Reliable, independent buying advice from the wine anorak
November 2001

Wines under £8 | Wines over £8

Previous months' recommendations:  October 2000 | November 2000 | December 2000 | January 2001 | February 2001 | March 2001 | April 2001 | May 2001 | June 2001 | July 2001 | August 2001 | September 2001 | October 2001

My rating system explained

Bargain picks: wines under £8

Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône 2000
Nicely packaged in a heavy bottle, this is a deep purple coloured wine showing great concentration. There's an attractive roast coffee/burnt edge to the peppery nose. The palate is savoury, with grippy tannins, peppery fruit and a drying, slightly green finish. There are also hints of olives and coffee. A great food wine. Very good/excellent (£6.99 Handford, A&B Vintners)

Forrester's Petit Chenin 'Scholtzenhof' 2001, Stellenbosch
A really attractive, rounded, inexpensive white from Chenin specialist Ken Forrester. A fresh, fruity aromatic nose with some herby notes leads to a full flavoured palate showing appley notes, a bit of spice (a little French oak is used here) and a trace of sweetness on the finish. Delicious stuff to glug young. Very good+ (£3.99 Oddbins)

Charles Joguet Chinon Les Petits Roches 2000, Loire
Nicely packaged, this is from a single vineyard with gravelly soils. A bright red/purple colour, the youthful aromatic nose is mineralic (wet tarmac?), slightly leafy and shows some raspberry fruit. The palate is young and fruity (bright, pure summer fruits), with good acidity and crunchy tannins on the finish. Good concentration, but yet to develop much in the way of complexity. A good example of Loire Cabernet Franc, though, and this may well improve over the next two to three years. Very good+ (£6.99 Waitrose) 

Dr Hermann Urziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese 1996, Mosel Saar Ruwer
AP No 2 602 145 897 Incredible value for money: for the price of an industrial Chardonnay you get a serious expression of Riesling from a leading Mosel vineyard site. The complex, beautifully evolved nose shows notes of lime, honey and minerals. The palate is quite sweet, but with lovely balancing acidity. A full textured sweet wine that's perfect for sipping on its own. Very good/excellent (£5.99 Majestic, but buy 2 save £1 from Nov 5th) 

Wines over £8

Domaine Gros' Noré Bandol Rouge 1999, Provence
Alain Pascal's Domaine Gros' Noré is one of the leading Bandol estates and has catapulted to fame since releasing its first wines just two years ago. I was impressed by the 1998, but if anything the 1999 is even better. A deep purple/red colour. I'm very taken with the intense nose, currently dominated by ripe, licqouricey fruit. The palate is tannic and powerful; savoury and dry. There's a great density of herby, olive-laced fruit. It's quite clean, but still packed with character. Excellent (£15 La Vigneronne)

Pirramimma Premium Shiraz 1998, McLaren Vale, Australia
I've probably been a little 'old world-centric' in my recommendations over the last few months, so I'll try to counter this with my next three recommendations. This splendid, well priced wine from the McLaren Vale is the ultimate winter warmer. An opaque red/purple colour, this has an exotic, ripe, lush nose with some new-oak-derived menthol notes. The thick, inky palate shows ripe, licqouricey, almost Port-like fruit. It's quite delicious in the full-throttled McLaren Vale style: very oaky, but the fruit can just about handle it. Very good/excellent (£9.99 Majestic, but buy 2 save £3 from Nov 5th)

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 1998, South Australia
Providing you like the house style (and I do), the Penfolds 1998 reds are a spectacular bunch of wines. It's a shame that they've seen some price hikes over recent years, but the Bin 28 still offers some value for money. Sourced from the Barossa and Clare Valleys and aged for 14 months in American oak. A deep red/purple colour this has a full, spicy nose with attractive minty notes and bags of ripe berry fruit. The full, dense palate shows great intensity and lovely spicy oak notes. A full throttle, ripe wine that should age nicely. Very good/excellent (£9.99 Oddbins)  

Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir 1999, Martinborough, New Zealand
No longer playing second fiddle to the whites, New Zealand reds have steadily been building their reputation over the last five years or so, and at the forefront of this quality revolution are the Pinot Noirs from the Martinborough region (also known as Wairapa). The eponymous Martinborough Estate is one of the top producers here, and I actually preferred this, their regular Pinot Noir, to the far more ambitious (and expensive) reserve bottling. It's a deep red/purple colour, with a pungent, medicinal edge to the sweet berry fruit on the nose. The palate is lovely, rich and savoury, with quite firm tannins and good complexity. Very good/excellent (c. £14, Oddbins, Wine Rack)

E-mail me with your recommendations or suggestions at jamie@wineanorak.co.uk