talkRADIO: Alternative White Wines for Spring

Whoohoo! It’s getting warmer! What better time then to try some alternative white wine grapes? Come on, you’ve had enough Sauvignon and Picpoul. Here are three grapes that deserve your attention and some lovely examples to seek out. Happy Thursday Club!

If you like Albarino, try… Assyrtiko

Assyrtiko is THE key white wine grape from Greece and it makes one of those super refreshing white wines that are slick and saline with zesty lemon and citrus notes but a riper, peachy fruitiness with it. The most famous region for it in Greece is Santorini and this one comes  from winery Artemis Karamolegos and is made with fifty year old vines. 

Find it for £14.95 at The Wine Society

If you like Viognier, try… Roussanne

Roussanne  is a white grape hailing from the Rhône Valley that produces powerful, nutty white wines with intense aromas and flavours of flowers, peach, pear and apricot, with baking spice. Exotic, oily and textural, this grape is the opposite of zesty, zippy Sauvignon. Traditionally used in blends like white Chateauneuf du pape, we’re now seeing more of it as a single grape wine. 

Find it for £6.79 at ALDI

If you like Gavi, try… Verdicchio 

Verdicchio is one of the finest white native grapes of Italy and the most important area for them in the the Marche region around Castelli di Jesi. This is an area with many medieval fortresses on many hilltop villages surrounding the central town of Jesi. This complex and crisp dry white is often called the White Barolo thanks to its fabulous ability to age. When young, it has lovely floral aromas and subtle notes of tropical fruit and a yeasty finish. 

Find it for £6 at Tesco

Want to know what else we’ve tasted on talkRADIO with Mike Graham for the Thursday Club? Click here!

Lighter-bodied red wines styles to try

Not all red wines are the same and sometimes, we don’t necessarily want a massive, blockbusting fruit bomb. Here are some lesser known grape varieties and wine styles to look out for if you want something with a little more tartness, crunch and tang. All these wines do well when slightly under room temperature. Perfect for lunch and cold cuts!

Cabernet Franc

Country / Region: Saumur, Loire Valley, France

Try: Domaine des Ormes, Saumur, 2017. £8 from Co-op

The Loire Valley is the spiritual home of the Cabernet Franc grape and here, it is light-medium bodied with leafy, crunchy redcurrant and cherry notes and a characteristic whiff of graphite. Yes, this wine smells of pencil shavings! In a good way. Look out for the world ‘Saumur’ on the label as this is one of the key Loire appellations (sub-regions) that is famous for Cab Franc. Also look for Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil AOC, which is often a little more concentrated and fruity.

Cinsault

Country: France & South Africa

Try: Tesco finest* Cinsault, W.O.Western Cape, 2020. £7.50 from Tesco

Cinsault is a grape that most famously perhaps comes from the South of France where it is blended to soften its often astringent tannins and temper its herbaceous notes. You’ll find it as part of the blends in Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon particularly. Out in South Africa, we are seeing it more as a single varietal where it feels a little softer with tangy cherry notes, dried herb and a hint of smoke. Fun fact: South AFrica’s signature grape variety Pintage is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault. Cinsault used to be called ‘Hermitage’ hence Pino-tage!

Mencía

Country / Region: Bierzo, Spain

Try: Viento de Invierno, Mencía, Bierzo, Spain. £8.25 from Co-op

Mencía is a grape the professional winos go mad for as it’s a brilliant food wine and a little bit different. Lithe and nicely tart, it’s particularly aromatic with notes of morello cherry, raspberry and liquorice spice. It’s a great one to age. If you like Beaujolais Cru wines or Pinot Noir, you’ll love this.

TalkRADIO: Brands that do good

With the world in a terrible state, it’s nice to know that having a lovely drink can also have a positive effect on our environment. Here are three delicious drinks that all have another positive purpose for the environment and you can follow their progress online. Cheers to that!

SEAS - Hidden Sea Chardonnay

Hidden Sea is an Australian company making easy drinking, juicy, accessible Aussie wines from the Limestone coast using classic grapes: Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio and a GSM blend. This chardonnay is fruity and round with tropical fruit notes and zesty citrus. 

