Tom Cannavan's wine-pages.com

The Hour - Scottish Television

by Tom Cannavan

Broadcast each weekday evening at 5:00pm across the Scottish Television network, The Hour is a news and magazine programme. I am the resident wine expert, in the studio or on location each Friday to taste a selection of wines with the show's hosts and guests. Scottish visitors can tune into the show, but everyone can catch up online via STV's catch-up service at programmes.stv.tv/the-hour/wine.

watch again online - part 2

Pinot Grigio and Gris

One of the hottest tickets of the moment in terms of white wine sales, particularly by the glass in pubs, restaurants and bars, Italy's Pinot Grigio can be sublime stuff, but all too often it is pretty bland and 'safe' rather than exciting. Here I present three Pinot Grigios/Gris from Romania, New Zealand and Alsace, to show the surprising diversity of styles that are possible with this grape variety.

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Merlot and more

Singer Lulu joins us in the studio to taste through a range of Merlot wines. Merlot can reach the highest heights of fine wine, but can also make quite bland reds that are inoffensive, but also rather unremarkable. So I have selected just one classic Merlot-dominated Bordeaux, but also a more unsual Merlot/Riesling blend and a wine made from Merlot's long-lost cousin, Carmenère.

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Riesling Rennaissance

Singer Michel McManus and Taggart star John Michie join me to taste through three rieslings, ranging in style from the bone-dry to the lusciously sweet. Many people still discount Riesling, based on recollections of cheap Liebfraumilch and Piesporter from the 1970s. Tom explains that this is a case of mistaken identity, and the tasting of these wines produces two instant converts to the Riesling cause.

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Pinot Noir

Best-selling author Fidelma Cook joins us on the show where she obviously enjoys tasting through three Pinot Noirs with us. The wines this week represent different styles of Pinot, and come from The Loire Valley, Burgundy and Victoria in Australia. We also discuss serving temperature for red wines and dispel the myth that 'room temperature' is always best for red wines.

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Rosé

Sales of rosé wine continue to soar, so with the warm summer weather making for perfect pink conditions, in this episode I explain how rosé is made and look at three examples, from an off-dry glugger in Marks & Spencer that's on offer at a £4.66, to a more expensive but beautiful, pale Provence example, to a cracking value sparkling wine from Australia that's the perfect summer garden party fizz.

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Chardonnay revival

Guest presenter Kaye Adams joins me in the studio. In the 1990s 'Chardy' became the nation's favourite tipple, as we lapped up those big, fruity, vanilla-licked examples from Australia. But Chardonnay's ubiquity inevitably led to a backlash and the formation of the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) club. I start the revival with two fine, inexpensive examples, plus an alternative suggestion.

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Syrah and Shiraz

This week's guest presenter, Real Radio breakfast DJ Cat Harvey, joins us for a look at Syrah and Shiraz. Wines under the spotlight are the Casillero Del Diablo Shiraz from Chile, a Vacqueyras from Domaine de la Garrique in the Rhône Valley that has the structure to age, and a Shiraz and Viognier blend from Yalumba in Australia in the mould of the Côte-Rôtie wines of the northern Rhône.

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Sauvignon Blanc

Guest presenter actress Dawn Steele joins us to taste through a selection of wines based around the Sauvignon Blanc grape. We kick off with a classic Loire Valley wine, before sampling an unsual barrel-fermented Sauvignon from Matahiwi Estate in Canterbury New Zealand. Finally, we sample a Verdejo wine from the cool uplands of Rueda in Spain that shares many Sauvignon characteristics.

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Restaurant wine lists

With wine lists often containing hundreds of wines ranging in price from a few pounds to a few hundred, and having to choose a wine to match with the food ordered, being responsible for choosing the wine from a restaurant list can be a daunting prospect. In this segment I offer a few words of advice on taking the stress out of ordering wine, and on the dreaded "would you like to try the wine" tasting ritual.

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Basic wine tasting 101

Absolutely not an attempt to turn the show's viewers into professional wine tasters, more an introduction to the basics of tasting wine, from the appropriate glassware to use to the elements of assessing a wine. The purpose is to stress that taking just a few seconds to think about each wine before you knock it back, can help build a much better understanding of your own wine tastes.

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Supermarket wines

The plain fact is that the vast majority of people only ever buy wine in one place, and that's their usual supermarket as part of the weekly shop. Whilst stressing that independent and online merchants can offer advice and interesting wines, this segment discusses supermarket pricing, the truth behind discounted wines, the cost of duty and tax on each bottle and how to buy wisely.

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Sparkling wine

In this pilot programme, I am joined by the show's main guest Christopher Biggins to taste through a small range of fascinating sparkling wines, starting with an upmarket Prosecco from Bisol, followed by an unusual sparkling Spanish red wine made from Monastrell by Scottish winemaker Pamela Geddes, and rounding off with the fine reserve Champagne from the house of Philliponnat.

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