Spring Awakening at Waitrose
To our chagrin, the Waitrose tasting seems to have permanently decamped from its long-term Swiss Cottage premises, but at least without the facilities of the Waitrose kitchen there, there were fewer gannets present at the Spring tasting in Glaziers Hall, other than those visible on London Bridge. With only 106 wines it was smaller tasting than usual , compensated for by those into non-wine drinks by a host of beers, ciders, spirits, RTDs, soft drinks and NoLos. Overall, a good tasting and here we pick a selection of 30 wines we’d recommend.
White
Waitrose Loved & Found Gelber Muskateller 2023 Niederösterreich, £8.99.
This medium-bodied, dry Austrian white has the typical floral and muscat-like fragrance of the yellow muscat grape, and, with a refreshing spritz on the tongue, it follows through with aromatic, lychee-like notes, finishing mouthwateringly dry, which makes it a delightful summer sipper.
12% abv. 89 / 100
Screw cap. Available in over 200 shops.
Wolfberger Pinot Blanc 2020 Alsace, £11.49
Pinot blanc in the wrong hands can be on the bland side, but not this medium-bodied dry white from Alsace, whose pale golden hue announces a wine that’s ripe and peachy and almost closer to white Burgundy that your average pinot blanc; and with its opulent peachy fruit bisected by a cleansing limey acidity, it gives plenty of satisfying bang for buck at just over a tenner.
12.5% abv. 89 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 100 shops.
Laurent Miquel Vendanges Nocturnes Viognier 2023 Languedoc-Roussillon, £9.99
Laurent Miquel has form with viognier, good form, that is. Typically fresh and floral in aroma, its exotic ripe fragrance follows through appetisingly when you taste the wine with a typically ripe, peachy flavour and juicy balancing freshness on the finish, which is satisfyingly dry.
13% abv. 88 / 100
Screw cap. Available in over 200 shops.
Piccozza Pinot Bianco 2023 Alto Adige, £12.99
Pinot blanc, or in this case Italy’s version, pinot bianco, seems to be gaining traction in the Waitrose range and it’s not hard to see why; here it has an aromatic Alpine freshness that follows though in its stone fruit taste profile, aided and abetted by the extra creamy richness endowed by spending time on the lees in tank before bottling, resulting in a thoroughly satisfying and refreshing dry white.
13.5%. 89 / 100
Diam. Available in over 200 shops.
Waitrose Loved & Found Cerceal 2023 Dão, £8.99
Pale gold in colour, this dry white made from Portugal’s cerceal grape variety on the slopes of the Bussaco mountains is still on the young side, but I think that there’s enough stone fruit concentration and underlying nuttiness to make it a really appetisingly citrusy dry white, especially if you give it a few months in bottle for that fruit to fatten up a bit.
12.5%. 88 / 100
Natural cork. Available in over 200 shops.
Benufet Organic Garnatxa Blanca 2023 Catalonia, £16.99
This organic Catalonian garnatxa (grenache) was one of my favourite dry whites of the tasting because, although it’s still almost too young, it shows a lot of character, first in its delightful aromatics and then above all when you taste that intense peach and balance richness of fruit, whose textured opulence is underpinned by a cleansing, almost bracing, tensile tight acidity.
13% abv. 90 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 100 shops.
CVNE Bodegas La Val Gran Anada Albariño 2019 Galicia, £29.99
A far cry from the fresh, young common or garden Albariño we know and love, this Galician white is a different animal altogether, and in fact not one that you’d probably even recognise as albariño if you were to taste it blind. Assertively mature with apricot-like aromatics and vanilla oaky aromas, it’s richly concentrated in apricot-like fruit, a distinctive, gastronomic white that’s not for everyone but I suspect will appeal to wine lovers looking for something distinctively different.
12.5% abv. 91 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 100 shops.
A.A. Badenhorst The Curator White Blend 2023 Coastal Region, £9.99.
