Domaine du Tariquet ‘Les Dernières Grives’ IGP Côtes des Gascogne 2010, South West France (£13.95 The Wine Society for the 2009)
Manages to be voluptuous yet crisp, combining honeyed toffee apple and cooked apple richness with a more taut pine and herb freshness and pounce. Intense, but never too sweet, and beautifully balanced. S(+)
Las Moras Late Harvest Viognier 2009, San Juan, Argentina (£9.99 per 37.5cl Virgin Wines)
Gentle cooked apple, juicy, but almost underplays the exotic notes of Viognier in order to retain some citrussy freshness. The finish is a bit hard, but decent enough. B
Viña Ventisquero Queulat Carmenère Gran Reserva 2009, Maipo Valley, Chile (£10.40 slurp.co.uk)
Vibrant, ripe and fragrant, with hoisin and green coffee bean notes adding interest to the juicy berry fruit, broad-shouldered by still has some freshness and subtlety. S-
Viñalba Reserva Chardonnay 2012, Mendoza, Argentina (£10.99 Majestic)
Weighs in at 14.5% but it carries it well, with perky peach and plumper melon flavours pepped up by a slightly nutty note. Like a rounder Mâcon wine. B(-)
Panamera Chardonnay 2011, California (N/A in the UK)
Slightly stolid style, with not enough freshness to counterbalance the smoky oak and viscous pineapple chunk flavours – feels like last year’s wine. C-
Silva Family Wines Chardonnay/Semillon 2011, Colchagua, Chile (£7-8.95 Avery’s, Wine Rack)
Has an almost Sauvignon-like herby freshness, which sits very happily with the peachier, nuttier Chardonnay flesh. Easy to drink but a tad simple. C
White Rhino Chardonnay 2011, Western Cape, South Africa (£6.49 The Drink Shop)
Hardly any aroma beyond sulphur dioxide, clean and vaguely crisp, but unmemorable. 0
Fratelli Chardonnay 2011, Maharashtra, India (contact Hallgarten Druitt)
Simple, but honest and tasty, with a spicy/herby note to the fresh lemon and green apple flavours. C+
Errázuriz Aconcagua Costa Single Vineyard Syrah 2010, Chile (£19.99 Averys)
Full bodied style, quite aromatic with notes of sage-tinted sausage meat and lavender, but there’s that tell-tale reduced blackcurrant pastille feel, and the finish is rather dry and lacking charm. B
Mount Langi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz 2008, Grampians, Australia (£8.95 The Wine Society)
I like the slightly leathery plum and damson fruit, and the notes of mint and black pepper, but overall this is just a bit too rounded and fleshy. As above, honest and tasty, but needs some finesse. B+
(link to the Mount Langi website a bit iffy at the time of writing…)
The John Forrest Collection Syrah 2007, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (£21 Adnams)
Curate’s egg of a wine. I like the brooding dark fruit intensity and notes of black pepper, but there’s also a baked character that speaks of slightly raisinned fruit. However, the loudest flavour is smoky bacon-flavoured oak – do Bacon Fries still exist? – which even two days after opening still dominates the wine. B+
Nicolas Perrin Syrah Vin de France 2010 (£13.99 Wine Rack)
Vibrant, juicy oak-free Syrah, bouncy and fragrant, with a savoury edge to the smoky berry fruit, delicious and refreshing red wine. S(-)
Château d’Anglès La Clape Rouge Classique 2008, Languedoc, France (£11.99 Wine Rack)
On the mellow side, with the plummy berry fruit showing a slightly raisinny side, and with herby garrigue and brown sugar notes too. Good stew-friendly winter warmer, which still has some freshness. S-
The Comeback Kid Shiraz/Cabernet/Merlot 2008, McLaren Vale, Australia (£9.99 Virgin Wines)
Simple but satisfying style, slightly leathery with a savoury notes to its gentle dark plummy flavours, touches of chocolate, coffee and liquorice, and a generous, laidback finish. B(+)
The First Chapter Shiraz/Viognier by Nico Vermeulen 2010, Paarl, South Africa (£9.99 Virgin Wines)
Viognier adds a touch of peachy freshness here, but the rounded meaty berry flavours are marred by the ashy Cape edge smokiness. B-
The Big Mo’ Shiraz 2009, Barossa Valley, Australia (£12.99 Virgin Wines)
Has plenty of rich warm berry flavours pepped up with hints of mint and vanilla, quite a hearty style that starts off slightly bolshy, with a confected and creamy vanilla too much to the fore, but then gets more subtle and better behaved with time. S-
Panamera Cuvée Napa 2007, Napa Valley, California (N/A in the UK)
OK dark deep baked berry, but overdone smoky bacon oak, which lingers when the fruit has begun to fade, ripe but overblown and clumsy, with nothing in the way of freshness. C-
Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah 2009, Maipo, Chile (£9.99 Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, yourfavouritewines.com, tesco.com)
Powerful young wine, can’t fault its intensity, but is it too loud? Has some baked berry edges, but also fresh plum and blackcurrant notes, some toastiness and spice (and a touch of rubber) from oak, but it’s in balance with the fleshy but never overripe fruit. B+
Warwick Three Cape Ladies, Simonsberg 2008, Stellenbosch, South Africa (£13.99 Ann & Vin, Bon Coeur Fine Wines, Bottle and Basket, www.vintagemarque.com)
