Round & About Magazine’s resident wine columnist Giles Luckett recommends some fabulous festive fizz that will make your Christmas sparkle
With the holiday season now a cork’s throw away, I thought I’d share some recommendations for festive fizz that won’t break the bank. Champagne prices have risen sharply over the past few years. This has been partly a hangover from the pandemic, partly as a succession of great vintages has pushed up demand. As I said in my recent article on The Best Champagnes of The Year, many champagnes are seriously expensive, but great sparkling wine can still be affordable.
Once upon a time, sparkling wine was something best avoided. In my early trade days, it was often sold under that chilling euphemism, ‘party wine’. It was usually cheap, made from grapes as (ig)noble as Mauzac or Treabbiano using a tank and a giant bicycle pump and had all the joy of a wake. It took non-French winemakers, notably in Spain and the New World, to show that sparkling wine could be serious and great value for money. Today, the wine world is awash with cracking sparkling wines offering beauty on a budget and here are my recommendations for sparkling wines that will be the life and soul of the party.
First up, a Prosecco, the Terra Organica (Sainsbury’s £12). This is one of the best Prosecco I’ve had in a long time I’m mid-way down the second glass it’s become cloying and insipid. The Terra Organica avoids this, I suspect, through cool fermentation and by giving it time on its lees (yeast and other elements left over after fermentation), it certainly has a savoury, creamy edge to the pear and peach fruit. Great on its own, this has the intensity and weight to partner with salty appetisers or smoked fish.
Next, a Cava. I had to drink, sorry, think, long and hard about this one as there are so many excellent Cava’s out there. The Cune Cava (Majestic £10 on a mixed 6), the Roger Goulart Brut Reserva (N.D. John £15.95), and the Contevedo Cava Brut (Aldi £5.79) are all great wines. But the one that’s consistently stood out for me this year is the Vilarnau Brut Reserva Organic Cava (Ocado £11). Vilarnau takes Cava incredibly seriously, using organically framed grapes from their own vineyards to produce a dazzling wine that’s fruit-driven and characterful. The nose is a joyous mix of flowers, red and white berries, yeasty, and blackberries. In the mouth, it’s full, and creamy, and offers layers of white and yellow fruits interspersed with red berries, and a clean, lively finish. Enjoy this lightly chilled with olives, blinis, and other savoury party foods.
English sparling wine has been the toast of the trade of late, and while some have got the eye-poppingly pricey – the Nyetimber 1086 Rosé Prestige Cuvée will set you back £175, about the same as a bottle of Dom Perignon – many remain well priced. Take the Tesco English Sparkling Wine (£18.50 with a Clubcard). Made at the award-winning Balfour winery in Kent from a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, it offers tangy green and red berry fruits, crisp green apple and pear tones and a lovely creamy yeastiness to the finish. A class act, a glass or two of this would be a fine way to toast the big day.
New Zealand has proved to be a whizz with fizz. This isn’t much of a surprise given the splendour of its still Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines and the talented winemaking team at Villa Maria have built on their successes with these noble vines to produce the Villa Maria Sparkling Cuvee Brut (Sainsbury’s £14). This is a wine that’s easy to love. Everything about it, from its soft blossom and pear nose to its plump, textured body of peach, grape and honeydew melon, is easy drinking but complex and satisfying. It’s also one of those wines that makes you wonder if sparkling wine bottles are smaller, for no sooner have you opened it than it’s empty.
Riesling is arguably the greatest grape variety in the world. Few (if any) grapes can produce wines of such majesty in such an array of styles, from bone-dry stunners such as the Hugel Classic Riesling (Majestic £22.99) to luscious, sweet wines that can age for decades such as the Dr. Loosen Beerenauslese (Noble Green Wines £19.90). It can also produce exceptional sparkling wines as the Von Buhl Riesling Brut 2019 (Laithwaites £22 or £17.99 when you buy any 12) proves. This is a curious wine, that seems to meld two distinct styles. On the one hand, it’s a fresh, concentrated Riesling, green apples, nectarines, minerals and flowers, while on the other, it has an apricot, dried pear and honey richness from the extended bottle ageing. An intoxicating combination, like all good Rieslings this is a wine for the mind and the mouth.
Want to add a touch of bling to the season? Then pop open a bottle of the Bottega ‘Gold’ Prosecco (Majestic £19). There’s more to this wine than meets the eye, which is saying something. Produced at an estate that can trace its roots back to the 17th century, it’s made from grapes grown in Valdobbiadene – the finest Prosecco-producing area – with an attention to quality and detail that’s more commonly associated with champagne. The bouquet offers aromas of orchard fruits, citrus, pears and salty-creamy yeast tone. The palate is richer and weightier than most Prosecco’s and the fruit flavours go beyond the usual pears and nectarines to lemon and lime, raspberry and rhubarb. Impressive, this is a wine to enjoy chilled as an aperitif or with cold white meats.
I couldn’t write a fizz column and not mention the winery that provides our house fizz, but rather than recommend the Graham Beck Vintner’s Selection (Tesco £13.50), I’m going for something else from their improbably impressive range, the Graham Beck Rosé Brut NV (Waitrose £16.99). The main difference between the white and the rosé Beck, aside from the gorgeous pink colour, is that the rosé has just a bit more red berry fruit and is a touch riper. Now your eyes will deceive you when it comes to tasting wine and seeing a rosé wine the brain will leap to a load of conclusions as to what it thinks you should taste and these will show up on the palate. Practice, and a little blind tasting, can help you see what’s there and not what you think should be there. I’ve tasted these two against each other blind and there’s more raspberry and strawberry fruit to the rosé and a little less of the exotic coconut and Asian herbs you find in the white. A great wine that’s a steal at this price, I can see us needing a bigger recycling bin by New Year.
Next time out, Christmas wines.
Cheers!
Giles
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