To select the 250-odd current best buys for wine lovers in this collection of four articles, I must have tasted literally thousands of wines for I find that on average I taste between 20 and 40 wines for every one that I feel sufficiently enthusiastic about to recommend. I have bent over backwards to nose out the best small importers as well as working my way through what is on offer on the high street and in the supermarkets.
These are my suggested wines for this season of celebration, targeted particularly but not exclusively at British wine enthusiasts, divided in to those to be drunk without food, smart dry whites, sweet wines (all colours and strengths), and a particularly vast array of superior reds. (I shall devote a subsequent article to cheaper wines, both red and white, for big parties.) Wines are listed in ascending order of price and where I know about special discounts I have included them.
Champagne, the traditional and often most luxurious aperitif, is a popular subject for retailers’ special offers announced between now and Christmas so it is worth looking out for any further reductions, although bear in mind that those with the code RM on the label are made by individual growers and are often better value than those from the big producers with the code NM. CM denotes a champagne from a co-operative while MA stands for marque d’acheteur or buyer’s own label. The general quality of champagne is pretty good at present but my favourite buys appear below.
I have also included in this first section some especially appetising still wines that are suitable for serving without food, usually because they are either low in alcohol or high in refreshing acidity, and some particularly fine dry fortified wines. There is no other time of year more suitable for opening up bottles of sherry, port, madeira, sauternes – well, anything really.
For even more fine wine recommendations see the tasting notes in my purple pages. For multiple retailers’ special offers, especially those that may well emerge between now and Christmas, see www.quaffersoffers.co.uk . See the key to abbreviations below.
FIZZ
Adnams Selection NV Fizz Rosé
Adnams £6.99
It’s been years since I tasted anything labelled simply Vin Mousseux but this tank-fizzed southern French blend of Grenache and Carignan and Syrah is really very respectable for the price. It’s big and characterful, and I suspect best drunk in the next month or two, but it could be just the thing for a large, mixed gathering.
Gotas de Plata Rosada Brut NV La Mancha
Adnams £6.99
What is it about Adnams and £6.99 pink fizz? This one lacks the kosher labelling of the French example but it is made by the traditional method, has quite a bit of development on the nose and is quite dry enough. Forgive the pathetic attempt at a Dom P label.
Graham Beck Rosé 2003 South Africa
£9.29 Wine Buy the Case, £11.50 Comus Fine Wines, £11.99 Easy Wine,
Very pale, soft and comforting, like a cashmere cardi.
Montlouis Pétillant Naturel Non Dosé NV Dom de la Taille aux Loups
£10 Justerini & Brooks
Justerinis are not famous for bargains but this gently sparkling completely dry fizz from the Loire is surely one. Full of honeyed fruit yet with a bone dry finish, it would be absolutely perfect for entertaining those visitors who drop in at odd times of day. Wonderfully pure expression of Chenin Blanc.
Green Point Brut NV Australia
£11.99/8.99 Majestic, £10.46 Cockburns of Leith, £10.99 Thos Peatling of Bury St Edmunds
Very fresh with some evidence of ageing on the lees. Still very slightly astringent but very brisk and competent. Great value if you buy at least two bottles. The 2001, £12.99 at Waitrose, is slightly more complex.
CHAMPAGNE
Robert Desbrosse NV
£13.25 www.firstgrowthdirect.com
Fresh, brisk, direct grower’s champagne from Congy.
Duval Leroy, Fleur de Champagne Premier Cru NV
£13.99 Waitrose Most Stores
Neutral, unobjectionable, slightly lightweight wine that usually costs £20.99.
Albert Etienne NV
£13.99 Morrisons
Not at all special but Lanson seem to have put together a decent enough blend for this own-label (now yellow, I see – I wonder whether Veuve Clicquot have?).
Pierre Moncuit Blanc de Blancs, Cuvée Hugues de Coulmont NV
£14.95 SVS
Bone dry, all-Chardonnay palate-scrub for purists.
Dubois Caron NV
Thresher/Wine Rack £14.99/9.99
Do not dream of buying this at the higher price but it is awfully good value at the lower one – from the estimable Chanoine and drier than the identically priced Jean de Praisac NV from the ubiquitous P & C Heidsieck.
St Gall Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru NV
£14.99 M&S
Reduced from its regular price of £19.99 for the rest of the year, this is densely flavour and impressively persistent – from the Union Champagne co-op, which provides so many British supermarkets with great-value blends.
Forget-Brimont Premier Cru NV
£15.50 J&B
Excellent alternative to the big names – direct, youthful, zesty but friendly.
Vauversin Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs NV
£15.95 Wine Discoveries
Seriously good value. Dry, toasty, relatively full bodied.
Xavier Champagne NV
£17.50 Big Red Wine Company
Made on the home farm of one of the Dom Pérignon team and very lively grower’s champagne with a good, arresting label.
Larmandier-Bernier Premier Cru Tradition NV
£17.95 Vine Trail
Based on 2002 and 2001 with lots of personality. Very fine and compact.