Blend of Cabernet, Syrah and Pinotage in which – in true clichéd style – all three strut their stuff. There’s the stern, tannic blackcurrant and cassis backbone of Cabernet, the spice and plum of Syrah, and the dusty, slightly jammy, slightly volatile edge of Pinotage. Add in more spice and vanilla from oak and you have a pretty decent wine. S
Louis Jadot Beaujolais Rosé 2008, Burgundy, France (£8.99 Tesco)
A classic spring wine, with flavours of crushed, ever-so-slightly cooked strawberries, some green apple freshness and a juicy, crunchy finish. B+
Le Rosé de Larcis Ducasse 2008, Bordeaux, France (~£10.50)
Dry and gentle, not as sappy as the Jadot, but fuller in body, still with soft, juicy strawberry fruit, and improving the longer it has in the glass. B+
Mas Janeil Côtes du Roussillon Rosé 2009, France (N/A in the UK)
A richer, headier style, quite powerful for rosé but still fresh, with a core of plummy strawberry pie character and a sprinkle of herbs on the finish. S-
Paxton Shiraz Rosé 2009, McLaren Vale, Australia (£11.50 Reserve Wines)
Good combination of plump juicy red berry and plum flesh with a fresh, slightly earthy leafy character, feels slightly off-dry, but still dainty on its feet. B(+)
Viñalba Rosé 2010, Mendoza, Argentina (£8.99 Sainsbury’s)
Initially quite tight and closed, this opens up to show quite gutsy red berry and apple fruit, but it’s let down by a slight medicinal hardness, and overall lacks the vibrancy of the best of these. B(-)
Prestige de Calvet Bordeaux Semillon/Sauvignon 2009, France (£5.24 Sainsbury’s)
Nice juicy honest wine, with slightly catty Sauvignon to the fore at the moment, good rounded guava and greengage flavours, with Semillon giving pithy weight. B
(Dear Calvet – you must have a web site, let me know where it is and I’ll link to it…)
McWilliams Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon 2005, Hunter Valley, Australia (£9.79 Tesco, Sainsbury’s)
Classic style, still young and vigorous, with tangy lime and lemon flavours, but already showing the creamy toast and custard notes that will intensify with time. S(+)
Domaine de l’Eglantière Chablis Le Carré de César 2009, Burgundy, France (£10.95 Winos)
Classic Chablis with ripe apple and citrus flavours and the creamy nutty wet wool character, good mix of richness and tension. S-
Château Graves du Bert, Saint Emilion 2005, Bordeaux, France (£10.95 Winos)
Starts off on the green side, but unfurls to show cool herbal dark fruit flavours, touches of savoury cedar and a smoky, gravelly finish. Still feels young. B
Cockfighter’s Ghost Merlot 2008, McLaren Vale, Australia (£10.95 Winos)
Shows rich plummy fruit, but too jammy for real class, and has a clumsy finish. C
Peter Lehmann Barossa Grenache 2006, Australia (£8.29 Tesco)
Pale in colour, with the smell and taste of jammy dodger biscuits, still quite juicy and fresh, but ultimately rather simple. B(+)
Caves St Pierre Côtes du Rhône Villages Preference 2008, France (£6.49 Tesco)
Great mix of rich and refreshing, with sweet rounded berry and plum fruit balanced by a wild hillside herbiness, and an intense but appetising finish. Some nice sausages please… S-
The Australian wine industry is determined to communicate the message of regionality. And as anyone who has ever tasted widely will tell you, there’s a big difference between Shirazes from, say, the Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale and Beechworth. If you want proof, look at the Brokenwood portfolio. The winery is based in the Hunter Valley but long-time winemaker and general manager Iain Riggs makes top classes Shirazes from, er, Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale and Beechworth. So which is his top wine….?
McHenry Hohnen Cabernet/Merlot 2008, Margaret River (£9.99 Majestic) Surprisingly forward, rounded wine, showing just the right amount of leafy mint and eucalyptus character alongside juicy plummy fruit, hints of leather and tobacco and smooth ripe tannins. B+
Averys Pioneer Barossa Shiraz 2007 – made by Yalumba (£8.99 Averys) A lovely bear-hug of a wine, ripe and confident, but never jammy, with meaty leathery plum, liquorice and chocolate flavour tinged with cloves. S-
Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz 2005, Grampians (£29.99 Harper Wells, Harrods) Rich, exotic style with exuberant blueberry and blackcurrant flesh, notes of pepper, clove and oriental spices, and an earthy ferrous note to the finish. My only reservation is I’d like to have seen it picked slightly earlier – it’s 15% alcohol, and there’s just a touch of jamminess as the wine open up. S
Botham Merrill Willis 25th Anniversary Shiraz 2005, McLaren Vale (£14.99 Christopher Piper – £2.50 from each bottle goes Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research) Less fragrant and more stolid than the Langi, has a warm chocolate and orange liqueur edge to its dark fruitcake flavours, but it’s let down by a volatile, port-like character. B(-)
