February 2006Previous months' recommendations:
December 2004 | January
2005 | February 2005 | March
2005 | April/May 2005 | June
2005 | July 2005 | August
2005 | September 2005 | October
2005 | November 2005 | December
2005/January 2006 |
Barbeito Madeira Sercial 10 Years Old Reserve
This pale brown Madeira has a lovely perfumed nose that combines
bright fruity, lemony notes with those of vanilla and fudge. There's also
a whiff of old furniture. The palate is rich and spicy with lovely lemony
freshness and a really long nutty finish. There's quite a bit of sugar
here but the lovely freshness keeps it from tasting really sweet. A
fantastic, complex Madeira of great appeal. Very good/excellent 92/100
(£20.00 Haslemere Cellar, £18.99 Luvians, £19.99 Handford, £20.95 Eton
Vintners)
Sainsbury’s Crozes
Hermitage (Cave de Tain) 2003 Northern Rhône, France
This isn’t a particularly big, fruity red, but it works for me, with its
tight, dark savoury character. The raspberry and blackberry fruit has an
extra dimension of spice and meatiness, and it’s kept fresh by a
pleasantly bitter, high acid finish. A ‘real’ wine, and showing
typical Northern Rhône Syrah characteristics. Very good+ 89/100 (Sainsbury
£6.99)
Zonte’s Footstep Verdelho 2005
Langhorne Creek, Australia
Now for five Australian wines. Is it just my impression, or is
Australian wine getting more interesting? First, a pretty white wine that
avoids being tarty. Wonderful open nose of lively limey fruit, with some
melon and honey depth. Striking stuff: fresh and pretty. The palate is
full with rich savoury spicy fruit and some sweetness, along with tropical
fruit richness. This combines well with the lemon and lime freshness. Very
good+ 89/100 (£6.99 Somerfield)
Peter Lehmann Grenache 2004 Barossa,
Australia
I love this wine: it’s honest and it’s fun. Quite a light colour for a
red wine, it has a fabulous aroma of sweet raspberries together with a
lovely spicy pepperiness. In the mouth, it has summer pudding flavours
backed up by a nice spiciness. Delicious and very easy to drink. Grenache
doing what Grenache does best. Very good+ 88/100 (£4.99 Oddbins, Tesco,
Morrisons, Unwins, Budgens)
Heartland Dolcetto Lagrein 2004 Langhorne
Creek, Australia
An interesting red wine that blends together two Italian grape varieties.
One of them, Lagrein, is usually grown in the foothills of the alps.
It’s sweetly perfumed with blackcurrant, dark cherries and some
chocolatey richness. There’s a hint of dried meat here, too. Satisfying
stuff from rising star winemaker Ben Glaetzer. Very good/excellent 90/100 (£8.99
Oddbins)
De Bortoli Shiraz Viognier 2004 Yarra
Valley, Australia
This is fantastic. It’s an Australian Shiraz, with a bit of white grape
Viognier thrown in, that tastes a bit like a wine from France’s northern
Rhône, where this style was first developed. It shows lovely fresh, vivid
red and black fruit with peppery, spicy freshness and some savoury black
olive character. The combination of intense fruit and meaty savouriness is
almost irresistable. Very good/excellent 93/100 (Oddbins £13.99)
Lenton Brae 2000 Wilyabrub Valley, Margaret
River, Australia
A blend of 83% Cabernet and 17% Merlot, hand picked and estate grown, aged
for 20 months in French oak. Wonderful nose of open blackcurrant fruit and
earth, with a sort of minerally, gravelly edge to the sweet but not OTT
fruit. The palate is savoury with a lovely earthy undercurrent to the
fruit and a nice smooth but prominent structure. It’s brilliantly
balanced and quite elegant: a marriage of old world elegance with forward
new world fruit. Very good/excellent 92/100 (£12.95 H&H Bancroft
Wines)
My rating
system explained. Use www.wine-searcher.com
to locate a stockist in your area and my directory
of UK wine merchants for details of those listed here. See also: the wineanorak's
shopping list - recommended wines from each of the main UK retail
outlets. These recommendations are truly independent: I don't accept
payment or other favours for inclusions, nor do I sell wine.
E-mail me with your recommendations or suggestions
at jamie@wineanorak.co.uk
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