrant bubbles just perfect for a party.
Lesser-known wine regions and the New World often work hard to prove themselves, rather than coasting on their Old Wine cache, and represent craftsmanship by fantastic producers. Australia’s Robert Oatley Semaphore Chardonnay 2022 is a bit of a treasure for the price (£10.50 Co-op) and its slick, savoury generosity would complement anyone’s roast turkey and trimmings.
Recently touring Argentina, I was immeasurably impressed by their Cabernet Franc, for me surpassing the renowned Malbec. The Catenas are one of the oldest, most prominent wine families in the country so it should have come as no surprise when I tasted the El Enemigo Cabernet Franc 2019 (£18 Tesco) to find it the work of Adrianna Catena and Alejandro Vigil. A rich, sumptuous, structured red for roast ham or after dinner relaxation.
A place that often gets overlooked for fine wine is Romania, yet they make delicate, food-friendly Pinot Noirs at the same latitude as Burgundy, like the delightful Sanziana Pinot Noir (£9.50 Corney & Barrow). Those who like their white wines fresh, perhaps something to pair with a seafood starter, cannot go wrong with an Italian bang-for-buck Grillo. The beautiful Belorante Grillo (£9 Sainsburys) from Sicily is one of my top picks for under a tenner offering a zippy, refreshing glass of citrus and saline grapefruit.
For some reason people are wary of supermarket own label wines, assuming they will be generic and of worse quality whereas often they have partnered with highly reputable and sought-after producers to offer exclusive wines at a lower cost. The Waitrose Blueprint label is one of my favourites for great wines at half the usual price of the producers and the beautiful English winery Balfour makes premium sparkling wines for Tesco Finest at only around £20 a bottle. It is worth checking the back label of these high-street ranges to see who is making their wines.
One place I always head to is the Wine Society, especially around this season when I need to stock up, as their Exhibition Range is one of the best in the biz. Dedicated buyers focus on specific countries and styles, touring the world to create on-going relationships with winemakers from well-known estates and up-and-coming discoveries. Snap up the multi-gold-award-winning The Society’s Exhibition Crusted Port (The Wine Society £19.50) for the cheeseboard and pudding.
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