Green creds: Their mission is simple: for every bottle sold, they remove ten plastic bottles from the ocean. You can see their progress on their website too. The pledge to have removed 1 billion bottles by 2030. 

£9 from Sainsbury’s and other supermarkets.

TREES - Cloud Apple Cider by Cannabrew

The UK’s first CBD infused cider. Cannabrew was set up by an ex-rugby player who discovered how good CBD was for aches and pains. He also had a passion for craft beer, so decided to set up one of the UK’s first CBD Craft breweries. As well as a range of beers, the range now includes this crisp cider, made from British apples. All products are infused with a hefty15mg of CBD oil.

Green creds: plastic-free, recyclable packaging with two trees planted for every case sold in their company forest. They also support local British farmers. 

Buy 12 for £37.19 (£3.10 each)  cannabrew.co.uk

BEES - Avallen Calvados

Avallen is Climate Positive (carbon negative) Calvados. Made from nothing but apples, water and two years in oak barrels for, Calvados is a spirit made from apples in the appellation of Calvados in Normandy, France. 

Green creds: Avallen is Climate Positive (carbon negative) where each bottle removes 2.73kg of CO2 from the atmosphere without external offsetting. That’s the equivalent of driving 21 km in an average car. At the time of writing, they produced 15,421 bottles of Avallen, removing 41.8 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Each bottle only uses 1.2L of water to produce, which is 70-95% less than other spirit categories. They support charitable partners via 1% for the Planet membership and all the apples come from within 20km of the distillery. For the bees, their goal is to plant 10,000 flowering plants by 2022 thanks to their flower-powered Beeboms as well as restoring wild meadows at the distillery in Normandy.

£35 from www.avallenspirits.com

Thursday Club with Talk Radio: Festive Aperitifs

We’re feeling festive today on the Thursday Club! Here is an eclectic mix of delicious drinks, all perfect for this time of year. We’ve a flavoured gin, a spiced rum and a fortified wine.

Hortus Rhubarb & Ginger Gin (37.5%)

If you’re looking for something to elevate your G&Ts there’s something seriously moreish about this tangy rhubarb number. Try it with a Mediterranean tonic and a slice or add it to cocktails. The Hortus gin and gin liqueur range from Lidl is showcasing some delicious flavours at the moment. 

Find it at Lidl from £14.99

Liberté Spiced Rum (40%)

Spiced rum is quite simply a rum that has been flavoured in some way, either with fruit, spices or herbs. This one features a blend of Trinidadian and Dominican rums aged in ex-bourbon casks. Smelling sweet but finishing drier than you would expect, this is all about coffee bean and cocoa powder, vanilla, orange peel and cinnamon. Good enough to sip alone and excellent in a dark and stormy.

Find it at Lidl for £14.99

Malamado Fortified Malbec (18%)

This is a top end Malbec red wine made in a style similar to port. ​​Wine is fermented as normal but stopped early to keep the residual sugar, then fortified with grape spirit to 18%. Fermented aged for just over two years in aged French oak. Soft and dark purple with notes of dried fig, blueberry nuts and baking spice. Try it mixed for a different kind if aperitif:

15 ml Malamado Malbec,

25 ml Aperol

15 ml Red vermouth

25 ml Grapefruit juice

Find it for £15.99 for 75cl from TasteArgentina.co.uk, Field & Fawcett, NY wines.

£9 for 50cl from various supermarkets.

Thursday Club with Talk Radio: Accessible Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a word that is capable of striking fear into many people who want to get to know wine. We know it's good. We don’t necessarily know why. We know that it can be super expensive but we’ve also seen bottles for about six quid. It’s fair to say it’s all a bit confusing. 

In a nutshell, Bordeaux is a wine region in France down on the central west coast and it’s mostly famous for making expensive red wines using a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a few others. While this is true, there are some world class white wines that come from this region, which are usually a blend of Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon as well as more entry level whites, pinks, reds and sparkling ‘crémant’ wines. In recent years, the revolution really has been with the quality of these more price accessible bottles. 

Here are some to try:

Maison de la Rougerie Brut Crémant de Bordeaux

Bone dry with a whiff of floral aromatics, think crunchy green apple and white fruit. Made in the traditional method just like Champagne, this is an exceptional value fizz. A gret one for Bucks fizz or Kir Royales. 

