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12 good white wines to buy from Marks & Spencer
It says a lot about Marks & Spencer’s usual prices that they can afford to run a 25% off deal if you buy any 6 bottles of wine or champagne* for a whole month rather than the usual week but you might as well take advantage.
Their range is pretty strong across the board at the moment but particularly so from France and Italy and in wines that are off the beaten track - they currently list wines from Georgia, Japan, Morocco and India.
Here’s my pick of the white wines I tasted in May 2014. Reds will follow in the next couple of days. Note that some wines are available in a limited number of branches and that the online offer, where applicable, is slightly different - you have to buy two unsplit cases of six of the wines that are on promotion - i.e. 12 bottles in all. Both deals run to September 1st.
Marques de Alarcon Blanco 2013 12.5% £7.99 down to £5.99. N/A online.
A unusual, fragrant fresh Spanish white from Castilla made from Macabeo and Verdejo grapes grown at between 700m and 1000m altitude - that’s high! Ideal for a relaxing glass after work or for seafood.
Tapada de Villar Vinho Verde 2013 10.5% £7.99 down to £5.99
At just 10.5% crisp, fresh Vinho Verde from the north of Portugal makes perfect summer drinking, especially with a fishy barbecue.
Mayne de Beauregard Bergerac Blanc 2013 12% £7.99 down to £5.99
Bergerac is just next door to Bordeaux and produces similar wines that are quite a bit cheaper. This blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon is a classic for the region producing a richer slightly less sharp wine than you get from Sauvignon alone. Perfect for summer salads.
Friuli Sauvignon Blanc 2013 12.5% £8.99 down to £6.74
Regular readers will know I’m not a massive fan of Sauvignon Blanc - mainly because there’s just too much of it about - but the Friuli region of Italy produces some good ones. This is intense and lemony rather than gooseberryish like Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc. See these matches for citrussy Sauvignons
Chateau de Flaugergues Blanc 2013 £8.99 13.5% £8.99 down to £6.74
And here’s what to buy if you’re bored with sauvignon: an attractively smooth handsomely bottled white from Languedoc in the south of France made from Rolle (Vermentino) and Grenache Blanc. Think chicken or salmon.
Tbilvino Qvevris 2011 12.5% £8.99 down to £6.74 N/A online
Admittedly this extraordinary Georgian wine which is aged in amphorae is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea but I love it. It tastes of Hunza apricots and would be delicious with a middle-eastern lamb stew or a tagine.
Mestizo Viognier Marsanne 2013 13% £9.99 down to £7.49
A really lush exotic viognier from Vinedos Emiliana in Chile’s Rapel Valley. (See my viognier pairings here )
Saumur Blanc Les Epinats 2011 13.5% £9.99 down to £7.49 N/A online
Saumur tends to get overlooked in favour of its better known Loire neighbours but this is a really lovely off-dry Chenin that outstrips many Vouvrays on the market. Gorgeous with creamy sauces
Charles Smith The Honourable Riesling 2013 12.5% £11.99 down to £8.99
If you’ve come across maverick Washington State winemaker Charles Smith’s Kung Fu Girl riesling you’ll love this very similar bottling - a dry riesling made in a pretty flowery style. Brilliant with noodle dishes and Asian salads. And see this match with fried chicken.
King’s Ridge Oregon Pinot Gris 2013 13% £12.99 down to £9.74
Pinot Gris is a speciality of Oregon state in the North West Pacific but it’s rarely found at this price. A rich, lush white that’s made in the Alsace rather than Italian style - one for roast chicken, creamy sauces or mildly spiced curries. Another one you’ll like it if you’re a Viognier fan.
Le Clos St Odile Obernai riesling 2011 12% £13.99 down to £10.49
One of the reasons I admire M & S is that they’re prepared to list less popular wines and mature vintages like this classic Alsace riesling. With its slight touch of sweetness it would be ideal for lighter Japanese, Chinese and south-east Asian food. A real bargain.
