Top 10 Easter wines in the UK press

This week the UK’s wine writers have focused on wines to enjoy with food over Easter, from fish on Good Friday to roasts and chocolate on Easter Sunday.

Olly Smith in the Mail on Sunday looks at the tricky aspects of wines that will work with chocolate on Easter Sunday.

He wrote: “Milk chocolate and Madeira is well worth experimenting with; if in doubt, just make sure you go for a sweeter style like Malmsey or Bual.”

He added: “You could even try a chilled sparkling red with your Easter eggs, such as Brown Brothers Cienna Rosso from Australia, available in a case of six for £57 from Tecso. But for me, dark chocolate offers the best opportunities for wine pairing.

“Thanks to its lower level of sweetness, you can combine it successfully with a red. For maximum dark-chocolate delight, some swear by Zinfandel from California, and others by Carménère from Chile. I prefer Amarone from Italy.”

In The Independent Terry Kirby recommends a wine that is “exceptionally good with roast leg of lamb or rib of beef for Easter”. It is a wine which, according to Kirby, displays “top-quality modern Spanish wine-making.”

Find out which wines these and other wine writers have recommended over the last week.

Tesco Finest Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc 2011

David Williams, writing in The Observer, picks out this wine, which comes down to £4.50 at Tesco as part of its Easter promotion of 25% off if you buy six bottles or more.

Williams wrote: “That is very good value for a wine I’d be happy to drink full price with the Good Friday fish, made from a variety native to the Languedoc but which feels like an emigré from the north – a kind of Muscadet on the Med – with its lemon-citrus tang.”

Graci Etna Rosso 2010

As for something to eat with “the traditional roast lamb this Sunday” Williams recommends this “captivating red made from the local nerello mascalese on the slopes of Mount Etna”. He added: “It would work all the better if you do the lamb, Middle Eastern style, with apricots, cumin and coriander, since there’s an exotic note of spice and flowers here with a red-fruited, Pinot Noir-like elegance and silkiness.”

Lagunilla Casa del Comendador Rioja Reserva 2007

In The Guardian, Fiona Beckett also picks out a wine to go with an Easter Sunday roast. Beckett picked a “a ridiculously good mature Rioja”, which is on offer at Majestic for £6.99 when you buy two or more. She added that it “will keep the relatives more than happy with a roast leg of lamb for Easter.”

Duiker White 2012

For those who go for something other than roast lamb on Sunday, Beckett recommends this white “from the talented Adi Badenhorst. She wrote that this is “a smooth, peachy blend of Chenin, Chardonnay and Grenache that would be great with an Easter chicken or salmon.”

Taste the Difference 12 Year Old Sweet Pedro Ximénez

This is one of Olly Smith’s picks to enjoy with chocolate over the Easter weekend. He wrote in the Mail on Sunday, that this Sainsbury’s PX is “luscious, dark, sweet and inviting. Like a world of figs and dates compressed into a single mouthful. This is a wild and wonderful wine to sip lightly chilled alongside a chocolate treat, or poured over vanilla ice cream for sheer decadence.”

Smith also picks out the “Seriously Plummy Grande Réserve Maury from Waitrose”, which he says is “made from Grancahe, this intense wine pairs well with chocolate thanks to its red-fruit sweetness. If you’re a fan of Port, this has similar appeal.”

2011 La Liebre y la Tortuga, Albariño, Rías Baixas

For those eating fish this Good Friday Matthew Jukes, writing in the Daily Mail, picks out this wine, which he says “will romance any fish dish you can think of”.

He added: “This Hare and the Tortoise wine certainly has a cute label but I am enraptured by the palate, too. With perfect, creamy, rhubarb and grapefruit notes this is my favourite Spanish white in aeons.”

Minarete Ribera del Duero 2011

Victoria Moore, in the Daily Telegraph, picks out this wine, which is £5.49 at Aldi and she said this is “a really super red for the price.” But this is one for Easter Sunday as Moore adds: “If I have a niggle it’s that there’s a slight flatness to the oak but that will disappear if you drink it with food. Black pudding would work. Or very slow-cooked lamb lashed together with rosemary.”

Kanonkop Pinotage 2010

In the Sunday Telegraph, Susy Atkins warns that even if there is white wine in the recipe, “lamb doesn’t go with white wine, not ever”, adding “the rich flavour and quite fatty texture of lamb always demand a red.”

With that in mind Atkins recommends this South African wine, which she wrote is “a classic among Pinotages, the Kanonkop is rich with blueberry, plum and liquorice, and would be a huge treat with lamb this Easter.”

2010 Crozes-Hermitage, Albéric Bouvet, Gilles Robin

In The Times, Jane MacQuitty, recommends this wine as a “keeper”, writing that it is “Surprisingly good now, or put it away until 2018 for rich, spicy, gamey flavours to emerge.”

She added: “This beautiful Albéric Bouvet blend is a mix of early and late-maturing plots, creating a sizzling Syrah with some gorgeous, bold, violet, blackberry and bramble fruit, plus a peppery, perfumed finish.”

Senorio De Sotillo Ribera Del Duero 2006

This is the wine which Terry Kirby in The Independent said was “exceptionally good with roast leg of lamb or rib of beef for Easter Day.”

He added: “Absolutely top-quality modern Spanish wine-making is on display in this stunning and very satisfying red made from Tempranillo grapes harvested high in the Ribera del Duero, then aged in oak for 15 months. Rich, dark and silky, this is brimming with brambly fruit flavours, underpinned with vanilla, woodsmoke and tar.”