October's Recommendations
Sparkling
Langham Wine Estate Classic Cuvée Brut 2014- 92pts
Dorchester, Dorset, England, Sparkling White (Cork), 12.5% abv
Pairs nicely with: Drink as an aperitif, or, indulgently, with fish and chips.
The quite lovely malty and floral aromas of this blend of the classic Champagne varieties (50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinots Noir and Meunier) from Dorchester lead to a rich, mouthfilling mousse that wraps its flavoursome bubbles around the tongue in a crisp, lemony embrace that leaves the palate beautifully refreshed.
£15.95 (£23.95 case of 6)available from Lea & Sandeman
Veuve Monsigny Blanc de Blancs 2011- 92pts
Champagne, France, Sparkling White (Cork), 12.5% abv
Pairs nicely with: Caviar, canapés and smoked salmon.
A staggeringly good vintage Champagne from 2011 and for under £20……this is elegant with subtle yeasty notes on the nose and a suggestion of shortbread on the palate. The finish is persistent and extremely enjoyable. Great value, this is certainly on my shopping list!
£19.99 from Aldi
Veuve Monsigny Rosé NV- 90pts
Champagne, France, Sparkling White (Cork), 12.5% abv
Pairs nicely with: Chinese food.
I’m not usually a huge fan of rosé champagne as I often find that you are paying a great deal more money for a wine that isn’t actually any more interesting than the Brut NV from the same range. Here however you have a very elegant wine that displays classic autolytic notes on the nose and palate but with a lovely pale pink colour to boot and lots of attractive red berry fruits. Highly recommended.
£16.99 from Aldi
Dry White
Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc 2016 - 92pts
Marlborough, New Zealand, Dry White
100% Sauvignon Blanc
Pairs nicely with: goats cheese tartin, roasted veggies, light white fish, seafood and salads.
This fantastic organically farmed Sauvignon is produced by Sancerre’s Henri Bourgeois and is a spectacularly layered and complex wine with notes of gooseberry, grapefruit, pepper and passion fruit. Poised and precise, this is long and lovely.
£24.49 available from Les Caves de Pyrenes
Felton Road Dry Riesling 2017 - 90pts
Central Otago, New Zealand, Dry White
100% Riesling.
Pairs nicely with: Delicious with Asian food such as a pad thai with prawns.
From Felton Road in Central Otago, this biodynamic Riesling is racy, pure, focused and tangy with notes of lemon peel, grapefruit and lime pith. There is great minerality on the palate too along with a zippy, zesty acidity and a just noticeable 6g/l residual sugar on the finish.
£27.00 available from The New Zealand Cellar
Artisan Tasmanian Chardonnay 2016 - 92pts
Tasmania, Australia, Dry White
100% Chardonnay
Pairs nicely with: Roasted chicken, monkfish or lobster.
Beguiling notes of butterscotch, toffee and spice with a rounded, succulent palate well-balanced by lemon peel acidity and a hint of cashew. Very good.
£16.99 available from Aldi
Clos des Cazaux Vacqueyras Blanc Vieilles Vignes [Magnum] 2016 - 93 pts
Rhône, France, Dry white
Roussanne, Grenache Blanc & Clairette
Pairs nicely with: Fish pie, chicken tagine or pumpkin and sage pasta.
Just WOW! This is a stunning wine with an intriguing aroma of herbs and spice and an apricot kernel palate. Gently musky with tarragon and lemon, this is long, balanced and really delicious.
£43.00 available from The Wine Society
Domaine Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Aligoté 2016 - 90 pts
Burgundy, France, Dry white
100% Aligoté
Pairs nicely with: Pan-fried scallops, crab linguine or oven baked salmon.
With a fragrant, lightly spicy nose and an intriguing almost tropical fruit palate with notes of apricot, this is a nicely textured wine with appealing ripeness and personality.
£14.50 available from The Wine Society
Albourne Cellar Selection 2017 - 88 pts
Sussex, England, Dry white
Chardonnay and Ortega
Pairs nicely with: Fish ceviche, oysters, seafood and light white fish.
A really taut, tight, focused wine with orchard fruit flavours and crisp lemon sherbet acidity both offset by a well-managed use of oak. Great to see that England can make fantastic still AND sparkling wines. Very good.
£14.95 available from The Wine Society
Maison Chanzy Rully Blanc en Rosey 2015 - 90 pts
Côte Chalonnaise, Burgundy, France, Dry white
100% Chardonnay
Pairs nicely with: White fish and chicken.
A hint of the lees on the nose suggests that this white Burgundy has spent time on its yeast lees before bottling and indeed the creamy texture of the Chardonnay and extra fruit weight confirms the initial impression, while a lemony twist on the finish brings added freshness and balance.
£17.99 (£15.99 mix six) available from Majestic
Value choice of the Month
Frankland Estate Riesling 2016 - 90 pts
Frankland River, Western Australia, Australia
100% Riesling, Dry white
Pairs nicely with: Crab, prawns, scallops.
Frankland River is Australia’s ‘third way’ after Eden and Clare Valleys when it comes to Riesling and this example is quite delicious; full of fresh limes in aroma with a juicy succulence of texture and a tongue-tingling crisp acidity that adds a dry, almost mineral, dimension to the fruit quality. It’s a WIGIG (when it’s gone it’s gone, so don’t mess about).
£15.99 (£13.99 mix six) available from Majestic
Domaine Vincent Delaporte Sancerre Silex 2017 - 92 pts
Loire Valley, France
100% Sauvignon Blanc, Dry white
Pairs nicely with: Sea bass, quenelles.
