Albariño is currently rather fashionable, particularly when from Rias Baixas in Galicia. It’s a somewhat forgotten, often rainy inland area of North Western Spain. The salty hint to the wine makes it go particularly well with food. From Elena Adell, Campo Viejo’s talented wine maker. Tasting notes: Pale straw colour. Light-bodied. Citrus, apple and floral…
Laurent Perrier La Cuvée
Britain’s sparkling wine market is still worth £1.5bn and 140m bottles of bubbly are sold here each year. Most of the market is made up of prosecco, which has surged in popularity as a champagne alternative over the last few years. We are by quite some way the greatest consumers of champagne outside France, drinking…
Bollinger Special Cuvée
Britain’s sparkling wine market is still worth £1.5bn and 140m bottles of bubbly are sold here each year. Most of the market is made up of prosecco, which has surged in popularity as a champagne alternative over the last few years.There are occasions, however when only champagne will do. Thankfully we found cause to celebrate…
La Vieille Ferme 2019
Another novelty bottle? No – this is despite it’s £7.50 price tag, pretty serious wine. It’s from the Perrin family – well-respected producers, who produce ‘Miraval’ Rose (reviewed here https://atimeforwine.blog/2020/07/27/miraval-cotes-de-provence-rose) with their celebrity partners Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie. It’s a white Cotes du Rhone wine from one of the world’s largest wine-producing regions and…
St-Chinian, Sainsburys Taste the Difference 2018
I’m currently comparing M&S ‘Classics’, Tesco ‘Finest’ and Sainsburys ‘Taste the Difference’ wines. This compared well.This family’s winery has produced wine in Bordeaux since 1791. A warming winter red. Tasting notes: Its appearance is deep purple in colour. Red fruit notes on the nose. Medium body. Balanced acidity. Soft tannins. Short finish. Reasonably intense. Ripe red fruits…
M&S Classics Grüner Veltliner 2019
With its ‘Classics’ range M&S set out to produce wines which are the epitome of a grape, blend or region. I like this idea very much. I’m a fan of Austrian wine in general and Grüner Veltliner in particular. I hosted a live zoom wine-tasting recently and none of the participants had tried one before….
Vernaccia Di San Gimignano, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference
The first wine of 2021 to be sent back. This was faulty. I think the agglomerate cork had failed, let in oxygen and the wine was becoming vinegar. The failure rate of this closure is less than a natural cork (7% – or approx 1 bottle per case). On returning it to Sainsbury’s, they no…
M&S Classics Côtes du Rhône Villages 2019
With its ‘Classics’ range M&S set out to produce wines which are the epitome of a grape, blend or region. This wine is the first in the series that has been merely OK. For another pound, elsewhere you can better Cotes du Rhone. Tasting notes: Its appearance is deep purple in colour. Cherry notes on the nose….
M&S Classics Picpoul de Pinet 2019
With its ‘Classics’ range M&S set out to produce wines which are the epitome of a grape, blend or region. I like this idea very much; at wine tastings – especially blind ones – I don’t really want quirky surprises. Is this wine unmistakably Picpoul de Pinet? Almost all Supermarket Picpouls come from the Costieres…
M&S Classics California Chardonnay 2019
With its ‘Classics’ range M&S set out to produce wines which are the epitome of a grape, blend or region. I like this idea very much; at wine tastings – especially blind ones – I don’t really want quirky surprises. At a blind tasting before lockdown I had several ‘atypical’ wines and got them wrong….
M&S Classics Chianti, Riserva 2017
With its ‘Classics’ range M&S set out to produce wines which are the epitome of a grape, blend or region. It includes repackaged wines from existing suppliers as well as new wines that their buyers had to go out and hunt down. Sue Daniels set out “to find and redefine those lovely well-known regions and…
Le Rocher de St Victor, Picpoul de Pinet 2019 Lidl
I have written before about the ubiquitous nature of supermarket Picpoul de Pinet: ‘ubiquitous’ because they pretty much all stock the identical wine from the same co-operative producer, but with a different label. Not so Lidl; this Picpoul comes from respected producer Ormarine, rather than the large local co-operative producer and has a little more…
A Time for Wine 