Top 10 wines in the UK press

Les Closiers Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2013, France

“France’s Rhône valley produces some incredible red wines and fabulous whites”, according to Jamie Goode who picked out a selection of his favourites from the region writing in The Express this week.

Of this Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc he said: “Red Châteauneuf is justly famous for its full-bodied flavour, but the rarer white version can also be very good. Made from Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Roussanne and Bourboulenc grapes, this is packed with flavours of spice, minerals, pears and a hint of fennel.”

Price: £22, Marks & Spencer

Serabel Cairanne 2013, France

Another of Goode’s favourites was Serabel from Cairanne in southern Rhône.

He said: “Made from the Grenache grape, this lovely wine bursts with ripe cherry fruit as well as notes of pepper and spice. It’s supple, elegant and drinkable, and just what southern Rhône Grenache should be like.”

Price: £9.49, Waitrose

Cullerot Celler del Roure 2013, Spain

This “rich, fulsome and exotic” Spanish white was recommended by Terry Kirby, writing in The Independent.

He said: “A defiantly different Spanish white from near Valencia – a combination of the rare Verdil grape with sherry staple Pedro Ximénez plus Macabeo and Chardonnay, all aged in clay amphora. The result is rich, fulsome and exotic, with flavours of oranges and spices dominant. Drink with roast pork or baked fish.”

£12.99, dbmwines.co.uk

Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Shiraz 2012, Australia

Kirby also recommended this “benchmark Aussie Shiraz” made by one of the variety’s “best producers”.

He said: “This is really big and satisfying, packed with dark, dense blackcurrant and blackberry fruits, followed by a lengthy finish. Drink now with red meats or casseroles or put some aside for a few years to let flavours improve.”

Price: £9.99, Co-op stores; £11.99 (each for two bottles, as part of a purchase of six mixed bottles; normally £15.99), Majestic

2009 Taste the Difference Vinedos Barrihuelo Rioja Crianza, 
Spain

Brian Elliott, writing in The Scotsman, recommended this Sainsbury’s own-label Rioja Crianza.

He said: “This bright, intense Rioja has smooth plum and cherry fruit which is given depth by earthy beetroot touches and enlivened by vanilla and other spices. The 12-plus months a crianza spends in oak has mellowed and softened the tannins significantly.”

Price: £6, down from £8 until 18 November 
at Sainsbury’s

2013 Camille Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc, France

This Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux was another of Elliott’s favourites.

He said: “In the hullabaloo about Lidl’s “claret offensive” this smooth, soft white from the same region could be overlooked. It has appealing rounded tangerine fruit with a fresh, lime-based citrus edge and well-judged underpinning texture.”

£5.49 at Lidl

Pietradolce Etna Rosso 2013, Sicily, Italy

David Williams, writing in The Observer, picked out three Sicilian wines “which show the island’s range”, including this 2013 red which he described as a “captivating mix of red-fruited delicacy and earthy textures”.

He said: “Fine wine in modern Italy is a relatively new phenomenon. Of course plenty of wine has always been made in the peninsula. But, aside from a handful of exceptional producers, France was always miles ahead when it came to the truly thrilling stuff. In a recent article for the Wine Society’s magazine, the writer Nicolas Belfrage – an expert on the wines of Italy – dates the beginning of the country’s vinous renaissance to the 1970s. But Sicily’s current status as one of Europe’s most exciting wine regions is still more recent, a critical mass of quality-focused producers arriving only in the 1990s and 2000s. Pietradolce is most certainly among them, and this red from 2013 is a captivating mix of red-fruited delicacy and earthy textures.”

Price: £17.99, Armit Wines; Corks of Cotham

Valdibella Ariddu Grillo 2012, Camporeale, Sicily

Williams also recommended this “intense, exotically fruited, herb-streaked white” from the western Camporeale region of Sicily made using the Grillo grape.

He said: “Pietradolce’s is but one example of the wine style that has attracted most attention on Sicily: the local grape variety Nerello Mascalese from vineyards on Mount Etna. No surprises why – there’s something romantically perverse about a wine produced on the slopes of what is still an active volcano, especially when the pale but powerful results recall the haunting complexity of Burgundian Pinot Noir and Piemontese Nebbiolo. But while the complex Etna wines (both red and white) by Graci were a highlight of a recent tasting of Sicilians at smart retailer Berry Bros & Rudd, buyer David Berry Green’s selection proved that there is so much more to the island – this intense, exotically fruited, herb-streaked white from the western Camporeale region being particularly fine value.”

Price: £11.95, Berry Brothers & Rudd

Curatolo Marsala Superiore Dolce NV, Italy

This sweet Marsala from Italy’s Curatolo was highlighted by Williams as a “very credible alternative” to other premium producers such as de Bartoli.

He said: “Historically Grillo was the grape of Marsala, the island’s great neglected fortified wine, a style at which de Bartoli is also a modern master – as his dense, sweet but agile essence of citrus peel, figs and almonds, 1987 Marsala Superiore Riserva, shows. At £62 it certainly doesn’t come cheap, but Curatolo’s is a very credible alternative which, with its deep, dark dried fruit and nut sweetness tastes like – and is worth setting aside for – Christmas, if you can wait that long.”

Price: £11.99, Waitrose

2012 Passo Doble, Masi Tupangato, Mendoza, Argentina

Finally Hamish Anderson, writing for The Telegraph, recommended this Argentine Malbec produced by Italy’s Masi, “one of Valpolicella’s oldest producers.”

He said: “In Argentina it uses traditional Italian production methods. Here Malbec is soaked with the skins of dried Corvina grapes (imagine the Corvina acting like a tea bag) to produce a silky, elegant wine of black cherry, prune and coffee.”

Price: £11.95, AG Wines