If you only buy one white wine from the Waitrose tasting, I would recommend that it be this delicious dry white blend of 56% chenin blanc, 22% chardonnay, 19% viognier and 2% colombard from the winemaking force of nature that is Adi Badenhorst in South Africa’s Swartland region; he cleverly blends these varieties grown mostly as bush vines to produce a wine with a youthful spritz on the tongue and plenty of stone fruit flavoured richness underpinned by a juicy textural quality.
13% abv. 89 / 100
Screw cap. Available in over 200 shops.
Corryton Burge Winemaker's Reserve Chardonnay 2023 South Australia, £11.99
Still in its first flush of youth, this is a well-crafted chardonnay whose rich peaches and cream textured fruit is relatively restrained in the mode of an opulent white Burgundy and yet with enough fresh pineappley acidity to make it juicy and refreshingly dry.
12.5% abv. 89 / 100
Screw cap. Available in over 200 shops.
Seifried Gewürztraminer 2023 Nelson, £13.99
Gewürztraminer can have a tendency to be on the heavy and sweet side, so making a good one is always a delicate balancing act, and the Seifrieds, Chris and Heidi, have achieved it here thanks to blending in 8% grüner veltliner and 6.5% würzer; resulting in a wine with the grape’s typical rose petal fragrance and lovely exotic flavours of lychee an ginger spice and yet all refreshingly well-balanced and dry on the finish.
12.5% abv. 89 / 100
Screw cap. Available in up to 100 shops.
Guntrum Hipping Riesling Großes Gewächs 2017 Rheinhessen, Germany, £34.99
100% Riesling from Guntrum's Red Hill or 'Roter Hang' vineyards in Nierstein. The vines are more than 40 years old, planted on steep slopes overlooking the Rhine river at up to 50° gradient. The grapes were hand harvested and underwent a temperature-controlled stainless steel fermentation. Winemaker Dirk Roth.
ABV 13%, TA 8.5, RS 4.9, bottle weight 415g, exclusive, vegetarian, vegan, screw cap. Available in Waitrose Cellar only.
Guntrum Hipping Riesling Großes Gewächs 2017 Rheinhessen, Germany, £34.99
Großes Gewächs is the apex of the quality pyramid for dry German Riesling, grand cru in France, and this pure Riesling justifies that status; piercingly fresh lime-like aromas are the forerunner to an elegantly balanced dry white whose lemon and lime flavours are underpinned by a form spine of acidity, ensuring freshness now, and a continuation of that balance for a good five years to come.
13% abv. 92 / 100
Screw cap. Available in Waitrose Cellar only.
Rosé
Waitrose Loved & Found Aglianico Rosato Organic IGP Puliga, £8.99
A pale salmon pink that could almost be Provençal, this Puglian rosé made from the southern Italian aglianico grape is fresh and bright and full of the berry-fruit joys of summer, above all finishing with a refreshing dry flourish, making it an ideal al fresco sipper or a match for salads of the Caesar or Niçoise kind.
12.5% abv. 87 / 100
Natural cork. Available in over 200 shops.
Red
Lentsch Zweigelt 2021 Burgenland, £9.99
Although it has nearly three years of age, this Austrian red from Burgenland is vivid in colour and bright in its primary cherry fruit flavour, with a textural softness that makes it exceedingly juicy and fresh and perfect for summer drinking. ABV 13%. 88 / 100
Screw cap. Available in up to 200 shops.
Régnié Cuvée Tim Domaine Pardon 2023 Burgundy, £14.99.
A vivid ruby in colour, this youthful Beaujolais made by Eric Pardon in the cru of Regnié is still primary in its juicy cred cherry fruit flavour and remarkably fresh, and while it would grace a plate of pasta nicely, it could do with another 6 months to a year’s ageing to really shine. Nothing to apologise for, Eric.
13.5% abv. 89 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 100 shops.
Ventoux Rémy Ferbras 2022 Rhône, £9.99.
This southern Rhône blend of 70% grenache, 20% syrah and 10% mourvèdre from the increasingly impressive appellation of Ventoux shows plenty of red fruit aromatics and bright and juicy cherry fruit whose youthfully sinewy grip makes it the perfect foil for a late spring, early summer barbecue.
14.5% abv. 88 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 200 shops.
