South Africa

Seven Springs Syrah 2013, Overberg, South Africa (~£15 contact North South Wines) Ripe and juicy, with an almost savoury, cooked tomato character alongside more conventional blackberry, blackcurrant and plum, showing some leathery maturity, but still has a backbone of spicy tannin. S- The Restless Wine Merchant Shiraz 2016, Wrattonbully, Australia […]

Two Southern Hemisphere Shirazes

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This is the Spring Into Summer Case from Tesco Wine By The Case which I’ve been sent to review. It’s £54 for one of each of the bottles, the estimated bottle prices below are those where the wines aren’t available individually. Valtier Utiel-Requeña Reserva 2009, Spain (~£9 Tesco) Some mature […]

Tesco’s Spring Into Summer red collection

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Guigal Gigondas 2011, Rhône, France (£24.26 Chordale Wine Merchants, Bubbles And Wine Ltd, Roberts and Speight Ltd, Portland Wine Company, Fenwick Ltd, R Campbell & Sons Ltd, Clifton Cellars, Hailsham Cellars, Liquorice) Dumb initially, this opens up over the course of a couple of hours to reveal its core of […]

Assorted reds from France, South Africa & Portugal

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Oenomancy Red Blend 2014, Paarl, South Africa (£12.99 Laithwaites) Warm and ripe with a dusty plummy character and a touch of chocolate wafer biscuit. There’s also a slight edge of volatility when you smell it, but while this blends in with the fruit flesh, the tannins are just a touch […]

Shiraz from South Africa and Australia

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Penfolds Bin 8 Cabernet Shiraz 2013, South Australia (£19.99 Waitrose) Was looking forward to this, but it started off showing a slightly overripe sweetness, like jammie dodger biscuits. A little more time and a more serious earthy liquorice edge emerged, although the jammy side remained. The following day, it was […]

Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia, Chile, South Africa & Spain

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