Chateau La Garde Pessac-Leognan 2012 (Dourthe)

2012 is considered an off vintage for clarets particularly the Left Bank. Pessac did somewhat better, and Pessac Leognan is my favourite red Bordeaux commune anyway, so at 9 years old in a slightly lesser vintage, I thought I'd open this one now. I am very glad I did…
The nose is mint, plums, herbaceous and baked earth. Medium weight, smooth tannins. In the mid palate it's dark fruit and there's a fairly long finish. Drink now - 2025. Lay and Wheeler, £25.

Majestic Definition Macon-Villages 2018

Majestic's in-house Definition range can be a bit hit and miss - there are some real corkers but there are some duffers as well. Thankfully this wine is in the former category and is really great value for a tenner. 2018 was a bit of a variable vintage in the Macon but this one scores highly. It's from a highly regarded co-op Cave d'Lugny. This wine is surprisingly complex and rich. There's tart apples on the nose. It has a zesty and buttery palate with some judicious use of oak. Some nice minerality shows through. You could almost say there's a sense of terroir. Good finish.
Given how treacherous wine can be from anywhere in the greater Burgundy region, this is a superb wine for £10. Well done Majestic!
Drink now 2022. 16.5/20

Catena Zapata DV Catena cabernet franc Historic Red (San Carlos) 2018

For many years this has been consistently one of my favourite South American red wines. The 2018 vintage is superb and it's available at a bargain £12 from Tesco's (and for the snobs, there is a proper Catena label - no mention of Tesco's on the bottle!). I love South American cab franc and this is one of the bargains of the wine world. These are older vines grown at altitude from the famous San Carlos vineyard.
The nose is as you'd expect from a cab franc with mint and black fruits but with the added South American twist of eucalyptus and a hint of bell peppers. The palate is gorgeous - long, elegant, dried back fruits and a hint of allspice. Fine tannins with the strong acidic grip of youth. Will age well - if you can keep your hands off it!
Drink now - 2030.

Peter Lehmann ‘Margaret’ Barossa semillon 2012

With lockdown restrictions on and off, up and down, I'm still enjoying sitting on my balcony and enjoying decent wines. This is a great semillon from Barossa, eight years old and my goodness, it is great.
Lemon, beeswax and honey on the nose. The palate is long elegant and complex zesty with lovely citrus fruits. This shows the ageing potential of the Australians made their own and it is great to drink now but could last much longer. Drink 2020-2030. £24 Lay and Wheeler

Chateau Fuisse Tete de Cuvee Poilly Fuisse 2017

I bought a case of this en primeur from Lay And Wheeler, so thought I would try a sample bottle from the 2017 vintage. It's very young for sure but most enjoyable even at this early stage of its life. If you want quality wine from the affordable end of Burgundy, then Maconnaise is the one to go for.. This is about the top chateau and this is their second wine which is a blend from selected high-quality plots. Beautifully layered and structured this is classic Burgundian Chardonnay - you get a real sense of the terroir here, a real sense of place - it's beautifully made and just perfect this will be excellent for the next 10 years I'm sure. 18/20. Drink from 2021. £26 incl tax and duty.

Escarpment Kiwa pinot noir 2010

This is a lovely wine and it shows that Pinot Noir from the finest estates in New Zealand is ageworthy.
This is the last of a six bottle case that I bought from Lea and Sandeman in 2012 when it was released and oh, how I wish I had some more!
Like most fine pinot noir from the New World, it tends to be more fruity and full-bodied when young but this has all the ethereal, elegant characteristics that you'd expect of a good burgundy. Now after 10 years it's nuanced, stylish with wonderful tertiary characteristics. The colour has changed to light brown. The nose is certainly farmyardy, cured ham, etc. It's dry and liquorice on the palate with a long finish of dried dark fruits and a hint of cinnamon. 18/20, drink now - 2022. £22 (at release) Lea and Sandeman.

Maison Roche de Bellene Bourgogne Rouge Vieilles Vignes 2015

From the great negociant Nicolas Potel comes a somewhat superior Bourgogne Rouge. This is an old vines blend from several of his holdings but it's 2015, so the five years of age pays off. This is very much there entry-level wine but at about £13 including duty and VAT et cetera from Lay And Wheeler this one is better then than most entry level red burgundy is that you can put your hands on. This is very much there entry-level wine but at about £13 including duty and VAT from Lay And Wheeler, this one is better than most entry-level red burgundy that you can put your hands on....
It's not incredibly complex or nuanced but is a wonderful example of an entry-level Pinot Noir from Burgundy at its best. It's very much French, dry, brick red with some brown tinges but there is lovely red fruit with just some judicious use of oak. After four hours of opening it has definitely improved. There was a hint of farmyard and charcuterie on the nose But ready now and matched superbly with my slow roast beef brisket. Drink 2020-23. 16.6/20

Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG 2019

Santa Rita Medalla Real Carmenere 2018 Gran Reserva (Colchagua)

The usually reliable Santa Rita winery, which is quality driven and produces some of the best value wines in Chile, unfortunately comes up short this time. Okay, it was on offer for £8 reduced from a putative £12 at Majestic (as part of their 40th anniversary celebration) but I was expecting better. Didn't really taste like Carmenere much at all! It was very green and stalky and dominated by bell peppers on both nose and palate, which I associate with cheap South American Cabernet Sauvignon! Short finish and very angular tannins. It's only two years old so I'll store away my second bottle for a while to give it another chance. Disappointing. Drink from 2021. 13/20

