Round & About Magazine’s resident wine columnist, Giles Luckett, recommends the best wines for spring dining.
Spring is here. Well, it is if, like me, you recognise meteorological spring rather than the wobbly, can’t make up its mind, astronomical spring.
The new season calls for new wines, and here is a collection of wines that will put a spring in your step and bring a smile to your lips.
Mandrarossa Grillo – Sicily
Sicilian wines have soared in my estimation lately, in no small part thanks to the wines from Mandrarossa. Everything I’ve tasted has been superb, and all offer exceptional value for money. Take the Mandrarossa Grillo (Vinum £12.75).
This straw gold beauty boasts an inviting nose of warm peaches, pears, and grapefruit. Surprisingly rich, orchard fruits and citrus mingle alongside notes of basil and almond. Serve this with everything from new season asparagus to mussels.
Limited Release Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon – New Zealand
When it comes to New Zealand Sauvignon, Marlborough tends to get the acclaim. Cloudy Bay’s 1985 launch put Marlborough on the map. Not literally, of course. I found a map online dating from 1971, and it was there then. Its northern neighbour, Hawke’s Bay, is less well known, but I’ve always found the wines more interesting and better value. Take the Limited Release Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon (Laithwaites £19.99).
Offering the usual gooseberries, rhubarb, and green pepper intensity you’d expect, there’s a cool, grassiness to the mid-palate and a dusty minerality to the finish that put me in mind of a Loire Valley Sauvignon. If you’re looking for concentration without aggression, then this is the Sauvignon for you.
Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Cotes de Gascogne – France
France’s Cotes de Gascogne (head to Bordeaux and keep going south, you can’t miss it) has always been a source of crisp, eminently quaffable whites. My latest encounter suggests something more interesting is being made.
The Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Cotes de Gascogne (£7.50) blends Colombard with Sauvignon to great effect. On the nose, there are citrus fruits, gooseberries and a sweet tone of peaches. The palate offers more of the same, with freshness countered by texture and ripeness. At 10.5%, this is the ideal lunch wine and would be lovely with white fish, poultry or a peppery salad.
Cune Barrel Fermented Rioja Blanco – Spain
If you’re looking for something soft and round, then head to Waitrose and get a case of the Cune Barrel Fermented Rioja Blanco (£9 down from £12). I’ve lost count of how many vintages I’ve had of this wine. OK, I haven’t, it’s 33.
I was introduced to this cracking wine at Harrods, and it’s been a staple ever since. Always cheerful, it consistently delivers barrel loads of fragrant, peach, honeydew melon fruit alongside almonds, vanilla, and creamy yeast. Great as an aperitif, lovely with fish, just the thing for poultry, and at home with baked cheese, it’s a wine for all occasions.
Bottega Gold Prosecco – Italy
Prosecco continues to be the fizz of choice for many wine lovers. While the vast majority remains cheap and cheerful, there are an increasing number of serious wines that are worth the extra money. Take the Bottega Gold (Majestic £22, £20 on a mixed 6). While the presentation is as understated as Trump Tower, the wine is a class act.
Produced from grapes grown in Valdobbiadene, the finest source, it balances exuberance with restraint. A rush of spiced pear and melon fruit on the nose is followed by a ripe, softly textured palate of orchard fruits, white blossoms, lemon zest and spice. Crucially, it’s clean and crisp on the finish, so avoiding the cloying end I often encounter with prosecco.
Planeta Chardonnay – Sicily
My second Scillian wine (spoiler alert, there are three) is the Planeta Chardonnay (Perfect Cellar £34.16). Planeta is a brilliant producer who built their name with wines such as the Cometa (Perfect Cellar £34.16), which is made from the local Fiano grape.
Tasting the Planeta, it’s clear that international varieties thrive here too. Golden, it has intoxicating aromas of guava, apricot, honey, and tart Sicilian lemons. Rich and voluptuous, the buttery, tropical fruit flavours are tempered by almonds, wood-smoke, and orange zest. This mighty mouthful is just the thing for roast pork, monkfish, or rocket and goats’ cheese salad.
Graffigna AR Malbec – Argentina
And so, to the reds. Malbec rarely fails to please, and last week I tasted one that gives a fresh perspective to this rightly popular grape. Unlike so many Malbecs, the Graffigna Ar (Morrisons £8.50) makes the grape the star.
Minimal oak ageing (20% for three months, in case you were wondering) and a relatively cool, short fermentation have left this with a juicy, fresh character while still offering complexity. Blueberries and blackcurrants lead the charge, with raspberries and strawberries bringing up the rear. On the finish, there are grippy, chalky tannins and a touch of black fig.
Mandrarossa Timperosse – Sicily
Back in Sicily, we find the Mandrarossa Timperosse (Vinum £17). You rarely see Petit Verdot as a varietal wine; it’s more commonly used in a supporting role in Bordeaux blends. Either Mandrarossa have done something clever, I wouldn’t rule that out, or it’s time for Petit Verdot to take the lead as this is hugely impressive.
With the very deep colour you’d expect from PV and a sweet and savoury bouquet of mulberries, prunes, rosemary, coffee, and olives, it makes a fine first impression. Rich, velvety, and with a rounded, polished tannins, the tension between sweet and savoury continues in the mouth, making for a diverting, complex glassful. I had this on its own and with cured meats and Italian cheeses, and it was delicious on both occasions.
Journey’s End Griffin Syrah – South Africa
I’ll finish with a couple of fine New World wines. First, the Journey’s End Griffin Syrah (Ocado £27.25). New World Syrah’s can be huge and ferocious. Journey’s End have tamed the beast and created a beauty of wine that’s powerful, yet approachable and refined.
Inky purple with a tell-tale bouquet of blackberry and black pepper, this full-bodied wine is rounded, plump and generous. Blackberries, plums, and prunes are held in check by raspberry acidity, coffee and a hint of liquorice. Just the thing for spring lamb.
Orin Swift Papillon – Napa Valley
And to finish on a high, if you’re in the mood for a full-throttle, no-holds-barred bottle of bonkers brilliance, try the Orin Swift Papillon (Perfect Cellar £71.96). While this is a Bordeaux blend, it has about as much to do with claret as Aston Martin does mobility scooters. Inky purple, aromas of cassis, toast, mulberry, anise and chocolate don’t so much rise from the glass as fight their way out. Mouth-filling doesn’t come close to describing this wine.
A mass of black and red fruits, peppers, pepper, chocolate, cherry, and cedar coat the mouth; the mind-boggling concoction kept from becoming jammy and heavy by the rapier-like acidity and bold, powerful structure. Hugely impressive now, this will continue to develop over the coming decade.
