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Top 10 wines in the UK press
2012 Château Beaumont, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux
Will Lyons of the Sunday Times takes up the challenge of offering some excellent Bordeaux wines at excellent value this week.
“Silky and always consistent”, this wine from Château Beaumont “is a wine to collect, year after year”, he writes.
£15.45, winedirect.co.uk
2009 Château Cantemerle, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux
“For under £25, you are getting an absolutely sensational wine” with this from Château Cantermerle, Lyons writes.
“Packed with those hallmark flavours of the Médoc: dark fruit, wood and spice. A must-buy.”
£23, Fine + Rare
2000 Cambon La Pelouse, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux
“A great year — you would be wise to snap this one up”, Lyons continues. “It’s rich and ripe, with attractive complexity.”
£22.46, bordeauxindex.com
Pizarras de Otero Mencía, Bierzo, Spain 2014
The Observer‘s David Williams is up next with a couple of top Spanish drops, beginning with this wine from Bierzo chosen as a perfect accompaniment to José Pizarro’s tomato soup recipe in the paper.
“Made by the reliable Martín Códax co-operative in Bierzo, it uses the local Mencía, a grape variety that always delivers a burst of cherryish acidity and freshness and which is in particularly exuberant aromatic form here”, he writes.
£7.99, Majestic
Muga Rioja Rosado, Spain 2014
“Once best known for reds that derived much of their soft, mellow character from long ageing in oak barrels (notably in Rioja), Spain has become increasingly adept at juicy youthful styles”, Williams continues.
“But the wine I think offers the best balance with the [John Dory] as well as the accompaniments is in fact a Rioja: the punchy but cranberry-fresh rosé from fine old producer, Muga.”
£9.99, Waitrose; Majestic
2014 Taste the Difference Albariño, Spain
The Times wine critic Jane MacQuitty is up next with another Spanish wine, this time under an own-brand label.
The Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Albariño is a “delicious, light, lively, floral, spiced apricot-licked, fish and aperitif white, made from 15-year-old albariño vines in cool, damp Galicia”, she writes.
Sainsbury’s, £7 (down from £8) until March 15
2014 Taste the Difference Salta Cabernet Sauvignon, Argentina
Next is a “Cooler, creamy, curranty, savoury, French and American oak-aged Cabernet, from top dog Catena and some of the world’s highest vineyards”, MacQuitty writes.
Sainsbury’s, £7 (down from £8) until March 15
2014 Casillero del Diablo, Reserva Privada Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo, Chile
Matthew Jukes, wine writer for the Daily Mail, heaps praise on this wine, which is “the big brother to my eternally beloved Casillero del Diablo Cabernet.”
He continues: “The Reserva Privada wine ups the intensity, power and impact and it is worth every penny for this amount of class.”
£9.98, reduced to £8.00 until 21 April, Asda Wine Shop online
2014 Yalumba, Old Bush Vine Grenache, South Australia
“You have to hand it to Yalumba for sticking to its guns and promoting Grenache when the while world has seemingly turned to Shiraz”, Jukes continues.
“Three cheers for this silky, cranberry and plum-scented wine with its haunting flavours – Churchill’s Lamb stew is your port of call.”
£12.00, Morrisons
Foncalieu Griset Sauvignon Gris 2014, Pays d’Oc
And finally, Jamie Goode, wine writer for the Express on Sunday, gives a nod to this “lively and intense, this is made from a pink-skinned variant of Sauvignon Blanc called Sauvignon Gris.
“The result is a pale pink colour along with delicious flavours of tangerines, passion fruit and citrus. It’s sort of between a white wine and a rosé.”
£7.95, slurp.co.uk 12.5% alcohol