Mas des Chimères Oeillade 2014

You don’t expect to find a wine like this on a supermarket shelf, even in their upmarket in-store cave but that’s exactly where I discovered this delicious organic red in my friends’ local Hyper U.

It comes from the Coteaux du Salagou an appellation to the north-east of Clermont l’Hérault, is made from cinsault (currently one of my favourite grapes for everyday drinking) and at just 12% is one of those incredibly quaffable vins de soif you come across in France these days. I can’t remember the exact price but think it was around €8.

Mas des Chimères, which was set up in 1993 is run by the handsomely moustachioed Guilhem Dardé, his wife Palma and his daughter Maguelone. They recommend the Oeillade with ‘grillades’ - in other words simply grilled meat.

Frustratingly it doesn’t appear to be available in the UK (maybe someone would like to remedy that?) but you can buy it online in France from 1907.fr which sells it for €7.50 - or from the cellar door. Louis Dressner imports it in the US.

Dunville’s Very Rare Old Irish Whiskey

If you’re looking for a whiskey to celebrate St Patrick’s Day try to get hold of a bottle of Dunville’s Very Rare Old Irish whiskey.

It’s a cask strength 10 year old single malt with a lot of personality that strikes me as a cross between an Irish whiskey and a scotch. Served neat you notice a slight smokiness and peatiness but let down with a few drops of water it’s the fruit character that shines through - apricot and peach to my palate although one commentator detects apple Jolly Ranchers and spiced custard! There’s a lovely touch of sweetness from the Pedro Ximenez casks in which the whiskey is finished but it’s all kept beautifully in balance.

The whiskey, which has was bottled by the Echlinville distillery in Co Down, Northern Ireland’s first new whisky distillery in 125 years, was nominated Best Irish Single Malt Under 12 Years at the 2015 World Whiskies Awards. I love the retro label too.

You can buy it from Master of Malt for £44.62, Amazon for £45 and Royal Mile Whiskies for £46.95.

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.)

Toast Ale

Sometimes a good story is all it takes to make you buy a bottle and who could resist a beer that makes use of food waste - unused bread in the case of Toast?

It’s brewed by Hackney Brewery and made to a Belgian recipe from bread crusts that would otherwise be discarded, along with malted barley, hops and yeast. All profits go to the charity Feedback which campaigns against global food waste. (According to the website 44% of all bread produced in the UK is thrown away.)

I wouldn’t say the taste was toasty, more emphatically malty - slightly more bitter than a lot of the craft beers out there (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing). When I tasted it I felt it needed food - maybe a cheese toastie or cheese on toast which would enable you to use yet more surplus bread and leftover bits of cheese.

You can buy it from the end of this week from the Toast Ale website at £18 a 6 bottle case (+ £6.99 delivery). Look out for it too at River Cottage, E5 Bakehouse, Poco, Fifteen and Tiny Leaf.