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Recommended wines Reliable, independent buying advice from the wine anorak
August 2001
Wines under £8 | Wines over
£8
Previous months' recommendations: September 2000
| October 2000 | November 2000
| December 2000 | January 2001
| February 2001 | March
2001 | April 2001 | May
2001 | June 2001 | July
2001
My rating
system explained
Bargain picks: wines under £8
Erich and Walter Polz Weissburgunder
Grassnitzberg 1998 Südsteirmark, Austria
An attractive yellow gold colour, this southern Austrian Pinot Blanc has a knockout nose of
spice, toast and bready notes, with a creamy edge. The palate is rich, full
and honeyed with high acidity and a lovely spicy character. This is a
delicious wine with great balance and complexity. If you're a fan of
Alsace-style whites, you'll probably love this. This was recommended here
some time ago, and in the intervening months it has really opened out.
Excellent (£7.99 Oddbins, currently reduced to £5.99)
Montana Chardonnay 2000, East Coast, New
Zealand
Using fruit from Marlborough and Gisborne, this is an impressive commercial
Chardonnay. It
has a lovely, fresh, savoury, nutty/toasty nose, that leads to a deliciously
rich palate with fresh fruit and subtle oaking. Good balance and intensity.
Very good+ (£5.99 widely available)
Domaine L'Aiguelière Grenat 1997, Vin de
Pays du Mont Baudile, France
This is a wonderfully expressive, peppery Grenache that outperforms most
Châteuneuf du Pape. Sweet fruit, herbs and spice (especially cinnamon)
dominate the nose, leading to a deep savoury palate with a peppery edge and
dusty tannins. The next day the wine has opened out a bit to display meaty,
chocolatey fruit with some smoky notes. This is one of the wines included in
the Oddbins summer sale, and it seems to be pretty widely available still.
Very good/excellent (£7.99 Oddbins, currently reduced to £5.99)
Wines over £8
Gouvyas Reserva 1997 Bago de Touriga,
Douro, Portugal
The Bago de Touriga winery was set up in 1995 by João Roseira and
oenologist Luis Soares Duarte, and this reserva wine is made from a blend of
Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Francesca. Aged in new Portuguese oak
for 10 months, just 5000 bottles were produced. A bright red/purple colour,
this wine is full of personality. It has a complex nose of ripe cherries,
spice, herbs and tar, with some high-toned floral elements. The palate is
full, spicy and mouthfilling, with high acidity and firm tannins. The
Portuguese oak is evident: there's no doubt about where this wine came from.
This is lovely stuff that will probably age well for many years. Very
good/excellent (£10 Reserva y Cata, Spanish internet shop that delivers to
the UK)
Finca Allende Rioja 1996, Spain
A new-wave wine from Rioja, made from 100% Tempranillo aged in French
oak barrels (as opposed to the American oak normally used in this region).
It's a lovely rich olive- and herb-laced wine with ripe, concentrated
sweet fruit and a soft texture. Tasted blind, I'd probably have put this
in the southern Rhône; it is full of herby interest but avoids the trap
of being too rustic or overoaked. If you like thin, fruitless,
vanilla-laced Riojas, this wine won't be for you. Very good/excellent
05/01 (£13.49 Handford Holland Park, also at Everywine and Virgin wines)
Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 1998, South Australia
Often dubbed the 'poor man's Grange', Bin 389 is normally an excellent,
ageworthy wine in its own right. Like most of the other Bin series, this
is a multi region South Australian blend, and the 1998 is 57% Cabernet/43%
Shiraz. Aged for 14 months in new (22%) and used American oak. It has a
huge ripe, spicy nose with complex menthol notes and herb and berry fruit
elements. The palate is dense, rich and full: this is a classically
styled, complex wine of great weight and power, that will presumably age
very nicely. Although the price has crept up in recent years to £15,
comparatively this is still good value for a wine with a track record for
ageing like this. Excellent (£14.99, widely available)
Montana 1997 Fairhall Estate Cabernet
Sauvignon/Merlot, Marlborough, New Zealand
I think this is the first New Zealand red that I've recommended on these
pages, and it's a stunning effort. The rich, classy, complex nose shows
sweet blackcurrant and red berry fruit. On the palate a lovely mineral
character underlies the rich, spicy berry fruit. Full-on but still well
balanced. Excellent (£11.99, some Oddbins stores)
E-mail me with your recommendations or suggestions
at jamie@wineanorak.co.uk
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