Whether or not you’re a fan of Sauvignon Blanc is almost irrelevant here, because this delightfully fresh, herb-infused dry white from Delaporte is not only creamy textured and restrained but reflects its Sancerre terroir with an intense, minerally dryness that overrides the subtly exotic fruit characters.
£24.95 available from Lea & Sandeman
Rémi Jobard Meursault Narvaux 2013 - 94 pts
Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France
100% Chardonnay, Dry white
Pairs nicely with: Firm white fish or chicken.
No-one ever said that Meursault 1er Cru was cheap, and this brilliant white Burgundy from Rémi Jobard is no exception, a beautifully pristine Chardonnay whose lightly smoky aromas lead to a glassful of super-intense and yet somehow restrained flavours streaked with a leesy, smoky, nuttiness of oak and a fine, incisive blade of fresh acidity. A real treat.
£42.84 available from Lea & Sandeman
Rémi Niero Condrieu Les Ravines 2016 - 92 pts
Condrieu, Northern Rhône, France
100% Viognier, Dry white
Pairs nicely with:
If you want to know what Viognier tastes like in its heartland of Condrieu, this is a good place to start; glorious honeysuckle, floral top-notes over richly textured stone fruit in a dry white that’s all about delicacy and restraint, yet somehow managing to fill the mouth with flavour thanks to its finely balanced, refreshing fruit quality.
£39.95 (£35.95 case of 6) available from Lea & Sandeman
Rosé
Domaine Maby Cuvée Prima Donna Rosé 2017 - 92 pts
Tavel, France, Dry Rosé
100% Grenache
Pairs nicely with: Ratatouille, Indian and Mediterranean food.
A rosé with this much colour, fruit and personality can certainly be enjoyed all year around and not just during the summer! This is full of fruit; ripe red strawberries, plums and damsons. A very food-friendly, attractive style with lots of juicy acidity too to refresh the palate. Delicious.
£11.50 available from The Wine Society
Dry Red
Artisan Tasmanian Pinot Noir 2016 - 91pts
Tasmania, Australia, Dry Red
100% Pinot Noir
Pairs nicely with: Duck, grouse or game.
There is a really attractive purity to the red fruit flavours of raspberry and damsons with warming spice notes wrapped around it. This is elegant, classy, pure, fragrant and long. Excellent.
£16.99 available from Aldi
Value choice of the Month
Lot Series Minervois La Livinière 2016 - 89 pts
Languedoc, France, Dry Red
60% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 10% Carignan
Pairs nicely with: Roast beef
A blend of 60% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 10% Carignan this wine has a very attractive, lifted, fragrant nose with notes of garrigue, spice, pepper and dark black fruits. A fabulous autumn and winter warmer with a liquorice finish and plenty of fruit but also pleasingly soft tannins.
£8.99 available from Aldi
Bodegas Lan Lan D-12 2015 - 91 pts
Rioja, Spain, Dry Red
Tempranillo
Pairs nicely with: Roast lamb, tagines, paella.
This is very moreish and seductive with lots of black fruit, bramble, vanilla and spice, due to the 12 months spent in both French and American oak, which is charming and doesn’t at all mask that glorious fruit. Yummy. Please note this wine isn’t available until 5th November.
£16.00 available from The Wine Society
Château Haut de la Bécade 2010 - 91 pts
Bordeaux, France
Dry Red, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc
Pairs nicely with: Roast lamb infused with rosemary and garlic.
This classic Bordeaux blend from the great 2010 vintage (arguably the last great Bordeaux vintage) is a claret very much in the modern vein, with super-charged new cedary oak and vanilla in abundance and a maturing richness of cassis and cherry fruit that’s etched with an appetising freshness on the finish.
£27 mix six available from Majestic
Majestic Parcel Series Chile Red Blend 2010 - 92 pts
Cachapoal Valley, Chile
Dry Red: Cabernet Cauvignon, Carmenère, Syrah, Cabernet franc and Merlot
Pairs nicely with: Rack of lamb, thyme roast chicken, venison sausages.
A bit of a wow wine, this Parcel Series Bordeaux-esque blend sourced by Majestic from Chile’s Vik Winery, it’s chock-full of intensely flavoured ripe blackcurrant fruit with a stylish veneer of vanilla oak and plenty of juicy acidity supporting fruit and oak for excellent balance. This is another WIGIG, so stock up, because the festive season is around the corner.
£19.99 (£14.99 mix six) available from Majestic
Domaine de la Mordorée Cuvée de la Reine des Bois - Lirac Rouge 2015 - 92 pts
Lirac, Southern Rhône, France
Dry Red: Grenache, Syrah
Pairs nicely with: Heartwarming gamey dishes such as haunch of venison.
Forget Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for one moment at least, and focus on this super-sweetly aromatic and spicy Southern Rhône blend, whose succulent spiced plum and damson fruit is underpinned by a structure of robust tannins and firm acid spine, and so, excellent as a Christmas magnum, but worth squirreling away another magnum or two for a cold and rainy day.
£54.25 (£48.95 case of 6) available from Lea & Sandeman
Zuccardi Poligonos Paraje Altamira Malbec 2016 - 91 pts
Uco Valley, Argentina
Dry Red: 100% Malbec
Pairs nicely with: Autumn game such as roast grouse and crisps and roast partridge with lentils.
Altamira is pretty high up in the Andes and the cool climate element shines through in this beautifully proportioned, Argentinian Malbec, whose succulent dark fruit quality with its underlying herbal infusion, albeit still youthfully vigorous, is mouthwateringly savoury on the finish.
£19.99 (£17.99 mix six) available from Majestic