A very carefully selected wine tasted by us that either punches above its weight or is particularly worthy of recommendation.
Spain is undoubtedly the home of great tasting, tongue pleasing red wines and this tempranillo is no exception. Packed full of bramble fruits with a lick of custard and crumble vanilla it’s as delicious as it is great value. Tuck in now and enjoy a bottle immediately!
Based in the Thracian Valley but with Piedmontese ownership and winemaking expertise, Edouardo Miroglio makes lifetime converts of anyone willing to take a chance on Eastern European wines. This merlot is a big fat cuddle of a wine: ultra-mellow and velvety with smoky black cherry and ripe plum fruit that's so lush and smooth it almost demands the warm, dulcet tones of Nat King Cole.
A firm favourite with Swiggers and with top critics such as Jancis Robinson and Matthew Jukes, this Cape Bordeaux blend might just be the greatest creation since sliced bread. Or at least since the Turkey Feast sandwich. Without doubt one of the best-value South African wines on the market too. The bright, pure fruit has a compelling chocolatey, earthy richness to it. Candied orange dipped in dark chocolate, a hint of menthol and a lovely warm earthiness - think sunbaked earth and terracota pots with juicy autumn blackberries. It would work splendidly with a classic rosemary-studded shoulder of lamb.
The Colline Teramano region of Abruzzo produces rich, juicy Montepulciano reds. Some are good, some are, well bad – overoaked and rustic to the point of moo-ing. When we visited the region last year we found Paolo di Strasser’s range a class above most of the wine in the region – there’s a fresh and vibrant more-ishness to this unoaked montepulciano that earned Paolo a big star next to his name in our tasting booklet. Comfortable in its shoes as a lovely midweek partner of pasta and grilled vegetables, meats and every day food.
I wouldn't bat an eyelid if you told me this was a Barolo or Barbaresco at over £20. Gentle fragrant rose, quite pale in colour, a hint of strawberry, fired brick and earth flavours. The best producers are those that handle the grapes gently, which in turn expresses the magic of the terroir and shows Nebbiolo at its almost Pinot Noir - like best. The colour is quite pale, like many Barolo and Barbaresco. The aroma is wonderful with brick, earth, stone, cherry, verging towards a Pinot Noir style, with hints of rose and strawberry but distinctly Italian, nice fresh fruit, floral with fine spices and good grip on the finish, but supple. This is not a big wine, but it's an excellent wine.
To find a classy Bordeaux that has hints of all the things we like – sweet berries, cedar and spicy oak, with good body and concentration - at this price is rare. As rare as a sighting of a sleigh-riding Santa in the sky. Though not quite so sibiliant. Note that this super-grand Grande Vin comes from the excellent 2015 vintage, which in this case has helped to propel a comparatively modest claret into the realm of Cru Classé. Drink with: rosbif!
Did you know that the collective noun for a group of parrots is a ‘pandemonium of parrots’? Worthy of inclusion as a Christmas cracker factlet, that one. Enjoy your own pandemonium of parrots by investing a case or two of Adi Badenhorst’s Papegaai (Afrikaans for ‘parrot’) Cinsault. The 2017 red uses the same high-quality fruit from selected old Swartland bushvines as the first vintage, but this one has a slightly deeper fruit profile thanks to a small proportion of Tinta Barocca - that Portuguese interloper on to the South African wine scene which the likes of Adi, Eben Sadie and Marelise Niemann use to such impressive effect. Joyous juice with more than a hint of Swartland swagger.
Most Malbec at this price tastes constructed. Do you know what I mean? When you go to a restaurant and there’s a choice of wines above the house wine that are usually Merlot, Montepulciano, Pinot Noir, Rioja, Malbec, varying from £22 to £32, but they all taste more or less the same, that makes you wish you’d stuck with your aperol spritz.
"This young, sonorous red has true fruits-of-the-forest notes on both the nose and palate and even though it is a slim, slinky-hipped red it still packed a punch of flavour that many red Burgundies can only dream of. I am often disappointed by fighting-priced Pinot Noir, but this wine is a splendid discovery." MatthewJukes.com (Money Week)
I've always loved 'Cedro'. But this is a new level. It's made only from Tuscan varieties. You get a lovely aroma of Sangiovese - cherries and ripe fruits, warmth, some herbs and earth. It's wonderful to have this much typicity, but also generosity, without it being in new oak or being overworked. It's such a pleasure when you raise a glass of wine to your nose and it fills you with good aromas and a sense of joy. It really does. I'm very impressed. Bravo!
