Wine of the week: Crittenden Estate Cri de Coeur Savagnin sous voile 2011

Those of you who read my Guardian column may have spotted that last week’s was devoted to winemakers who tackle an established grape variety or wine style on their own doorstep

One omission was Garry Crittenden of Crittenden Estate on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula, who with his son Rollo has been pushing the envelope by making Spanish style reds and whites and, most interesting of all, a savagnin called Cri de Coeur which is aged, like vin jaune under a layer of yeast.

It’s not widely available, even in Australia - the Crittendens make very little - but they were good enough to send me a bottle to try. And it was really delicious - perhaps more like a fino sherry than a Jura wine but a real curiosity that it would be fun to serve to wine geek friends or drink with Comté cheese or tapas.

The two Spanish-style wines are the Los Hermanos Homenaje 2013 (14.2%), an exuberant, juicy blend of Tempranillo Mataro and Garnacha that would make perfect barbecue drinking and the Los Hermanos Saludo al Txacoli 2012 (11.5%) which, like the Basque original, tastes like a sharp squeeze of fresh lemon.

In the UK Christopher Keiller has the Homenaje by the case for £141.75 ex VAT or, if you live in Oz, you can order the two Los Hermanos wines direct from the estate. The Savagnin costs AUD 70 from the Crittendens' cellar door.

If you’d like be able to check out all the food and wine pairings on the site you can buy a bundle of credits here to access my premium content.

And/or for regular updates on what and where I’ve been eating, drinking and travelling sign up for my Substack Eat This, Drink That, Live Well.

You may also enjoy …

Parmesan custard and SoaveWine of the week: Josmeyer Mise du Printemps 2014Possibly the best truffle dinner ever