If you’re on the hunt for comparative bargains in th Côte de Beaune, Marc Colin in Saint Aubin should be at the top of your list. This is everything I love about 2012 white Burgundies: focused, yet generous, with citrus rind acidity, a touch of oatmeal, subtle oak and a core of stony, chalky fruit. Superb white Burgundy at a very affordable price.
Food Match: Chicken
2011 Gut Oggau Theodore, Burgenland
( POA, 12%, Dynamic Wines )Terrific freshness in this blend of Grüner Veltliner and Weissburgunder (AKA Pinot Blanc) – a beguiling hint of onion skin on the nose gives way to a creamy and slightly vegetal palate, and a mineral finish. This wine spent a few days on the skins, giving it just a bit more structure and body than you might expect.
2011 Gut Oggau Winifred, Burgenland
( POA, 12%, Dynamic Wines )Made from a field blend of Bläufrankisch and Zweigelt, and with a wonderful burnished rose hue. There’s an exotic aroma of wild strawberries, and attractive herbaceous character to the lightweight fruit. Just when you think this might be another simplistic summer rosé, it builds to a more complex savoury finish.
2011 Gut Oggau Timotheus, Burgenland
( POA, 13%, Dynamic Wines )Just like the caricature on the label, this is a big broad wine. White peaches, apricot and kiwi flavours are all brilliantly knitted together with a moreish creamy, nutty texture. Some skin contact and maturation in large, old oak barrels has provided body and structure.
It’s different enough to make you sit up and notice, without being remotely scary or “difficult”. Limestone soil.
2009 Gut Oggau Mechtild, Burgenland
( POA, 13%, Dynamic Wines )Mechtild is one of two single vineyard wines made at Gut Oggau, in this case 60 year old Grüner Veltliner. There’s a salty, iodine tang on the nose, yielding to a fat, creamy palate. Fresh acidity and a lovely mineral finish.
2011 Herdade do Esporão, Verdelho, Vinho Regional Alentejano
( £8.95, 13.5%, The Wine Society )White wines from the baking plains of southern Portugal are often rather flabby and dull, but this perky number from one of the region’s best producers is anything but, showing tangy acidity, bright, citrus peel flavours and a minerality that wouldn’t look out of place in Chablis. Bring on the seafood.
2011 The Co-operative Chablis, Chablis, Burgundy
( £9.99, 12.5%, The Co-operative )2011 was a slightly tricky vintage in Chablis, so hats off to the Co-op for finding a wine that delivers under £10. It’s a fairly soft, forward style, but there’s enough steeliness to stop it cloying. It’s fresh and appealing with no oak and supple pear and spice on the palate.
2012 Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
( £12.50, 13.5%, The Wine Society )The guys behind this outstanding Marlborough operation stopped emphasising their historic link with Cloudy Bay some time ago, and you can see why. These days Dog Point is cheaper and invariably better than the wine that inspired it. Where many local Sauvignons are one dimensional, this one has layers and nuances, with notes of struck match and minerals, some pink grapefruit and beautiful line and length.
2010 Greywacke Chardonnay, Marlborough
( £25.99, 14.5%, Swig )When he was at Cloudy Bay (and that was for over 20 years) Kevin Judd was better known for his Sauvignon Blancs thatn his Chardonnays, but the latter were sometimes even more exciting. This superb effort from the top notch 2010 vintages deserves a place among the country’s best interpretations of the grape. It’s smoky and toasty, with flavours of citrus and hazelnuts and a long, minerally finish that wouldn’t look out of place in Puligny-Montrachet.
2012 Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
( £14.95, 13%, The Wine Society )The fourth release from Kevin Judd’s Marlborough winery is an example of what great winemakers can achieve in tricky vintages. It’s a more restrained style than in the past, owing to a cooler season, but it’s still a lovely wine: fresh, focused and long with attractive gooseberry, pear and orange peel complexity.
2011 Bird on a Wire Marsanne, Yarra Valley, Victoria
( £32, 14%, Naked Wines )Caroline Mooney’s wines are some of the most exciting things I’ve tasted from Australia in the last three years. This barrel-fermented Marsanne shows the variety’s classic honeysuckle and aniseed notes, well integrated with oak and sustained by bright acidity. Honey and some white flowers add extra complexity and texture.
2009 Yalumba Chardonnay FDW, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
( £17.99, 13.5%, Noel Young Wines, Slurp, Winedirect )Typical (and gratifyingly so) of the top end Chardonnays emerging from Australia’s best cool climate areas at the moment, this is all about structure and acidity rather than easy, up front fruit flavours. Notes of lemongrass, vanilla and citrus fruit are nicely intertwined on the palate, wrapped in a creamy, lees-derived texture.