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.