Grenache should be all about sun-kissed drinkability, which is exactly what you get in the bottle here. It’s quite pale in colour (as Grenache can be), with notes of Asian spices, red fruits and deftly handled oak. Savoury, peppery and deceptively forward, this is a wine that develops with time in the glass.
Food Match: Spicy
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 The Virgilius Viognier, Eden Valley, South Australia
( £26.99, 14.5%, Harrods, Selfridges, Slurp )A candidate for the title of Australia’s best Viognier (and that’s not meant to sound like faint praise), this is true to its varietal, but in a subtler way than many New World examples. White flowers, some cream, a hint of spice, nuanced oak and enough acidity to keep the wine tingling nicely on the palate.
2011 Leitz Rheingau Riesling Spätlese, Rheingau
( £12.99, 10%, Sainsbury's )Made by the talented Johannes Leitz, this is a modern Rheingau Riesling from a very good vintage, with classic sweet and sour flavours of apple and stone fruit, 47 grams of sugar, some extra weight from lees contact and a long, crunchy finish. Very refreshing, despite the residual sugar.
2011 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer, Alsace
( £14.99 down to £11.24, 13.5%, Waitrose )Produced close to the village of Kientzheim, this is a very stylish Alsace Gewürz, with none of the oilyness that can affect the variety. Gentle spice, with lovely acidity, rose petal fragrance and a brisk, refreshing, ginger-like finish. Try this with a washed rind cheese.
2012 Yalumba Y Series Viognier, South-Eastern Australia
( £8.99 down to £6.74, 14.5%, Sainsbury's )This is only the entry point Viognier from Yalumba, but winemaker Louisa Rose’s magic touch with the variety is gloriously apparent here, making this the best value example of the grape in the country right now. Aromatic and creamy, with hints of aniseed and white peach and a luscious, almost decadent finish. Yum, yum.
2011 Bellingham The Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin blanc, Western Cape
( £9.59, 14.5%, Majestic )You can really taste the old vine concentration is this ripe, textured, tropical fruity Cape Chenin. The flavours coat the palate: honey, pineapple and cinnamon spice, some vanilla sweetness from oak ageing and crisp, appley acidity. Weighty, concentrated and full of flavour, this has impressive length and freshness too.
2011 Arché Pagès Satirs Blanc, Empordà
( E6, 13%, El Celler Petit )Made by one of the best young growers in Empordà using only Macabeu, this is outstanding value at only E6 a bottle. It’s quite weighty for an unoaked style, capable of bottle age and great with food. Pear and some honey with refreshing lift from aciity a minerally undertone and a whiff of Mediterranean herbs.
2010 Marti Fabra Masia Carreras Blanc, Empordà
( E13, 14.5%, El Celler Petit )There’s clearly something special about the village of San Clement Sescebes (and not just as the place where lots of Spaniards did their military service) as it’s home to two of the region’s best producers (Terra Remota being the other one). This highly unusual blend of Garnatxa Blanca, Picapoll and Samsó (aka Carignan) is a big, umami-rich white with a dry finish, some tannin on the palate and masses of grip, density and flavour. A very serious bottle of white.
2011 Mas Llunes Nívia, Empordà
( E8, 13.5%, El Celler Petit )A wine that is a little too marked by oak at the moment, but has good underlying texture and concentration. Floral, saline and concentrated with toasty oak and good minerality. Needs a year or two in bottle, but I love the notes of fennel and wild rosemary and the strucuture and muscularity of the finish.
2011 Vinyes dels Aspres, Empordà
( E13, 14.5%, El Celler Petit )Sourced from the frontier village of Cantallops, this is a rich, powerful, wild wine that is almost unruly on the nose and palate. Even for a young wine, this is starting to show secondary notes of honey and marzipan, but there’s massive concentration and acidity to back it up. A slow burner of a wine, very dense, minerally and herbal with a salty, food welcoming finish.
2010 All Saints Estate Marsanne, Victoria
( £14.9, 12.2%, Cockburn & Campbell )A light, refreshing, herbal, honeysuckle-scented Marsanne from All Saints, favouring mealy, citrus fruit over oak influence. The wine is tangy and well-balanced, light enough to enjoy as an aperitif as well as with food. Experience shows that Victorian Marsannes age extremely well.