Five totally luxurious wines this week for truly spoiling yourselves.
2010 Waitrose Reserve Shiraz, St Hallett, Barossa Valley, South Australia (£9.99, reduced to £7.49, until 11 September, Waitrose). St Hallett has made an amazing raft of 2010 vintage shirazes and Waitrose has secured some for their own-label bottling. This is a stellar wine with lashings of tar and blackberries. At this reduced price it is worth loading up for the autumn and winter seasons ahead.
2010 Tractor Tube Society Malbec, Clare Valley, South Australia (£13.99, Marks & Spencer). It’s rare to see a 100% malbec from Australia and with a crazy name, too, you can probably tell that this is somewhat of an oddball. With dark, swarthy, blueberry and peat notes this is a macho wine with cracking appeal, built for drinking with sturdy, carnivorous dishes.
2009 Riesling Kabinett, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, Mosel, Germany (£9.99, selected Co-op). This wine is made by one of my all-time favourite German estates and it is the most elegant and demure riesling you could imagine. With a slight touch of grapiness on the finish this will appeal to those of you who don’t like bone dry whites. Heaven in a glass – drink as the ultimate aperitif.
2010 Taste The Difference Pouilly-Fumé, Loire, France (£10.99, Sainsbury’s). You really can taste the difference in this strident, bracing sauvignon from one of the most famous regions in France. With lime and green herb notes intertwined with stony, mineral freshness this is a refined and evocative beauty.
2011 Jules Taylor, Grüner Veltliner, Marlborough, New Zealand (£17.00, Harvey Nichols tel. 020 7201 8537; £14.95, Handford tel. 020 7589 6113). This might be the trendiest wine of the moment – made by one of New Zealand’s hottest talents and made from grüner veltliner, the most sought after grape of the year. The result is a delicate, orange-blossom perfume on the nose followed by a wistful, dry, engaging palate – dreamy stuff!