Egly-Ouriet, Les Vignes de Vrigny NV
£19.95 Lea & Sandeman
Characterful all-Meunier, single vineyard grower’s champagne with good bottle age.
Pierre Gimonnet Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru NV
£19.99 Oddb
Look out for any special offers on this very fine grower’s all-Chardonnay champagne. A great aperitif.
Pol Roger NV
About £23 and widely stocked. £19.99 Oddb until 25 nov
Another very dependable wine without too high a price tag.
Billecart Salmon NV
£22.95 L&S, £23.99 Uncorked, London EC2
My favourite wine in a recent blind tasting of 18 of the most famous names. Complex.
Charles Heidsieck Mis en Cave 2001
£24.99 Waitrose
This continuously over-performing champagne also did brilliantly in this tasting. Rewarding.
Chanoine Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 1978
£29.99 larger Tescos
Very superior wine – even if already fully evolved. Look out for any special reduction.
Laurent Perrier 1996
£31.99/23.99 Maj
Buy two bottles and this becomes interesting. Wonderfully pure, good complexity on the nose but still lots of potential. No hurry to drink this but the excellent 1996s are disappearing off the shelves.
Pol Roger 1998
£36.99/31.99 Maj
Much more open than the 1996 Pol was at this stage.
Dom Pérignon 1998
£72.85 Nickolls & Perks of Stourbridge and elsewhere
This wine is superlative, but usually costs a bomb. Keep visiting www.winesearcher.com for comparative prices.
Krug 1990
£93.77 Nickolls & Perks
Believe it or not, this is an excellent price for this savoury, meaty wine in the peak of condition.
STILL WINES
Dry Riesling 2004 Bürklin-Wolf, Pfalz
£7.30 Jeroboams
Powerful, full-bodied, dry, pure and long. Great value.
Dragonstone Riesling 2004 Josef Leitz
£7.59 Oddb
The most superior Lucozade you could imagine. Off dry. From the magician of the cliffside vineyards above Rüdesheim in the Rheingau. Thoroughly modern Riesling.
Leasingham Magnus Riesling 2003 Clare Valley
£7.99/5.33 Thresh/WR
Now this is serious wine – very fine-boned and dry and could be drunk and enjoyed with or without food any time over the next three or for years, which is rare at this price.
Chablis 2004 Alain Geoffroy
£9.99 Oddb
Every retailer and his dog offers Chablis and usually a range of them but this is one of the most classic I have tasted recently for current drinking. Very delicate and pure.
Erdner Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2004 Loosen
£9.99 M&S
Wonderfully cool and zesty. No hurry to drink this whatsoever but with its mere 7.5 per cent alcohol it, like the wine below, would make a lovely drink for very early evening visitors.
Urziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2004 Loosen
£10.99 Waitrose
Beautifully light and vibrant.
OTHERS
Tesco Finest Oloroso Sherry
£5.06 Tesco
A silly price for this super-appetite-whetting dry, tangy wine from Sanchez Romate that smells like treacle toffee. A cheapskate version of the 30 year-old version below.
Waitrose Solera Jerezana Dry Amontillado Sherry
£6.99 Waitrose
Great stuff – real ballast and middle but an appetisingly dry finish.
Valdespino Solera 1842 Oloroso VOS Sherry
£11.99 Waitrose
Buy a bottle of history – average age more than 20 years – at a silly price. Very tangy.
Fortnum’s Oloroso VORS 30 year old Sherry, Bodegas Tradicion
£18.50 37.5cl F&M
Heady, dry, unctuous wine with lots of character, wood-aged rancio character and very refreshing acidity – completely unlike most sherries. From a fascinating new operation dependent on very old soleras.
How to find the wines
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all retailers mentioned here, merely those for whom an abbreviation was useful. Most retailers offer discounts on bigger orders; many sell online; some of the smaller ones sell a minimum of 12 assorted bottles. For details of more stockists, in the UK and internationally, see www.winesearcher.com
BBR – Berry Bros & Rudd
BRW – Big Red Wine Company, Barton Mills, Suffolk
F&M – Fortnum & Mason, London
HN – Harvey Nichols, London
IFR – Irma Fingal Rock, Monmouth
J&B – Justerini & Brooks, London SW1 and Edinburgh
L&S – Lea & Sandeman around London
M&S – Marks & Spencer
Maj – Majestic (second price denotes a multiple bottle purchase)
Oddb – Oddbins
Sains – Sainsbury’s
SVS – Stone, Vine & Sun, Twyford SO21 1QA
Thresh – Thresher (second per bottle price applies if three bottles are bought)
WotT – Wine of the Times, London
WR – Wine Rack (second per bottle price applies if three bottles are bought)
CdP – Châteauneuf-du-Pape
CDRV – Côtes-du-Rhône Villages
Ch – Château
Dom – Domaine
NV – non vintage
VDP – Vin de Pays
VOSR – very old sherry