My best buys from Waitrose’s current promotion

I’ve always held that across the board discounts are the best kind of special offer, throwing up some real bargain buys along with the opportunity to get more expensive bottles at a price you can afford.

Here’s my pick from the most recent Waitrose tasting, some of which - especially the wines in the Loved & Found range - appear to be out of stock online but if you’re lucky you might pick them up in store. The promotion applies to bottles bought in store or delivered by next Tuesday November 9th.

Loved & Found

A new range highlighting less familiar grapes at really bargainous prices. I’ve writen about three of them in my Guardian column this week so you may find them out of stock

Fernão Pires 2021 £5.24 down from £6.99
Fresh crisp, aromatic white, normally from Portugal, in this case from South Africa. Would go well with south-east Asian-inspired food.

Marselan 2019 Rhône £5.24 down from £6.99
Bright, juicy, easy-drinking red. Perfect for parties.

Castelão 2019, Lisboa, Portugal £5.24 down from £6.99
Supple, ripe, easy drinking pasta wine from Portugal

Perricone 2020 Sicily £5.99 down from £7.99
Fresh, gulpable Sicilian red that would be perfect with pizza or seafood-based pasta sauces.

Other whites

The Search Grenache Marsanne Roussanne 2021 Voor-Paardeberg £7.49 down from £9.99
Smooth, creamy citrussy South African white which would work well with creamy sauces. (Note this vintage isn’t available online yet and I can’t vouch for how the 2020 is bearing up)

Viña Lareira Albariño Sobre Lias 2020 Rias Baixas £8.99 down from £11.99
Quite a fruity style of albarino that should appeal if you’re into sauvignon blanc. Great with raw shellfish and fishy salads

Waitrose No 1 Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc 2020 Awatere £8.99 down from £11.99
Given the current shortage of New Zealand Sauvignon blanc it would be well worth snapping up this really good example especially at this price. Gorgeous with salads

Aslina Sauvignon Blanc 2020 Stellenbosch £10.49 down from £13.99 (NB only available in 8 shops)
Good to see recognition for South Africa’s first black woman winemaker Ntsiki Biyela. A lovely pure elegant sauvignon blanc to drink with almost any seafood.

Dr Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2019 Mosel £26.25 a magnum down from £35
A fantastic Christmas buy for riesling lovers - if you can fit it it in your fridge! Would be great with smoked fish.

Orange wine

Macerao Naranjo 2021 Itata Valley, Chile £6.74 down from £8.99
A chance to try an orange wine (that’s a white wine that’s left in contact with the skins, not a wine made from oranges) at a really good price. Tastes - rather gorgeously - of peaches and quince. Try it with aubergine or squash dishes.

Other reds

Palacio de Primavera Tinto Rioja 2019 £6.74 down from £8.99
A delicious young rioja in quite a modern fruity style despite the traditional label. Good all-rounder but particularly for a cheeseboard

Rustenberg Malbec 2020 Stellenbosch £9.74 down from £12.99
Argentina is the more usual place to look for malbec but this is a great example from South Africa. Steak still the obvious pairing

Moss Brothers Moses Rock Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 Margaret River £9.74 down from £12.99
A lovely fresh minty cabernet from Western Australia that would be great with roast lamb, especially with a salsa verde.

Yalumba Galway Shiraz 2019 Barossa Valley £9.74 down from £12.99
I’ve tasted some great Aussie shiraz lately and this is one of them. Really lovely, mellow and sweet-fruited. Think beef or venison.

Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato 2020 Piedmont £10.49 down from £13.99 Waitrose Cellar only
Really thrilling Piedmontese red with an exotic taste of pomegranate molasses. Would be great with Lebanese or other middle-eastern food.

Chateau Pey la Tour Réserve Magnum 2016 £18.74 down from £24.99
A really decent mature Bordeaux in magnum at a brilliant price. Perfect for a celebratory Sunday roast.

Mt Difficulty Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2019 Central Otago £19.49 down from £25.99
I love Central Otago pinot noir but it’s normally quite pricey so this discount makes it (just about) affordable. Really lovely sweet ripe fruit - would be great with crispy duck pancakes.

Sparkling

L’Atzar Cava Reserva Brut 2019 £8.99 down from £11.99
I’ve flagged this up before and still really like it. Great party fizz

Hattingley Valley Classic Reserve £22.50 down from £30
Rich and toasty - one of the most consistently reliable English sparklers so take advantage of the discount. Would be fab with fish and chips.

