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Welcome to last week's round-up of tips from the UK's top newspaper wine columnists. Each Monday you'll find a complete digest of what's been tipped in the previous week. |
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Why not print this page off as your shopping list? week beginning 20/08/2007
2006 Chileno Sauvignon Blanc, Sains £4.79; Morr, Co-op £4.99 lively, lemony, steely, citrussy fruit 2006 Chileno Merlot-Shiraz, Chile, Morrisons, £4.99.juicy, unoaked red bursts with plump, plummy, creosote-spiked fruit 2005 Château du Grand Moulas, Tanners £7.60spicy, peppery, violet-scented red enthrals 2004 Château Haut Bergeron Sauternes, Asda, £9.98 halfdelicious, fat, full, waxy, buttercup gold sticky 2006 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Asda, £5.62.all mouthwatering bold, grassy, green pepper fruit 2006 Dolcetto d’Alba, Renato Fenocchio, Tanners, £8.20.superb, ripe, velvety, plum and summer red fruits-laden red
Sainsbury’s Muscat de Saint-Jean de Minervois, £3.99, 37.5cl Very sweet, but zingy, apricoty and gingery. A bargain 2004 Maury, Mas Amiel, £9.50, 37.5cl Lea & SandemanOpulent, spiced-raspberry-flavoured red. Great with chocolate Banyuls Reserva, Domaine La Tour Vieille, £13.95, 75cl Yapp BrosDried fruit, coffee and toffee richness
2006 Casillero del Diablo Carmenère, £4.49, Sainsbury's soft Chilean red displays a raspberryish character Lalla Gully Pinot Gris, Tasmania, £9.99, Oddbinsspritz fresh and intense Alsace-like pinot gris 1998 CUNE Imperial Gran Reserva, £20 - 25, Majes, Tann, Spain DirA grand reserve worthy of the title; ultra-stylish red
2006 Cono Sur Vision Riesling, (Majestic 2 @ £6.39) taut, limey, super fresh 2005 Riesling d'Alsace, Cave de Ribeauvillé (£9.60, Bibendum)a touch of petrol and juicy, appley fruit; organic 2004 Clos Guirouilh Jurançon (£7.99, Avery's)intense, sappy, grapefruity 2006 Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Pouilly-Fumé (£8.99)peppery, complex, award-winning
2005 Shelmerdine Cabernet Sauvignon (£10.99; Oddbins) pure, vibrant blackberry and mulberry fruit; fine-grained tannins 2005 Shaw & Smith Unoaked Chardonnay (£9.95 Wimbl; Stain; Villenev)clean, crisp, pure; more than a match for Chablis twice the price 2001 Mount Langi Ghiran 'Cliff Edge' Shiraz (2 @ £6.99 Majestic)wonderfully deep, concentrated, intense spicy red 2005 Skuttlebutt Merlot/Shiraz Rosé (£7.49 Peckham; Mills)fresh, ripe, juicy strawberries; elusive whiffs of rose petals
This week Tesco added to its shelves 370 gleaming new wines, increasing the total number in its range by 300 to around 1,100. This constitutes something of an event in supermarket wine terms, not least because, judging by the calibre of some of the producers, a large number of them are decent - so anyone who buys their wine along with their food at Tesco can look forward to a greater choice of better wines. So what's behind the revamp? Tesco has also noticed that "some customers are not buying wine from us - they're going to a wine merchant or one of our competitors" and decided it had better buck up its ideas. After all, there is money to be made: at the time of writing, the monthly figure for the average spend on a bottle of wine (including the pricier sparklers) at Tesco was £4.24. "This range is designed to put on an additional 25p a bottle," Godley says. It is certainly more alluring, though personally I'd prefer it if Tesco simply persuaded people to increase the amount they spend on wine (we should all spend more on wine) as opposed to siphoning customers in from elsewhere. Among those bottles that promise to raise the tone are a typically cobweb-light prosecco from the excellent Bisol, packaged under a Tesco Finest label; a merlot from Casa Lapostolle in Chile, famed for the stuff; several wines from the solidly good Chilean outfit Cono Sur; and the four I've picked. latest roundup |
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