L'Empreinte Rouge Lirac 2022 Rhône, £13.99
A southern Rhône blend in which grenache is the dominant partner at 60% with 35% syrah and 5% mourvèdre, this is a powerfully and serious red packed with opulent cherry-juicy fruit and while it still has an adolescent muscularity to it, it’s just about approachable now given suitably robust food, but will improve for another year and longer in bottle.
14.5% abv. 89 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 200 shops.
Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir 2021 Central Otago, £29.99
A personal favourite of mine, bought regularly, especially in bulk when the Waitrose 25% discount on 6 bottles kicks in, I just love this delightfully fragrant and succulently textured pinot noir whose veneer of light smoky oak sits over one of the most delicious red berry fruited pinot noir with its finely balanced freshness you’re likely to drink at this price.
14% abv. 90 /100
Screw cap. Available in over 200 shops.
Kanonkop Kadette Pinotage 2021 Stellenbosch, £13.99
Under the experienced hand of winemaker Abrie Bieslaar, Kanonkop are the Cape’s pinotage specialists par excellence, so if you’re going to go anywhere for your pinotage, there’s no better starting point than this fragrant example from the Cape, a red that shows the sometimes maligned grape variety in the most positive light, with the berry fruit of pinot noir and the Rhônish character of the cinsault grape (it’s a crossing of the two varieties), underpinned by a light grip of tannin and refreshing acidity.
14% abv. 89 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 100 shops.
Edmundo Malbec 2022 Mendoza, £11.99.
Sourced from both the classic Agrelo and higher Andean Uco Valley, this Malbec blend is a typical example of what Argentina does well, plenty of bright, black cherry fruit flavour with a texture nicely rounded out by oak and maintaining all the while a lively Andes mountain freshness. Another red that’s going to grace many a barbecue this summer.
13.5% abv. 88 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 200 shops.
Banfi Centine Toscana Rosso 2020 Tuscany, Italy, £12.99
This international-style Tuscan blend from Banfi marries Tuscany’s sangiovese with Bordeaux’ cabernet sauvignon and merlot in a successful blend combining sangiovese ‘s aromatic, cherry and savoury qualities with the darker berry fruit of the cabernet and merlot in a well-crafted, good value rosso.
13.5%. 89 / 100
Natural cork. Available in Waitrose Cellar only.
Vilafonté Seriously Old Dirt 2020 Paarl, South Africa £24.99
If you like Bordeaux, you’re sure to appreciate this Bordeaux-style blend of 85% cabernet sauvignon, 8% merlot, 4% malbec and 2% cabernet franc from the high-achieveing Vilafonté in the Western Cape. The aromatic finesse of back fruit and light vanilla oak is complemented by plenty of opulent cherry and blackcurrant fruit, moulded, like a mini-Pauillac, into a convincing red of some class.
13.5%. 90 / 100
Diam. Available in Waitrose Cellar only.
Champagne and Sparkling
Waitrose Loved & Found Ribolla Gialla Spumante NV Friuli, Italy, £8.99
A medium-bodied dry north Italian sparkling wine, this Charmat-made fizz produced mainly from the local (to Friuli) ribolla gialla, with a fruit salad of other varieties, is fresh and fragrant with a lively sparkle in the glass and plenty of peachy fruit flavour cut by a zesty lick of citrus for an appetising dry finish. An excellent counterweight to Prosecco for those who prefer their Italian fizz dry.
11% abv. 88 / 100
Agglomerated cork. Available in over 200 shops
Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV Champagne, France, £39.99
If you’re a co-operative that just happens to be based in one of Champagne’s best grands crus for chardonnay, it would be criminal if you weren’t able to make brilliant chardonnay-based fizz; and that’s what Le Mesnil has done here, crafted a champagne aged on the lees for five years after bottling, whose richly toasty aromas and equally rich fruit envelop the tongue with a deeply satisfying mousse before dissolving on a mouthwatering dry finish.
12.5% abv. 92 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 200 shops.
