Wine of the week: Booths Manzanilla sherry

Chilled Manzanilla sherry is one of my favourite drinks at this time of year so I was impressed to come across this great value, full-size bottle at the Booths Christmas in July* tasting last week.

It's apparently made for them by Williams & Humbert and recently won the Manzanilla trophy at the International Wine Challenge. I also like the packaging - as you can see it comes in a lightly tinted glass bottle with a modern design. Best of all it’s only £7.75 which is an absolute steal.

If you don’t have a branch of Booths nearby, which you won’t if you live in the south of England, you can order it on Amazon Fresh where they confusingly list it as 'dry sherry red wine'. And that too is is only available in selected locations throughout the UK but if you can get hold of a bottle I certainly would.

What to pair with it? Well, almost any kind of seafood - a selection of fishy tapas would be perfect. You can see a full list of suggestions by clicking on the link below or a wider one in my ebook 101 Great Ways to Enjoy Sherry.

The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry

*No, I don’t want to think about it either but all the retailers showcase their ranges around now.

10 good wine buys from the current Sainsbury’s offer

In anticipation of a England World Cup win that sadly didn’t happen Sainsbury’s is running a 25% off six bottles deal this weekend (with some exclusions* including sherry which I normally hoover up when they have one of these promotions). But there are plenty of other good deals

Here are 10 I think are worth snapping up before the offer closes on Sunday night - note you only have to buy six bottles in total not six of the same wine. (I'm recommending these on the basis of the vintage I've most recently tasted so look out for the vintages given here)

Taste the Difference Conegliano Prosecco in magnum - usually £21, on promotion at £16.50 and £12.38 a bottle when you buy 6 - i.e. £6.19 a standard bottle
One of the most reliable own label proseccos - well worth buying if you’re a fan.

Taste the Difference Blanc de Noirs champagne - normally £18 but £13.50 a bottle when you buy six
Rich and toasty - not quite as good as it once was, maybe, but hard to complain at this sort of price.

Taste the Difference Barrihuelo Rioja Blanco 2017 - normally £7.50, reduced to £6.25 and £4.69 a bottle when you buy 6
Nicely rounded smooth white rioja that you could drink with seafood, tapas or paella

Taste the Difference Austrian Riesling 2017 £8.50 reduced to £6.38 if you buy six bottles
There’s just a touch of sweetness in this Austrian riesling but not as much as you’d expect from a German one. Pretty, floral and crisp - great as an aperitif or with Cantonese or south-east Asian food.

Taste the Difference Cotes du Jura Chardonnay 2016 - normally £11, reduced to £8.25
Jura chardonnay doesn’t taste like chardonnay from anywhere else - its minerality is Chablis-like but it’s got an earthy edge that’s almost like a natural wine. Complex and textured - it would be great with roast chicken with a white wine sauce or with Comté cheese. If you’re interested in alternative flavours definitely give it a try - it’s a bargain at this price.

La Terrasse Rosé 2017 - normally £10, £7.50 on this deal (also available in magnum)
Not super-cheap but a fair price for a darker-than-usual full-flavoured rosé that would be great with a barbecue (or Sunday's world cup final). Also spot on with a nice chunk of Brie and a baguette.

Baron Gassier Provence Rosé 2017 in magnum - normally £24 a bottle but £18 if you buy six bottles
If you like rosé in magnum this is a cracking buy (though I’m not sure I’d pay the full price for it). Classic pale, pink/gold Provence rosé - it would be lovely with a salad niçoise

The best food pairings for rosé

Taste the Difference Languedoc Red 2017 - normally £7, on promotion at £6.25 and £4.69 a bottle when you buy 6
One of the most consistently reliable own label reds, a classic blend of southern French grapes (grenache, syrah, carignan and mourvèdre) Great everyday drinking, now and through the autumn.

Taste the Difference Lisboa Portuguese Red 2016 - normally £7, £5.25 on this deal
Appealing, juicy, quaffable Portuguese red - perfect for barbies or a Friday night pizza

Taste the Difference Gigondas 2015 - normally £14, reduced to £10.50 when you buy six
It’s also worth taking advantage of this sizeable discount to buy wines you might not normally feel justified in splashing out on. A big ripe Chateauneuf-style red from the excellent 2015 vintage. Save for a Sunday roast

*Excludes bottles of wine under £5, bottles 200ml and under, all House wine, all fortified wine, boxed wine and gift sets. Subject to availability. Selected stores only. While stocks last. Offer excludes centrals and locals. Offer available online. Offer applies to online orders delivered from 11 July 2018 until and including 15 July 2018.

Ramona Grapefruit wine spritz

With no end to this sizzling hot summer in sight you may even be tiring of rosé so here’s something cool and different to drink that I came across the other day.

It’s a grapefruit-flavoured wine spritzer called Ramona and comes either singly or in a 4 pack of cans that are easy to stash in the fridge.

It’s based on an organic Sicilian wine called Zibibbo with natural grapefruit flavours and is just joyously zesty and refreshing - and a modest 7% to boot. Just the thing you need to carry with you on a hot sticky journey on the train. (You can buy it from Vinoteca King’s Cross, their other branches or their online shop)

The only downside is that at £4.50 for a single 250ml can or £17 for a pack of 4 it’s pretty pricey but it’s imported from the US which accounts for the cost. And it's cheaper than a glass of wine in a wine bar*. I just love it.

Since I wrote this post I stumbled across another interesting wine in a can called The Uncommon which is made from Bacchus, an English grape that tastes like an elderflowery sauvignon blanc. Again, cool packaging and very refreshing. You can buy it from Selfridges for £5 a can.

* No, not ALL wine bars I realise - but bear in mind it's bigger than the average wine bar glass!

Drink of the week: Crodino

More and more people I talk to seem to be cutting down on booze - or cutting it out entirely. That may be for obvious reasons like becoming pregnant or being on medication with which alcohol is incompatible but it’s definitely a trend - just as eating less meat is increasingly common.

The problem for most of us is what to drink when we're not drinking and the Italians as usual have it better nailed than most. Witness Crodino, a deliciously bitter alcohol-free drink that I discovered in Venice and which is an admirable substitute for an Aperol spritz. (Perhaps unsurprisingly as it’s owned by the same company)

It comes in dinky little 10cl bottles which you can simply serve on the rocks or, as I prefer, with a good splash of soda. Add a slice of orange and a large green olive and you’ve got yourself a sophisticated aperitivo. And it’s only 61 calories a bottle.

The only downside is the virulent orange colour* which of course applies to Aperol too and the fact that it’s at least twice as expensive here as in Italy. But at the moment I can't find anything comparable in the UK.

You can probably get it from your local Italian deli (I can from mine, Divino in Bristol who sell it for £15 a 10 bottle pack) or you can order it from Amazon (the original version is nicer than the blood orange one, IMHO)

* on the pack they warn that the colours they use may adversely affect children’s attention span and cause hyperactivity so I wouldn’t give it to your kids.