Domaine Pierre de Préhy Chablis 2010 12.5% £14.49 down to £10.87
At full price this is a touch expensive for a basic Chablis but with 25% off it’s a steal. The vineyards are organically managed and it comes from the very good 2010 vintage. Intense, mineral and creamy - a lovely wine. It’s hard to buy mature Chablis like this.
What Britain’s top wine merchants think you should drink
Yesterday was the Bunch tasting, one of the highlights of the UK press tasting circuit. The Bunch is a group of six well-known wine merchants: Adnams, Berry Bros & Rudd, Corney & Barrow, Lea & Sandeman, Tanners and Yapp Brothers. I’ve been seeing the same faces there for well over a decade. (None of them looks a day older, of course. Nor do I . . . ;-)
Each is allowed to show 11 wines - 4 under £10, 4 over £10 (no specified upper limit) 2 ‘icon’ wines, defined whichever way they want and 1 ‘lunch’ wine which none of us tends to drink because we’re too busy tasting. Still, it gives them an extra shot.
What struck me as most interesting is what they chose to show in 2012 and, even more so, which countries and regions they omitted. So - extraordinarily - no wines from Australia, California or New Zealand and none from Rioja, Alsace or Germany though Tanners pulled one at the last minute and substiituted an Austrian one.
France came out top in terms of numbers with almost two thirds the total wines on show: 43 out of 66, including the icons, 35 if you don’t include them. Of those 6 were white burgundy (no red, oddly - in fact only one pinot noir), 7 from Bordaux, including 3 dry whites) and 11 from the Rhone (including 2 white and 4 Chateauneuf-du-Papes). If you add the 8 wines from elsewhere in southern France (6 red, 2 white, mainly from the Languedoc) to that latter figure it comes to 19 - not including south-west France.
So similar were the merchants in their thinking that two (Tanners and Yapp) fielded Chateauneufs as their icon wines and 2 (Adnams and Lea & Sandeman) Macons from Jean Thevenet
Does this make the merchants involved unadventurous? You certainly could argue that - undoubtedly they're from the more traditional end of the trade - but I think it rather indicates them chosing not to show wines that are over-represented in the supermarkets e.g. Rioja and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and to feature regions where they can genuinely add value because of their specialist knowledge*. Lea & Sandeman’s Le Petit Roy 11ème année from Domaine Jean Royer - Chateauneuf in all but name for £13.75 for example.
I’ll be writing more about these wines in the Guardian over the coming weeks but here are six of the best bottles under £10 - one from each merchant at the tasting. There should be reductions on all these prices if you buy an unsplit case.
Adnams
Pinot Noir, Paparuda Cramele Recas, Romania 2011 (13.5%) £5.70
Romanian pinot used to be pretty rough stuff but this is the best pinot under £10 I’ve tasted this year - much less sweet than comparable pinots from Chile. Pair with duck and game.
Berry Bros & Rudd
Clos la Coutale, Cahors, 2009 (13.5%) £8.95
A cracking Cahors - substantial but also refreshing - seductive, even. Made for confit duck and cassoulet, but would be great with beef casseroles too.
Corney & Barrow
Le G de Guiraud Bordeaux 2009 (13%) £10.50
White Bordeaux is my current passion so it was good to see three at the tasting. This is made in that glorious lush, fragrant, passionfruit-ish style. A snip at the price - even though it snuck in at over the £10 mark. Drink as an aperifif, I’d have said.
Lea & Sandeman
Tremonte Malbec Single Vineyard Reserva 2010, Chile 14% £9.50
A big beefy red of the kind you’d expect more from Argentina but a heck of a lot of wine for the money. And at least as cheap as it would be in a supermarket. Think steak.
Tanners
Tanners Douro Red 2010 13% £7.90
Lighter and less extracted than many Douro reds (a plus in my book) but certainly substantial enough to take on strongly flavoured food such as rustic Portuguese pork stews and even a rogan josh. Good with a cheeseboard too, I bet.
Yapp Brothers
Domaine Gardrat Vin de pays Charentais Sauvignon 2010 11.5% £9.50
One for this Indian summer weather. A crisp refreshing white with a lot of flavour for its modest level of alcohol. Drink with salads, especially with goats cheese.
* and Yapp, of course, is a specialist French merchant.
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