Barolo 2013 Peironte

There is a belief in the wine world that you should not pay less than £30 pb for a Barolo (and ideally more, much more in some cases) and I'm afraid that this is a living testament to that aphorism. I don't want to be churlish as this was a gift to me from a colleague two Christmases ago and it's Marks & Spencer's in-house Barolo for about £16. Though it had seven years of age, it was fairly uninteresting, a little bit thin and uninspiring. The wine's nose was non-descript and could have been any red wine rather than a signature of Nebbiolo. The palate was somewhat fruit forward with a short finish. Oh dear. 12/20

Manuel Marinacci Barbareso 2014

A lovely Nebbiolo from a fine producer. This is my birthday wine for this week and probably my most expensive but also honestly my best wine of my lockdown tastings so far. One day after opening, it is superb. The nose is gamey and dark fruits with hints of stewed plums. The palate is dry, nuanced, elegant with a very long finished. Great balance of fruit and tannins, good now but drink until 2030. Quite lovely. Well done Lay and Wheeler. 18/20

Chablis AOC 2018

This is from the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range and it's from the reliable and quality-driven UVC stable - the Viticultural Union of Chablis. They produce scores of in-house wines and own label wines for retailers across Europe. Sainsburys led the way with supermarket wines in the early 1980s, when there was a lots of snobbery about wines that didn't come from merchants. Before the likes of Waitrose or Ocado they were the leading lights of supermarket wines in the middle to lower level. Many of their wines complete favourably with merchant ones that I have higher prices.
But this one is disappointing. Even though the 2018 was a variable year, it should be better and at two years old should be a drinkable level now. Very generic, little minerality and not very distinctive. £10 13/20

SRC Etna Bianco DOC 2018

My 30th-odd lockdown wine. This is a field blend of local grapes from the slopes of Etna in Sicily and produced from apparently one of the top estates, using wild ferment yeasts. It's just 12.5% alcohol, quite a curious wine but an interesting one nonetheless.
The nose is lemony, appley and a slight hint of mustiness (but not faulty). The palate is quite long and a real melange of flavours - apricots, lanolin, old sherry and quince. It's quite zesty too with a few bubbles CO2. A pretty unique wine but a good buy from Lay And Wheeler at £18.88. Drinking now to 2022. 16/20

Domaine des Herbauges La Roche Blanc Muscadet 2016

Another lovely Loire lockdown wine from Lay And Wheeler. I have bought several vintages of this in the 2016 is perfect now. Very dry and understated initially as you would expect from Muscadet. But on the mid-palate and on the finish it is complex structured and a perfect accompaniment for seafood or light meat dishes or just as an aperitif on its own. This is my very good producer is the domaine wine and really punches above its weight. Drink now 17/20. £12

Berry Bros.& Rudd Malbec 2016

One of BBR's in house wines and frankly, very disappointing. This is the last of parcel of a sample of three that I received for testing. I first tasted it in 2019 and was hoping that he was going to improve but at four years old now it's really given up! There's not much information on the back label about the provenance of this wine but I can only say that if BBR are continuing with this house Malbec I just hope they change the supplier! Maybe it was off-vintage but I think thin and uninteresting and not the slightest bit engaging in terms of what a Malbec should be even at a low price end. 12/20. Drink now. ca. £12

Lulu l’Alouette Chinon 2018 cabernet franc

Another great lockdown wine from Majestic, an estate wine from the ancestral home of single varietal Cabernet Franc red wine! This is a classic Chinon red with some good acidity and tannins and a beautiful minty nose of red fruits. A dry, long finish excellent as a food wine. Well balanced now. Drink 2020-24. 16/20. Ca. £11 from Majestic.

Vouvray 2019 Denis Meunier ‘Expression de Silex’

A great expression indeed of of the Loire silex soil geology (Cretaceous flints and sands) and a fine sense of terroir for £10 at Majestic! Another one of my lovely Lockdown Wines' - 60% of which have been from Loire, both red and white. Classic chenin blanc tart apples on the nose. The palate is dry, flinty, with sour apples on the back palate and long finish. Hint of gooseberries too. Nice wine, needs another year. Drink 2021-24. 16.5/20. A bargain

Saumur Le Bois Dore 2019 AoC

Another great £10 per bottle 'lockdown wine' from my good friends at the local Majestic. It's apparently a Chateau bottled wine and could probably do with another year but it's nice to drink now and comes with a screwcap which is quite a statement, I guess, from any French producer!
Not as distinctive as a typical Vouvray chenin blanc but still very accessible, dry with good acidity and good tart apples on the palate. There is a hint of some tropical fruits on the nose.
Superior quality everyday wine. 15.5 / 20 drink now 2022.

Vouvray Bernard Fouquet chenin blanc 2018

A classic interpretation of this varietal from its ancestral home and a real winner from Majestic at just £10 a bottle at the moment. This is fresh zesty and ready to drink now but will keep for a few years too. But this wind has some finesse and elegance to and all the classic notes that you expect of the grape Bramley apples on the palate and citrus notes on the nose. This doesn't have the steely bone dry minerality of some of the top of estates - this has a hint of sweetness.
But it's a lovely wine, complex and elegant and great value and gives any Chenin blanc from South Africa a run for its money at this price point. 16/20

Cent Visage Cot Jean Francois Merieau Touraine 2017

A lovely wine for less than £14 from Lay and Wheeler. This is made from cot aka malbec and is possibly the ancestral home of the grape. This is not your big, bold, fruity Argentinian malbec - like most red wines from Loire it tends to be restrained, a little tannic with more understated fruit. This is a tad off-dry rather than dry but is otherwise a lovely wine. Ready now, it's elegant with lovely dark fruits and the nose but with more red and cherry-like fruit on the palate. Well balanced and very well made. 16/20