Find it at Iceland for £8.75 

L’émigre Blanc 2020, Graves

Fine white Bordeaux will be a blend of zesty, citrusy sauvignon, with the more axy, weight Sémillom and the result is rich and intense yet elegant . This white Bordeaux is organic with great intensity offering well defined flavours of elderflower, lime and blackcurrant leaf. 

Find it at Virgin Wines for £14.99

Château Barreyres Haut-Médoc 

This is a typical ‘left-bank’ Claret, based on Cabernet Sauvignon with a whack of Merlot. Hailing from the posher part of the left bank, this is an old school style of red with cedar and blackcurrant notes with a lean, mineral core. Fab value for a lovely Cru Bourgeois.

Find it at Sainsbury’s for £13

Thursday Club with TalkRadio: Beaujolais Day!

Today is Beaujolais Nouveau Day! What is Beaujolais day? Well, Beaujolais is a wine region in France where the red wines are made from the Gamay grape, but you can also get a few whites and pinks too. Beaujolais Day happens on the third Thursday of November every year and it’s when the young wines of Beaujolais are all released. It’s a tradition and in the UK, there has always been a funny sort of race to bring the first nouveau wines back into the country from France. (Good luck doing that this year). These nouveau wines are bottled and sold within just six to  eight weeks of the grapes being picked.

Beaujolais fell out of favour during the eighties over here as people assumed that all Beaujolais was like the nouveau style, which is very juicy and bright, with a strong flavour of strawberry bubblegum. It’s meant to be drunk within a few months of its life and is deliberately youthful in style.  Beaujolais proper however, means gorgeously silky, elegant red wines that are crisp and refreshing, not totally unlike good French Pinot Noir. The style is very much in vogue again now people are reaching for less weighty, less alcoholic, less oaky red wines. Think wild strawberry, raspberry and spice with some autumnal, leafy notes. 

Don’t forget that there are several quality levels in Beaujolais: Start with the bouncy nouveau, then move up to straight Beaujolais. Above that, you have Beaujolais-villages and then finally, there are ten special Beaujolais ‘cru’, each named after a specific village and they all have their own characteristic take on the regional style. Here’s a bit more about that. 

Three Beaujolais wines to try:

Château de Belleverne, Beaujolais Nouveau, Beaujolais-Villages 2021

This wine shows exactly how far we’ve come with Beaujolais over the last twenty years. It’s a nouveau - from a villages producer! Basically, that means it’s actually good. 

Made in the traditional, carbonic macerated style using concrete vats, this wine is a classic BH: a light and fruity red wine made from Gamay grape. Best served slightly chilled at 13°c. The 2021 vintage is available for pre-order with delivery on Friday 19th November.  Priced at £13.50 per bottle, order six bottles or more for £12.00 per bottle.

Find it at Wickhams Great British Wine Merchant here.

Domaine de Roche-Guillon, Fleurie, 2017

Fleurie in the north of the region is the lightest, most elegant of the Cru with a perfumed, silky, style. Don’t let the light body fool you though; these wines can be very complex and interesting flavour-wise and they can age surprisingly well, turning our gorgeously moreish Autumnal flavours. This one is made by a family-owned domaine who don’t filter their wines for more texture, vibrancy and flavour. 

Find it for £14.75 Sandhamswine.co.uk

Château du Moulin-à-Vent, Cuvée ‘Couvent des Thorins’

Bordering Fleurie in the far north of the region is the Moulin-à-Vent Cru. ​​Wines from here make some of the most concentrated and tannic Beaujolais there is - a million miles from the nouveau style. These are great ones to age a bit, becoming more earthy, and savoury as they mature. This one is big but supple and ripe.

Find it for £20 at Stannary wine

Thursday Club with talkRADIO TV: Champagne!

The Supermarket Champagne

Comte de Senneval NV 

A particularly savory champagne this, umami-esque notes of smoke and caramel with some herbaceous notes. It also has a wine-like weight and hint of sweetness that may split the judges. A bit quirky and of-a-style, but try it with some classic canapés like smoked salmon and it should make a happy match. 

