jamie goode's wine blog: Tesco press tasting

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tesco press tasting

For anyone with a newspaper column, one of the most important tastings in the calendar is that organized by Tesco, who sell more wine than anyone else in the UK. And today was the Tesco spring tasting, held in the pleasant surroundings of County Hall on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Westminster.

The Tesco wine range is quite strong at the moment, and there was a nice mix of the outright commercial and more geeky 'individual' wines, with quite a bit in between. I came away with lots of ideas for filling my Express column, which now includes seven wines each week.

A I wanted to blog about here is one that surprised me as soon as I took a sniff. It's De Bortoli's All Rounder Semillon 2002, from the Riverina region, and which sells at £6.99 a bottle. This is utterly remarkable stuff. It's a more-or-less dry botrytised Semillon, with 9.5 g/litre residual sugar. The nose is incredible: complex apricot, lime and spice with some sweet melony notes. It smells like a really good Sauternes. The palate is just off-dry, with complex lime, herb and vanilla notes. Concentrated and intense, this is an incredible wine, and a complete bargain. You just have to ignore the dreadful packaging.

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3 Comments:

At 9:16 PM, Blogger Fiona Beckett said...

I agree - that was the highlight of the tasting for me. Quite fascinating. They recommended it with Thai food which sounds as if it would work but I have a feeling it would also go with blue cheese.

 
At 11:12 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Yes - it strikes me as a cheese sort of wine. I think it would be wasted on Thai food.

I've added a link to your interesting frugal cook blog on my blog roll.

 
At 10:16 PM, Blogger Wi1ko said...

Despair - Tesco, in their infinite wisdom, have DISCONTINUED this glorious wine. It was a splendid accompaniment to Asian food. Hell, it was gorgeous just on its own. No doubt its been replaced with some insipid Pinot Grigio. If anyone from Tesco's buying dept is reading this, purlease see sense and bring it back; you're short on interesting whites. Does anyone know where to get some outside Tesco, now? It was off the shelves so fast I didn't even get the chance to buy a farewell bottle or six.

 

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