Sweet

Alambre Moscatel de Setubal 2012£5.99 a half bottle down from £7.99 Note, only available in 43 shops.
A lovely rich, orangey fortified wine that would be great with Christmas pudding.

Wine of the Week: Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Faugères

I must admit I’ve always had a soft spot for Faugères which was one of the wine regions closes to our house in the Languedoc. The reds tendsto have a higher percentage of syrah compared to neighbouring appellations which makes the wines more elegant.

This one, which is part of Sainsbury’s new ‘Discovery’ collection is made by the admirable Laurent Miquel who also makes some of the best viognier in the region. It’s a robust 14% but wears it lightly with a lovely spicy freshness that would work with all kinds of all sorts of wintry food, especially roasts and casseroles. Just what we need now the clocks have gone back.

Unfortunately, along with the other wines in the range, it’s already been repriced since the tasting a couple of weeks ago but on the current 25% off six bottles deal which lasts until Tuesday November 2nd it’s a very affordable £8.25 rather than £11 so I’d definitely snap some up if I were you. (Note the Ts & Cs below* - it's not available in Scotland.)

I’m not as smitten by the other wines in the Discovery range which aims to showcase less familiar wines though the Alsace riesling at the same price is a great buy if you’re a riesling fan and the Verdicchio Classico Superiore is interesting though at 14.5% uncharacteristically rich and peachy for that grape - more likely to appeal if you like chardonnay or viognier than Italian whites. And that’s been repriced at £13 or £9.75 on this offer.

The Chateau Thebaud Muscadet too, which comes from the 2016 vintage, won’t be to everyone’s taste, being nutty rather than the crisp wine that you might expect but if you're a fan of mature muscadet it should appeal, especially at £11.25 on this discount (the full price is £15). It would go with richer fish dishes rather than raw shellfish.

Of the other two reds the Côtes de Beaune Villages 2019 is OK at £15 though I wouldn't pay £20 for it as it’s a bit too young to drink now and I didn’t like the oddly tarry Vino Nobile de Montepulciano (now £12 rather than £10) at all.

It does show that there is a price to be paid for these across the board discounts though it’s always possible there will be an offer on the range in the next promotional period. But prices are heading inexorably upwards.

*Offer ends 02/11/21 Offer not available in Scotland. Excludes bottles under £5 in England or £7 in Wales. Minimum unit pricing applies in Wales. Excludes bottles 200ml and under, Sainsbury’s House wine, fortified wine, boxed wine & gift sets. Max 36 bottles. Available in selected stores. Offer available on orders delivered on or before 02/11/21

Wine of the Week: Tesco Finest Soave Classico Superiore

Soave is one of the most underrated Italian wines - and one of the most keenly priced.

This gold-medal winning example comes from the 2019 vintage so has already gained some richness and complexity - certainly far more than you have any right to expect from a wine that costs £7.50.

You could drink it with a mushroom or seafood risotto, with any kind of pasta with a buttery or creamy sauce (like a carbonara) or with simply pan-fried or grilled fish - or a fish pie.

In a similar vein Tesco also has a really classy chardonnay from negociant Bouchard AIne et Fils called Grand Conseiller which although it only comes from the 2020 vintage is drinking better than many white burgundies I’ve tasted that would cost a good deal more. (This is only £9 or £7.50 until next Monday if you’re a Clubcard member)

It would also go with the same type of food as a white burgundy - see a longer list here.

Rafael Cambra Soplo garnacha 2018

If you think of grenache or garnacha as its known in Spain as a rich sense full-bodied red that often hits 15% you need to try this wonderfully vibrant juicy example from Valencia which falls into the category of what Aussies are calling a ‘bright and crunchy’ style of grenache*. (And it’s only 13.5%)

I discovered it at my local tapas bar Bar 44 where it went really well with a plate of iberico ham (in much the same was as Beaujolais goes with French charcuterie. I reckon it would also be great with chorizo or a late summer barbecue

You can buy it from their online shop mercado 44 for £16.50 and rather more cheaply at indies such as R & H Fine Wines who sell it for £12.99 (but Bar 44 has a restaurant to support). Oh, and it's organic too.

* I tasted two other delicious ones in a Wine Australia tasting of grenache from the Barossa and McLaren Vale this week - David Franz's grenache noir and Bondar Wines Bondar Grenache which are both made in a simiar style.