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Tesco is well into its second week of the wine festival and has some really good deals.
Two really caught my eye:
The Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon - this is great value at only £5.21 a bottle. It is very quaffable, smooth and blackcurrenty, but watch out for the alcohol - it packs a punch!
Tesco Finest Chablis - again a steal at £5.22 a bottle. I've not actually tried this one yet but at this price you can't go far wrong!
I took some colleagues to Fino Restaurant last night (you can read the review on The London Restaurant Review website) and we pushed the boat out further than normal and tried the 2003 Villacreces Reserva from Ribera Del Duero.
Regular readers of mine know that I love wines from Ribera Del Duero and rate them more highly than Riojas.
This was from the 2003 vintages which Pocket Vintages rates as a 'good' year for Ribera. At £53 a bottle in the restaurant, we were expecting a better than average wine, especially since this was a reserva.
We were not disappointed. It was a classic - smooth, rich, velvety and Ribena esque. The Sommerlier offered to decant it for us and the second half of the bottle was smoother than the first half.
Overall I'd give it a 7/10. If it were cheaper, it would score higher, but the cheapest place I could find it was on the Nicholls and Perks website, priced at £18.50 a bottle.
Okay, so I've suggested a couple of nice whites, now here are a couple of nice rose wines, both available from Majestic.
Bourgogne Pinot Noir Rosé 2005, Buxy - £6.99 reduced to £5.99 if you buy more than two bottles.
Fruity and light, perfect as an aperatif.
Rioja Rosado 2006, Marqués de Cáceres - £6.99 reduced to £5.99 if you buy more than two bottles.
From one of the top Spanish producers, this is mainly Tempranillo with a splash of Garnacha. More body than the French option above and a hefty 13.5% so watch yourself around the BBQ when drinking this one.
I was asked by a friend of mine to recommend one good white and one good rose for the summer. He wants to buy a couple of cases of each to keep him going throughout the summer, without having to worry about running out if someone pops round uninvited.
I like to shop at Majestic if you know what you want, since they offer exceptional value and interesting wines. Only downside is that you have to buy a minimum of 12 bottles - not a problem in my friend's case (no pun intended!)
One other request - the wines must be old world, since he is worried about new world wines travelling thousands of miles and its effect on the environment - very noble and I personally support that. You never know, France might actually get some market share back from the New World producers for this very reason.
So here are my recommendations:
WHITE
Les Fontanelles Sauvignon Blanc 2006 - usually £4.99 but reduced to £3.99 currently - bargain.
This will be lovely and crisp and worth snapping up at this price.
Chablis Cave de Chablis 2005 - priced at £7.99 this one has more character and clout than the Sauvignon and will go down well at any summer party. Drink it within the year though.
Rose wine recommendations to follow in next post...
Early indications are that the 2006 vintage in Bordeaux is going to be distinctly average.
2005 is shaping up to be one of the best this century, so there is bound to be certain disappointment with the 2006 vintage.
Prices are likely to be significantly lower than the 2005 to reflect the quality and investors should probably stay clear of this vintage. But as always, there will be some chateaux that will produce better than the rest and these could be a real steal!