Beautiful Tuscan red - a blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Smoother than Roger Moore in a smoking jacket. A blend of the 14 vintage with a couple of top barrels from the cellar of 2017 and 2018.
Nicola Ferrari possibly warrants sainthood for his transcendentally delicious Valpols, Ripassos and Amarones. Elegant, perfumed, with silky strawberry and cherry liqueur fruit and savoury, earthy notes, and a hint of that magical aroma of fine Amarone, this is a wine for your most luxurious dinner parties.
In this Barbera there is beauty and generosity. It lights up your palate in the way that Renato’s smile lights up a room. It's known by his importers around the world as the best value wine from his cellar and it's always the first to disappear. It can impress just as well as any Barolo.
Didn’t realise cinsault could be this good. There’s a richness and generosity to the cherry-blueberry pie fruit. A certain creaminess. Some carbonic here? Beautiful floral notes – like a pot pourri or a big bouquet of blue, purple and red flowers. Mallow, a hint of tarragon… A silky, supple palate but with firm tannins at the end. Generous yet ethereal, quaffable yet serious. More than anything else: very, very enjoyable to drink. Maintains interest to the last drop.
'The 2016 Family Red Blend is a blend of 71% Shiraz, 13% Grenache, 11% Cinsault and 5% Tinta Barocca. It has a very pure bouquet, quite floral and intense, with dark cherries, black plum, warm gravel and light truffle scents, the 80% whole bunch completely disguised. The palate is medium-bodied with quite grippy tannin. There is good backbone here, quite dense but well defined with a chalky, slight austere finish, partly because Adi now undertakes more aging in concrete. Give this a couple of years in bottle.' Neal Martin, vinous.com
Smoky with earthy minerality and red cherry and plum on the nose, also throwing out hints of fresh raspberries and even floral notes of rose and violet. Great acidity with a tannic structure and a lingering finish.
The 2016 is really sensational, the nose is amazing, with beautiful dark fruits, some black olives, a touch of herbs and a touch of fine wood. It has a beautiful juice feel and chewy texture and old world flavours. I love this wine. It tastes so real. I could sip it for ever. It also keeps for several days once opened so you can keep coming back to it, which is a sign of a very good wine.
"This is a world class Pinot that oozes quality and will age beautifully although it is a damn good wine now." - Roger Jones, Decanter
A wine with a more than unique history and story. The small village of Tesselaarsdal in the Overberg, 24km North East of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley is named for East India Company settler Johannes Tesselar. On his death in 1810, he bestowed the land to his freed slaves and owner/winemaker Berene herself is a descendant on one of those very slaves. If you look closely at the label, you can make out 2 people walking across the mountain. This is Berene and her Grandmother.
Our Monte Santoccio Amarone has always been a show-stopping wine, but this 2015 vintage has reached such a peak of achingly delicious, elegant, concentrated, complex gorgeousness that we can hardly find the words. And, for us, that’s a rare thing indeed. Perfect with strong cheeses.
Santa’s grotto is not located in Lapland, but rather in a rustic cellar in Montalcino. Here rest the wines of Lionel Cousin, a winemaker trained by the man regarded by many as the greatest winemaker of all time: the late Henri Jayer. Lionel continues to pursue Jayer’s legendary attention to detail in the vineyards. This is a sumptuous blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon that deserves to be decanted and slowly adored.
Concentrated, but not overly so, fresh and mineral, with taut compact fruit. The aromas are quite closed, but there is super tight blackcurrant, licorice, savoury wood and garrigue notes and a hint of pepper. The palate is firm but supple.
Italy's finest expression of Syrah. This is gorgeous, classy, old-school in some ways - so that if you like Bordeaux, Rhone and Burgundy, you would enjoy this, yet it expresses the joy of Sicily. The terroir is in Melilli, an extinct volcano - south of Etna - with limestone, marine fossils. Made by wine legend Peter Vinding-Diers.
Joint top of the 2014 Brunello tasting - Cupano Brunellow 2014 - review by Walter Speller, JancisRobinson.com Mid to deep ruby with orange tinges. Fragrant and alluring sweet-cherry nose with soft creamy top notes. Creamy soft fruit and chewy tannins. Plenty of oak, but perfectly integrated. Great length and already approachable. (WS) 14% Drink 2019-2025, 17