Find it at Lidl for £13.99

The Grower Champagne

Guy de Chassey Brut NV

Family-owned for generations and made with grapes with 100% Grand Cru status, this small-scale property is led by mother and daughter duo Marie-Odile and Ingrid. The wine is very much hand-made at every single step, from a tiny 11 hectares of vines. A classic champagne that is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Think apple and citrus, balanced by richer, toasted brioche flavours and fine  bubbles. 

Find it at CorneyandBarrow.com for £32.99

Premium Blanc de Blancs

Delamotte Blanc de Blancs

A blanc de blancs champagne means it’s made with 100% Chardonnay and these wines tend to show more purity and elegance than other styles. Delamotte Blanc de Blancs is no different, with a crisp, mineral core and a chalky finish, thanks to the soils where it is grown. These wines can be austere when young but open up with a bit of age into rather fantastic bubbles! This champagne is in a league of its own. Drink it slowly to watch the flavour change with every sip!

Find it at CorneyandBarrow.com for £50.95

Premium Blanc de Noirs

Bollinger PN VZ16 

Blanc de Noirs, as you might guess, means a white wine made with black grapes, which in this case, is 100% Pinot Noir. Bollinger has upped its game with the creation of a new range of Champagnes that show off particular expressions from the vineyards where they are grown. Bollinger PN VZ15 comprises grapes predominantly from Verzenay (as well as Avenay and Tauxières), and has been cellar aged for more than twice the time required by the appellation, leading to a bold, complex, rewarding flavour profile. Think rhubarb crumble with a nutty, butter topping. 

Find it at Master of Malt for £79.95

Want more suggestions? Check out this piece on ‘from budget to blow out’ champagnes.

Thursday Club with Talk Radio: Celebrity wines part 2!

Everyone from pop stars to presenters, cricketers to chefs are having a go at making wine these days and they just keep coming! It’s fair to say that they don’t physically make it exactly, but in most cases, the big names will have been involved at some stages of the process, from choosing which grape type and country, to the final style of the wine as well as the look and feel of the bottle. You can also tell when they really know their stuff... and when they don’t! 

Here are four new releases to try: 

Gary Barlow Organic White

Gary is a self-confessed wine-lover, so I was a little surprised to see his first white. It’s a perfectly nice drop, well-made and inoffensive. It just feels a bit like ‘I Found Heaven’ when what you were expecting was ‘Back For Good’ or ‘A Million Love Songs’. A blend of local white grapes from Castilla in Spain, have this as your aperitif. It’s crisp, refreshing and well-priced.

Find it for £8 at winedelivered.com

Gordon Ramsay Vibrante Bianco

Made in partnership with renowned winemaker Alberto Antonini, Gordo’s wines are, unusually,  a blend of grapes from Tuscany and Abruzzo. I must say, he’s smashed it with this white. Easy going and food friendly, it has a bit of everything, from exotic fruit to zesty citrus and pretty aromatics. Lots of personality, great balance and, somewhat surprisingly given the man himself, not shouty. 

Find it for £10 at winedelivered.co.uk

Banks Brothers Syrah Mourvedre 

Another chef takes to wine and he’s done an incredible job. Chef Tommy Banks, owner of Michelin-starred gastro pub The Black Swan at Oldstead has teamed up with his brother who is also a chef to launch a limited edition range of premium wine in cans. While many cans can give off a sulphurous smell when opened, these don’t at all. This South African red is meaty and powerful and with a lovely nose. More pricey than most cans but still half the price it would be in a pub. The Chardonnay is to die for too, but I drank all that so I couldn't show it!

Find it for £7 per 250ml can from banksbrothers.co.uk 

Splash Out - Ian Botham 78 Series Pinot Noir

This gorgeously cosy, central Otago Pinot is brought to us by cricketing legend Sir Ian Botham.  Silky, spicy and packed with morello cherry notes, plum and earth, it’s a great wine for food (think lamb or duck). A little on the high alcohol side, it will at least warm your cockles in the cold - and and it’s a winning choice to bring to a dinner do.

Find it for £15 at winedelivered.co.uk