ONLINE TASTING - A Taste of Southern France

The greatest wine-producing country in the world? Many other places now offer excellent wines, but France is still hard to beat both for quality and diversity. Yes, the top wines may now command prices that put them out of most people's reach, but there's still brilliant value to be found elsewhere. So for our first online tasting of summer, we’re going to try a couple of wines from the sunny south of France – if we can’t go there on holiday this year, at least we’ll be able to enjoy the local Vin! The white comes from vineyards very close to the Mediterranean. Shellfish fans will probably come across Picpoul de Pinet before, but this zingy fresh wine that often seems to have something of a bracing sea breeze running through it is also delicious with many other foods – think of what you’d eat with a Sauvignon Blanc, and you won’t be too far off the mark. The red comes from the southern Rhône valley, home of Châteauneuf du Pape. No, we won’t be sampling Châteauneuf but we will be trying wine that does a very good impersonation of it at a fraction of the price. I would recommend buying in advance:

• 1 bottle of Picpoul de Pinet - most supermarkets stock one for ~£8, and Majestic also has a decent version
• 1 bottle of good Southern Rhône red costing ~£10-£12 – names to look for include Lirac (at Marks & Spencer), Cairanne (Morrisons, Waitrose) and Vinsobres (The Co-op, Sainsbury’s). If you can’t find these, look for Côtes du Rhône Villages, but steer away from the cheaper bottles.

You might also want to stock up on good bread, pâté and cheese (goat’s cheese for the Picpoul should go down well), after which you’ll be all set for a splendid evening. One ticket will entitle everyone in your household to attend this tasting – make sure you have enough wine to go around!