Laurent-Perrier Millésime 2015 Brut Champagne, France, £64.99
Aged for eight years on the lees, this blend of 50% chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs and 50% pinot noir from the Montagne de Reims and a generous 2015 vintage draws you with its brioche aromas on a nutty background before seducing you with its richly concentrated stone fruit flavours buoyed by a fine billowing mousse of expansively textured bubbles that head straight for the sweet spot on your tongue before dissolving in a mouthwateringly citrus crisp finish.
12% abv. 94 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 200 shops.
Chapel Down Rosé Brut NV Kent, England, £29.99
Chapel Down have been transformed since the arrival a few years back of the local Kent winemaker Josh Donaghay-Spire and this delightful sparkling rosé is an example of precisely why; onion skin pink, the aromas of this Kent blend of 48% chardonnay, 42% pinot noir, 5% meunier and 5% pinot blanc combine in a wine of fresh berries whose raspberries and cream taste is enhanced by a lively mousse and an appetisingly dry finish. 12% abv.
90 / 100
Natural cork. Available in over 200 shops.
Ridgeview Fitzrovia Rosé NV Sussex, England, £38.99
The sparkling Kent rosé is good but may even be surpassed by its Sussex counterpart from Ridgeview in Susses, where a copper-hued blend of 68% chardonnay, 17% pinot noir and 15% meunier sends out aromatic red berry signals before the wine’s flavours of raspberry and strawberry are carried on a magic textured carpet of bubbles before gradually dissipating in a mouthwateringly tangy dry finish.
12% abv. 91 / 100
Natural cork. Available in up to 100 shops.
Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Grande Cuvée No.26 NV Champagne, France, £180
The source for the chardonnay for Grande Cuvée No.26 is the grand cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs of Le Mesnil, Oger, Avize and Cramant, while the core of the pinot noir comes from Ambonnay, Bouzy, Verzy in the Montagne de Reims and Tours sur Marne in the Vallée de la Marne. A blend of 58% chardonnay and 42% pinot noir, this prestige cuvée blend, representing just 2.5% of Laurent Perrier’s production, is made up of the three vintages of 2012 (65%), 2008 (25%) and 2007 (10%). Intensely aromatic with initial brightness and depth it is followed by an exceptional purity of fruit in a delicate mousse underlined by trenchant lemon and lime acidity and an almost saline dryness, bringing elegance, freshness and length to a long finish, and signalling excellent ageing potential for any collector wishing to lay down a few bottles for future drinking or investment.
12% abv. 96 / 100
Natural cork. Available in Waitrose Cellar only.
Bersano Monteolivo Moscato d'Asti 2023 Piedmont, Italy, £9.99
At only 5.5% alcohol, this Italian fizz is very much on trend and in tune with the nolo (no / low alcohol) zeitgeist even if moscato d’asti pre-dates the trend because it’s an authentic, traditional , semi-sweet, sparkling style in its own right; its delightfully fresh and fragrant semi-sweet grapey fruit retains its freshness thanks to a sherbet-lemon-like kick of acidity to keep it nicely balanced.
5.5% abv. 89 / 100
Screw cap. Available in Waitrose Cellar only.
Sweet and Fortified
Feiler-Artinger On the QT Ruster Ausbruch 2021 Burgenland, Austria 37.5cl, £25.99
If £25.99 sounds like quite a lot of dosh for a half-bottle, that’s not to say it’s not worth every penny because it is; a pure pinot gris grown biodynamically in Australia’s Rust district of Burgenland, it has gorgeous orange and spicy aromas and a magnificent crystallised orange richness underpinned by such incisively zesty acidity than even though the wine is intensely sweet, it’s also beautifully balanced and fresh.
13% abv. 94 / 100
Diam. Available in Waitrose Cellar only.
Cocchi Vermouth di Torino NV Piedmont, Italy 50cl, £20
This amber gold fortified Vermouth may not be to everyone’s taste, but if you’re a Negroni or Vermouth lover, I suspect that you will adore it for its amber gold colour, its herb salad aromas of botanicals, oranges and spices and its rich, bittersweet juicy flavours of oranges, dried fruit and spices. You can drink it on its own but it comes into its own in cocktails.
16% abv. 90 / 100
Cork stopper. Available in over 200 shops.
