Wine of the week: Graham Beck brut rosé

I know a lot of you are going to be looking for a well-priced sparkling wine for Mother's Day this weekend and this is the perfect bottle

OK, it’s not prosecco but to my mind it’s a lot more refreshing with a delicate wild strawberry flavour and fine bubbles - champagne quality at less than half the price of most rosé champagnes

It comes from a wild bit of the Cape Winelands, the Robertson region of South Africa - about the last place you’d expect to find a quality sparkling wine producer but Graham Beck has been specialising in fizz for years - so much so that he’s now giving up making still wines under his eponymous label.

I’ve shown it at a number of tastings during the past year and paired it with some unlikely food including sushi, a fish pastilla (Moroccan-style fish pie) and Indian street-food style snacks and it’s sailed through them all. It would be a touch dry for cake and desserts but otherwise it’s remarkably versatile.

You can currently buy it for £10.79 as part of a ‘mix six’ deal at Majestic* which is a good price though even the single bottle price of £11.99 is pretty fair. Some retailers are selling it for £14.50.

* Incidentally if you don't want to buy six bottles of this Majestic is selling a Pays d'Oc syrah from Domaine les Yeuses called Les Epices for £7.49.(It doesn't get good ratings on the site but I thought it was delicious when I tried it the other day.)

Wine of the week: El Bombero Gran Reserva 2009 Carinena

If I saw this wine on a supermarket shelf I wouldn’t pick it up. There’s the name for a start, which sounds like something a marketing department has invented

The old fashioned red and gold label and the fact it’s not a rioja wouldn’t do much for me either.

It also comes from Laithwaite’s, a retailer which has never overly impressed me with its range or pricing

But I’d be wrong. This is a cracking bottle of wine made from garnacha (aka grenache) from the far less fashionable Cariñena region. Despite its age it’s still gorgeously plummy and at £8.99 an absolute steal for a gran reserva which has to be aged for at least 5 years. It’s the perfect wine for a traditional Sunday roast beef (or lamb) lunch and would make any rioja-lovers in the family very happy.

The only thing I’d say is that the advice on the label ‘drink by December 2017’ might be a tad over-optimistic given most domestic storage conditions - I’d be inclined to drink it by Christmas - or the new year, at the latest. Also I’m not sure you need to decant it as they advise. It was pretty good poured straight from the bottle.

Laithwaite’s by the way has just been nominated Merchant of the Year and Online Retailer of the Year by the International Wine Challenge so maybe I’m wrong on that front too. But if you do buy some of the El Bombero beware pushy follow up invitations to buy ‘half price’ mixed cases. And I tried another couple of wines in their range by which I was much less impressed.

PS The other wine I was thinking of making my wine of the week - and might have done if I hadn’t featured them last week is the Charles de Fère Brut Premium Vin Mousseux which is currently on offer at M & S at just £7. It’s a really attractive soft sparkling wine which looks very much like champagne at a casual glance. Perfect for weddings it struck me, if you want an alternative to prosecco.

Coconova Sparkling Brut

In general I use the drink of the week slot to feature a wine - or other drink - that’s really impressed me but occasionally it’s all about the right wine for the moment.

Today could be Brazil’s last day in the World Cup (I hope not for their sake but I’m also a big fan of Chile) so you might want to mark the occasion by buying this bottle of Brazilian bubbly from Marks & Spencer.

I can’t say it’s amazing - think inexpensive prosecco rather than champagne - but it's perfectly fine and would make a great cocktail with some fresh fruit juice and maybe even a dash of something stronger. And the label just screams ‘party’.

You’ve got a couple of hours to get it before the match begins or, if Brazil stay in the Cup, time to order a couple of cases in time for the next match - or even the final. It’s normally £8.99 but until Monday night you get a 25% discount if you buy six bottles in store or two six-bottle cases online which brings it down to £6.74 a bottle.

If you’ve got a sweeter tooth - or simply want something to sip with cake - try the Moscato d’Asti-like Carnival Sparkling Moscato, again £8.99 but £6.74 if you buy six bottles or two cases.